Andy Warhol

About

Andy Warhol appears on Under the Radar Vol. 2 and was written by Robbie Williams, Karl Brazil and Ben Castle, with production by Castle and Brazil. The song combines disco-influenced pop with new-wave energy, drawing inspiration from Williams’ conversation with designer Tom Ford about the glamour and excess of New York’s Studio 54. That meeting sparked the idea of contrasting Ford’s world of art and fashion with Williams’ own childhood in Stoke-on-Trent during the same era.

Williams described the track as “a composite piece” linking two very different worlds: “While Tom Ford was hanging out with Andy Warhol and David Bowie at Studio 54, I was in Tunstall, Stoke-on-Trent, at primary school, being fearful of my surroundings.” The song’s verses recall those early memories of fear and frustration, while the chorus imagines the dazzling scene of Warhol’s New York, complete with cocaine references and club hedonism. The dual narrative captures both envy and relief—an acknowledgment that he would one day find his own version of that glamorous escape.

Musically, Andy Warhol blends pulsing synths, funk basslines and 1980s-style production, building toward an anthemic chorus. The contrast between its deep, spoken verses and soaring melody mirrors the divide between innocence and excess that defines the lyric. Williams’ vocal performance shifts from brooding introspection to flamboyant showmanship, embodying both the outsider and the insider roles that have long shaped his identity.

“At that moment in the late seventies, I was in Tunstall and Tom Ford was in Studio 54 with Andy Warhol. I was going to have my own Studio 54 moment later.”Robbie Williams

The music video, directed by Leo Baron, visualised this tension through surreal imagery: dancers covering Williams’ face with lipstick, distorted mirrors and flashes of nightclub decadence. Featuring a cameo by Williams’ bandmate Jerry Meehan, the video echoed the chaos and artificiality of celebrity. Andy Warhol stands as one of Williams’ most conceptually ambitious tracks, marrying art-pop glamour with self-deprecating honesty.