Post by Helen on Jan 5, 2006 20:27:40 GMT
THE BIG NAME:
Will Young
He’s got a stonking new album out, a part in a major film, he’s won rear of the year and has been described as the best talent on the planet by Elton John: William Robert Young, get you! To say that the posh Pop Idol winner has come along way since his reality television triumph would be an understatement — he’s ruling planet pop and beyond.
The new album (Keep On, out now) sees Young develop his sound further and mixes his trademark love ballads with harder funk sounds, salsa beats and string arrangements. The sound is big and it is clever: could Young be aiming to take George Michael’s mantle? He hits the big screens in the new Stephen Frear’s film Mrs Henderson Presents, where he stars alongside Judy Dench and Bob Hoskins in a charming tale about the Windmill performance hall and it’s nude revues. Which brings us to his Rear Of The Year 2005 gong, which needs no explanation really, anyone with eyesight saw that coming a mile off.
Most intruiging of late has been Young’s growing comfort with public discussion of his sexuality. He came out within weeks of winning Pop Idol in 2002, but then effectively took one step back into the closet as he refused to discuss his private life and continued to sing ballads about loving girls. On his new album he sings “Happiness… is being gay” and his video for Switch It On was unashamed — if somewhat cheesy - homoerotic stuff. As Channel 4’s great Popworld presenter Simon Amstell said: “You used to be sexless, Will, but this new video… it’s sex! You’re an animal, a pornographer!” Then, on a recent appearance on Parkinson, Young happily had saucy banter with David Walliams, prompting angry letters to the BBC from outraged Christians. Marvellous!
How far he has come. When he won Pop Idol, it was a triumph of astronomical proportions. Most of the show’s organisers had Gareth Gates down as a surefire winner from day one and yet the people’s choice Will Young came through and won the day. He was the David whose talent and charm overcame the plastic poppery of the Goliath, Gareth Gates. Talk about key television moments: when Ant & Dec read Will’s name out as the winner, it was akin to watching Nelson Mandela walk out of prison, Michael Portillo lose his seat in 1997 or the England football team beating Germany 5-1. Go on, my son!
And here we all are three years on, still cheering our boy from the touchline but now he’s the big guy. However much Young may like us to believe he is a bumbling posh fool who just got lucky, there has been a lineage of steel and shrewdness throughout his career. An awesome voice, a sharp brain and a lovely rear: this boy’s going to stick around for a long time.
Will Young
He’s got a stonking new album out, a part in a major film, he’s won rear of the year and has been described as the best talent on the planet by Elton John: William Robert Young, get you! To say that the posh Pop Idol winner has come along way since his reality television triumph would be an understatement — he’s ruling planet pop and beyond.
The new album (Keep On, out now) sees Young develop his sound further and mixes his trademark love ballads with harder funk sounds, salsa beats and string arrangements. The sound is big and it is clever: could Young be aiming to take George Michael’s mantle? He hits the big screens in the new Stephen Frear’s film Mrs Henderson Presents, where he stars alongside Judy Dench and Bob Hoskins in a charming tale about the Windmill performance hall and it’s nude revues. Which brings us to his Rear Of The Year 2005 gong, which needs no explanation really, anyone with eyesight saw that coming a mile off.
Most intruiging of late has been Young’s growing comfort with public discussion of his sexuality. He came out within weeks of winning Pop Idol in 2002, but then effectively took one step back into the closet as he refused to discuss his private life and continued to sing ballads about loving girls. On his new album he sings “Happiness… is being gay” and his video for Switch It On was unashamed — if somewhat cheesy - homoerotic stuff. As Channel 4’s great Popworld presenter Simon Amstell said: “You used to be sexless, Will, but this new video… it’s sex! You’re an animal, a pornographer!” Then, on a recent appearance on Parkinson, Young happily had saucy banter with David Walliams, prompting angry letters to the BBC from outraged Christians. Marvellous!
How far he has come. When he won Pop Idol, it was a triumph of astronomical proportions. Most of the show’s organisers had Gareth Gates down as a surefire winner from day one and yet the people’s choice Will Young came through and won the day. He was the David whose talent and charm overcame the plastic poppery of the Goliath, Gareth Gates. Talk about key television moments: when Ant & Dec read Will’s name out as the winner, it was akin to watching Nelson Mandela walk out of prison, Michael Portillo lose his seat in 1997 or the England football team beating Germany 5-1. Go on, my son!
And here we all are three years on, still cheering our boy from the touchline but now he’s the big guy. However much Young may like us to believe he is a bumbling posh fool who just got lucky, there has been a lineage of steel and shrewdness throughout his career. An awesome voice, a sharp brain and a lovely rear: this boy’s going to stick around for a long time.
