Will Young talks lost duets, longevity and Lil Nas X as he releases 20 Years: The Greatest Hits
01.06.2022 - 19:09
/ officialcharts.com
On February 9 2002, over 13 million viewers watched Will Young beat Gareth Gates to be crowned the nation's first-ever Pop Idol. With the concept of the TV talent show in its absolute infancy, nobody could've predicted what happened next. Will's debut double A-side single, a cover of Westlife album track Evergreen paired with the Cathy Dennis-penned Anything is Possible, went on to become the best-selling single of the noughties.
Will's since proved one of the most successful talent show alumni of all time; with 11 UK Top 10 singles and 4 Number 1 albums to his name. And now, as he celebrates two decades in music with new collection 20 Years: The Greatest Hits, we catch up with Will to look back on lessons learned, lost duets and how he secured such career longevity.
I really wanted it, so a lot of decisions I made were based on wanting a long career. There were definitely short term sacrifices I made; things I thought might’ve made me a load of money but wouldn’t have given me longevity. I was lucky that a lot of the people I worked with wanted the same thing and were on board with those decisions.
It was hard coming from a talent show, so people were possibly judgemental. I think going with people like Steve Lipsum helped me become an artist with longevity, who’d worked with Annie Lennox, Whitney Houston and Frankie Goes to Hollywood. He’s a very cool producer, and I think him getting on board allowed people to see this was being done seriously.
Even the video directors I worked with that were deemed really cool; like Baillie Walsh who’d worked with everyone from Saint Etienne to INXS. He’d had videos banned from MTV. So, by working with these people who weren’t judgemental and liked what I did, that helped.
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