Gary Barlow’s confidence took a knock after he struggled to match the highs of former bandmate Robbie Williams.
After departing Take That, Gary released Open Road in 1997 and Twelve Months, Eleven Days in 1999 – but, despite his debut topping the charts, neither record managed to live up to the highs of Robbie’s debut LP, Life Thru A Lens, which moved 2,105,561 copies.
“When I think back to [Open Road], I was leaving the band and everyone was like, ‘You’ve got to be the next George Michael’ so I was like, ‘Oh, s**t’ and that was a panic,” the Incredible singer tells Music Week.
“Then the second album was a complete disaster because I partnered with Clive Davis, who loved everything about me except my songwriting, so that was quite a big problem.”
His 2013 album, Since I Saw You Last, was more successful, but the failure of the first two records had a lasting impact on Gary, who admits it “took [him] years to get [his] confidence back” .
“The third one was great, but I was doing it to almost exorcise the other two from my system because it was such a damaging experience, especially that second one,” he explains of the hit record, which featured his collaboration with Elton John, Face to Face.
There are more collaborations on his fourth album, Music Played By Humans, as Gary teams up with stars including Michael Bublé, Sebastián Yatra, Barry Manilow, Alesha Dixon and Beverley Knight.
Recorded with an 80-piece orchestra, the musician acknowledges that recording and releasing an album amid the pandemic is a strange experience.
“I wanted this album to be absolutely packed with players,” he muses. “Then, weirdly, all this has happened where we’re not allowed to be near anyone anymore and it’s been so strange.
“I listen to it and just think, ‘Thank God I did it before all this started’.”
Pre-order Music Played By Humans on download, CD and vinyl now.
