Released: May 27
Will Young celebrates 20 years since his ‘Pop Idol’ win with a career-spanning retrospective featuring his best-loved singles.
On February 9, 2002, the hitmaker went up again Gareth Gates during the Grand Final of the first series of the TV talent contest, during which he debuted his take on Cathy Dennis co-write Anything Is Possible and Westlife cover Evergreen, which was released as a Double A-side as his winner’s single.
In the voting, the pair were neck and neck, but it was Will who triumphed with 53.1 per cent of the public vote – and so began a pop legacy that would go on for 20 years, and counting.
Opening with Evergreen and Will’s rendition of the Doors’ Light My Fire, the tracklist segues into his Gareth Gates collaboration The Long and Winding Road, serving a chart-topping ‘Pop Idol’ triple-hit that pays tribute to his career beginnings.
So begins a journey through Will’s eight studio albums – from debut ‘From Now On’ to his 2021 covers collection ‘Crying on the Bathroom Floor’ – and the best-of also features the No. 1 hit Leave Right Now, plus Top 10 smashes such as You and I, Your Game, Friday’s Child and All Time Love.
In addition to his early work, ‘20 Years: The Greatest Hits’ also celebrates Will’s more recent releases, including his collaborations with producer Richard X, who helped propel the star back into the UK Top 5 with his smash hit Jealousy.
It’s a collaboration that the pair have maintained in recent times, including on career-highlight All The Songs and Will’s cover of Bat for Lashes’ Daniel, the most recent song on the LP.
The standard edition of the album rounds off with two new recordings – single Why Does It Hurt and Breaking Free – marking the star’s first original recordings in three years and bringing his journey as both a vocalist and an artist full circle.
Meanwhile, deluxe editions of the project include an expanded tracklist that boasts performances from live sessions over the years, with renditions of some of his biggest hits and classic covers brought together for the first time, as well as two exclusive demo recordings of Your Game and Jealousy.
So far in his career, Will has yet to open up the vault and unleash outtakes from his archive, so to be given a taste of what will undoubtedly be on offer at some point down the line is an added bonus from an already packed release.
The inclusion of live recordings also enhances the offering – although, in actual fact, we’d have preferred a selection of B-sides and deep cuts (and a couple of remixes, of course), to offer a little more depth and something that’s not so widely available.
Wishful thinking aside, though, ‘20 Years: The Greatest Hits’ is a worthy addition to Will’s impressive catalogue and, as he embarks on a national tour with talk of a new studio album in the works, serves as a reminder that two decades into his career, he remains one of the UK’s premier pop acts.
’20 Years: The Greatest Hits’ is available now.
