Feel

About

Written by Robbie Williams and Guy Chambers, Feel was released on 2 December 2002 as the lead single from Escapology. It became one of Williams’ most enduring hits, reaching number four in the UK and topping charts across Europe. The song’s haunting piano and emotionally bare lyric marked a return to introspection after the flamboyance of Swing When You’re Winning, capturing the loneliness behind fame with stark honesty.

The song was born from a spontaneous studio session in which Chambers played a melancholic piano phrase and Williams improvised lyrics drawn from depression and exhaustion. The final vocal was taken directly from the demo, which Williams felt could not be bettered. “I just want to feel real love, fill the home that I live in” became one of his defining refrains, articulating a universal longing for belonging and peace of mind.

The day I wrote it was probably the saddest day of my life. It came from deep pain, but it was very honest. The vocal you hear is the demo — I couldn’t sing it better than that.Robbie Williams

Produced by Chambers and Steve Power, Feel features sparse instrumentation that builds to a cinematic crescendo, complemented by subtle gospel harmonies. The accompanying video, directed by Vaughan Arnell and co-starring Daryl Hannah, portrayed Williams as a solitary cowboy in an American landscape — an image of isolation and yearning that mirrored the song’s tone. With more than 290 million views on YouTube, it remains his most-watched video and one of his most critically acclaimed performances. Feel endures as a modern pop classic, uniting vulnerability and grandeur in equal measure.