'I made a song with Robbie Williams for Better Man, he's fearless and doesn't hold back'

• Better Man tells the life story of Robbie Williams, from his childhood to his rise to fame with Take That and his solo career, as well as the difficult experiences he's experienced.

• The biopic features a new song from the musician, Forbidden Road, which he worked on with Freddy Wexler and Sacha Skarbek.

• Freddy Wexler is a Grammy-nominated songwriter and producer who has worked with artists like Billy Joel, BlackPink and Ariana Grande.

• Forbidden Road has been nominated at the Golden Globes for Best Original Song, and has been shortlisted at the Oscars.

As trite as it sounds, Robbie Williams is a real rock star and that was very evident from the moment I met him. He's authentic and he's fearless, and there's something incredibly endearing about his openness, he does not shy away from his humanity and I think that's what makes his story so relatable and powerful.

It's a deeply human story, and I think it's captured in Better Man. It's about resilience and self discovery and ultimately redemption but it doesn't hold back, the movie doesn't hold back and I don't think Rob holds back.

We first met after I worked with Billy Joel on Turn the Lights Back On, his first song in decades, Rob called and told me he'd followed the story and had really liked the song we'd worked on and asked if I was in LA and if I could come over to meet him. We hit it off, we started working on music and at a certain point he told me that he and Michael Gracey had been searching for the right end title song for his film. They'd gone through so many options but nothing had quite stuck.

I remember how he described what they were looking for, they wanted the song to feel like a hug and that word really stuck with me — this idea that the music needed to be warm, intimate and comforting so that's how it started and how we created Forbidden Road.

I shared this acoustic idea with them, something simple and heartfelt with a sort of Cat Stevens-vibe, very stripped back. Robbie was into it but the pressure was on when I showed it to Michael Gracey, who is a real visionary and has very specific opinions and ideas, which make him the great filmmaker he is.

I was very happy that as soon as the guitar started playing over my speakers he leaned in and he was excited, and from there it became about building on that initial feeling and crafting something that could just carry the emotional weight of Rob's story while still offering a sense of hope.

The meaning behind Forbidden Road

Rob's life as depicted in the film is about so much more than fame, it's about the search for love, for validation, for connection, and the song had to encapsulate all of that. It had to feel intimate but also expansive, personal but also vast and universal, and I think that it works.

The title itself, Forbidden Road, carries so much weight when you think about Rob's life, he's taken paths that society might label as forbidden and they've shaped who he is. The lyrics say "I walked along the Forbidden Road, I had to know where does it go?" It's about curiosity, rebellion, and the human need to understand oneself even if that means making mistakes along the way.

But the line that really anchors the song for me is "I'm not the only one". There's a sense of defiance in that, almost a quiet plea for understanding — it's like saying "this is my journey and I know I'm not alone in this path", it's raw and honest and very true to who Robbie is.

The pre-chorus has this beautiful line, "I think you need to lose your mind to get back to the light sometimes" and when I hear Rob sing that to me it feels both wise and deeply human, it's about the fact that sometimes you have to fall apart a little to find yourself again. It's uncomfortable, it's messy, but it's often where the greatest growth comes from.

And then there's the bridge, "so do you love me now, or did I let you down? You said you wanted all my secrets, so I showed you all my demons, do you love me now?" This is such a vulnerable moment, it's asking is this enough? Am I enough? I think it's clear in the movie that for Rob, for much of his life, he had this longing for love and acceptance that maybe he didn't get as a kid from his dad.

I also think it's representative of a universal longing that we all have for love and acceptance. In the context of the film, and Robbie's journey that's portrayed in it. He's laid everything bare, and he's hoping it's enough but there's no guarantee.

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Writing an end title song for a movie is a unique challenge, and Michael Gracey was an amazing teacher in that regard. It was critical to him that I saw the movie, initially I hadn't seen the movie but I knew that Robbie was played by this CGI character, but ultimately seeing the movie was critical because the end title isn't just about the song itself, it's about how the song crystallises everything the audience has just experienced. It's the culmination of the journey.

Michael was very adamant about that, to his credit Michael was more concerned with how the song made you feel in the cinema at the end of the film rather than whether or not the song was going to be a success or a hit.

There was this real push and pull between me and him about every detail of this song from the lyrics to the production, to the mix itself. Typically, when you produce a song you're producing it for stereo, for the two speakers you have when driving your car or singing at home. But for a cinema that's not how it's designed and Michael was meticulous about how it had to sound there.

This creative push and pull created the best record, because what ended up being the record is the best version of it that ever existed. I think there were moments in there that I didn't know if that was going to be the case, and I don't know if Michael knew that was going to be the case because I was fighting for certain things and he was fighting for certain things, but at the end of the day we got it there.

Becoming friends with Robbie Williams

Robbie is incredibly talented, an icon and and a legend, so of course writing with him and producing him is a huge highlight, as is just recording his vocals. He is an exceptional singer, at 50 years old to me he sounds like he has the vocal abilities of someone in their twenties, it's really cool to watch. He's a two-take singer and he's done, and that's pretty awesome.

Being friends with Robbie before recording Forbidden Road certainly helped, with anything in life don't you give it a little more effort when you really like the person? I think the answer is yes and especially when it comes to creating art, which sometimes happens quickly when you capture lightning in a bottle but sometimes it's painstaking to get the lyrics right for months until it feels good.

So when you are excited to see the joy in the artist's face when you present it to them, when you're excited by that thought, that can help motivate you to keep going when you're in a bunker, in a vacuum, trying to get it right. That was the case with Rob, I know that he's appreciative of the work and I know he loves art and artistry, and great songs and great music, and has a high bar, so all that is motivating.

What surprised me most about Rob was just how unapologetically himself he is, he's this global icon, a rock star with undeniable presence, but he's also incredibly vulnerable. He doesn't shy away from his flaws or his past, in fact he embraces them as a part of who he is.

I also found his humour and openness really disarming, he has this ability to be completely raw and honest one moment and can crack a joke that makes everyone laugh the next. He has that balance of humanity and humility, although he definitely knows he's Robbie Williams I think that is what makes him so likeable.

Forbidden Road being nominated for a Golden Globe is humbling, it's incredible to be recognised for your work always, especially in such a competitive award show and category. I think that it's also validating in the sense that we wanted to strike a human chord. We wanted to strike something universal, and to an extent it shows that in some way we did.

Robbie and I continue to work together all the time, we've been working on some really exciting songs that I hope people will get to hear. I can say that we are collaborating for the future, we're finalising some new songs and records that I'm really excited about. I'm excited for that collaboration for sure.

Better Man is out in cinemas now.

Freddy Wexler told his story to Roxy Simons.