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Masculinity, mental health, cat food – Robbie Williams’s comeback has it all | Lauren O'Neill

He’s still perfectly capable of putting his foot in his mouth, but the more he reveals of himself the more we seem to love him, says culture writer Lauren O’Neill

He’s rumoured to be playing a secret slot at this year’s Glastonbury; he was recently honoured with the PRS for Music Icon award at the Ivors; and while his biopic Better Man was commercially unsuccessful, it went down pretty well with critics, who praised it for its candour about class and addiction. If someone from a younger, more self-serious generation – Sam Fender, Harry Styles – were being sponsored by Pedigree Chum it would probably raise a few eyebrows, but for Williams, stuff like the Felix partnership is entirely on brand. Broadly, the vulnerability that he has always embraced in his music (“I don’t wanna die, but I ain’t keen on living either”) has become more and more in vogue for men and male celebrities, in response to the frightening versions of masculinity spawning online.

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