Teresa C. | August 2000

While he has not always been known as sugar and spice and everything nice, Brit Brat Robbie Williams was far from hostile when he was in Singapore last weekend to promote the launch of his latest single, "Rock DJ". In fact, he was simply enduring with an endless stream of witty British humour which lasted the whole of his press conference held to launch the release of his latest single, "Rock DJ".

Faced by more than 30 journalists from around the region, Robbie answered all the questions which were thrown to him willingly -- even forbidden ones regarding his drug and alcohol-ridden life and more recently his crush on Kylie Minogue. "She thinks everyone likes her", he says in half-jest. But he did admit despite his confidence, he was surprisingly bashful when he came face to face with Minogue.

"I remember watching her in "Neighbours" and I've fancied her since then, and I was in school then and held her on a pedestal because she was Kylie, she was an icon, she was sexy. …. I couldn't even look at Kyle when she was in the studio. I don't know how we were gonna get on because we have a lot of work together and I can't speak to her and I get this strange feeling in my stomach."

Although it has been rumoured that Williams wanted very much to have sex with Minogue, he maintains the professionalism which all proper artistes would portray, and has set the record straight that he prefers to keep things the way they are now -- professional.

Also very much in the minds of the journalists present was the controversy revolving the music video for "Rock DJ". The video, which was shown before Williams made his presence at the press conference, has Williams his skin and his flesh in order to gain the attraction from women. He eventually is reduced to a dancing bare skeleton and the horrific scenes of cannibalism have caused BBC and"Top Of The Pops" to ban and edit the clips respectively. You can catch the video at his official website, www.robbiewilliams.com. Wlliams wanted to "record a video which would make people physically sick", calling it an "expensive joke".

The heartbreaker, who has gone out with stars like All Saints' Nicole Appleton and Spice Girl Mel C, also talked about his drug and alcohol battle after leaving Take That, proudly announcing that he has not touched anything in two weeks, and that he is "making friends" with them instead of fighting against them now. A far cry from his old days of hard abuse, but Williams Is here to prove everyone wrong. "Have it noted now that I am sober and nice". We couldn't have said it better ourselves.

Besides his looming drug problem, Williams also answered questions about his buddy George Micheal ("I really admire him for what he's done. Even though the whole toilet incident marred it a little bit, he still carried off everything with a lot of dignity.") and Oasis: "Oasis was the band I had my first teenage enthusiasm about and to be around it at the same time was amazing for me. I got really upset when Liam and Noel started saying some really personal and nasty stuff about me in the press and the only way that I knew how to combat that was to be 13 about it. Well, I'm bigger than you! I could fight you!" The phenomenal success of Williams' albums, including "The Ego Has Landed", has surely put him up in a strong fight against the Gallagher brothers.

With all that jesting and fooling around, making the whole 45-minute conference almost a comedy , it is hard to believe this was once the man whom tabloids and magazines around the world claim as the ultimate bad boy in pop music. But the fun doesn't end here, cos coming up after this Vivamusic.com brings you an exclusive coverage of the media showcase by the man himself, Robbie Williams.

Just when you thought you had enough of Robbie Williams, the man springs a surprise on Singapore yet again when he performed in an exclusive media showcase at Zouk on Sunday the 16th of July. The stage, which stretched from Zouk's video wall to the center of the dance floor, was cluttered with electric and classical guitars, drums plus and electrical keyboard. Usually jam-packed with sweaty dancing bodies on a weekend night, the floor was now covered with various media personnel and contest winners (mainly fans) who got a chance to see the Brit Brat perform in the flesh. While everyone was told to be there at 4.30pm, the showcase did not start until a little after five.

Programme Director for the Perfect 10 98.7FM Georgina Chang opened the showcase, after which the good times just kept rolling. Williams hopped right on stage with his acoustic band, kicking the show off with "Millennium". Although Williams' onstage presence was very overwhelming, he looked surprisingly tired, dressed in a black shirt and trousers. But that did not deter him from coming up with a great performance.

"I'm still on English time, it's yesterday and I have already done this", he said as he pretended to walk off the stage after "Millennium". Williams does his comedian father proud with his wonderful ability to make the 250-strong crowd at Zouk laughing in between songs. It is almost as though he has gotten everyone of us wrapped nicely round his little finger.

After joking with the audience, he immediately launched into "No Regrets", where Williams did some fancy dance moves to accompany the upbeat single. His roguishly handsome features coupled with a natural flair for comedy makes it no wonder why he managed to bag MTV Europe's honoree as the Best Male Performer of the Year, U.K's artist of the year in 1998 and 1999, plus BRIT award winner as Best Male Artist, Best Single for the track "Angels", and Best Video for "Millennium". His previous album, 'The Ego Has Landed", was also the best-selling U.K. album of 1999.

He also managed to flash his middle finger and his buttocks, clad in nice white undies which he revealed somewhere in between performing a few new tracks from his latest album, the last being "Rock DJ". With reference to the intense controversy behind the cannibal theme of the music video, Williams mused, "I could sing the first two and a half minutes and then we could show you a blank screen and provide you with some crayons and you could draw in the rest yourself". Obviously not bothered by all the media attention towards the video, Williams proceeded to taunt the audience, "Come on, say that again. Awwww". With his fans going crazy under the platform a few inches below him, Williams definitely knew how to treat his fans well.

The 50-minute showcase ended with Williams singing an all time favourite ballad, "She's The One", despite pleas from his fans to sing '"Let Me Entertain You". His retort? "You'll make do with it!" He cannot get more adorable than this.

The man heads for Australia and New Zealand after leaving Singapore, and it is without question Williams knows what he wants. With the world at his feet, and his drug and alcohol problems behind him, Robbie Williams is set to bring about destruction and chaos to the pop scene in the near future. And don't worry, no Robbies were harmed in this master plan to conquer the world.