20 years in the pop biz, a fixture in the UK’s entertainment landscape and about to go on tour off the back of his third best-of album. That’s right, it’s Carl Marsh… speaking to Will Young, who was being described in that sentence.

It only seems like yesterday that you were on Pop Idol, and here were are 20 years later… with a Will Young Greatest Hits album and tour to go with it!

Will Young: Yeah, I know. I can’t believe it, to be honest. But it’s a great thing, a really fun thing, and it’s a celebratory thing. And so everything I’ve been doing around it, you know, little bits of filming for social media for the fans, talking about different videos and answering people’s questions – it’s all been really fun, and a nice, nostalgic moment. I think everyone loves a bit of nostalgia, particularly at the moment – people need something that feels good, with no edges to it.

On this Greatest Hits album – your third such compilation – I think seven of the last nine songs are written by you and two others, Mima Stilwell and Jim Eliot. That speaks volumes: you must love writing together, as you’ll have worked with so many different people over the last two decades?

Will Young: To be honest, I find songwriting really stressful. I don’t enjoy it. I think I feel very vulnerable, weirdly, with songwriting, but I don’t feel that when I am writing books. It’s just weird. I don’t know why I’ve never fully managed to navigate to a [less stressful] place… I did so much writing with so many different people at the beginning that I think it was pretty traumatic: I don’t enjoy doing it with strangers.

And then I met Jim and Mima – they’re so lovely, and it’s so easy. I don’t really like going into rooms with people I don’t know – and maybe that is to my detriment – but I just like writing with them. They’re very diverse. We’re actually going to do a week in Wales: we’re going to be surfing and writing. It makes it fun and relaxing. It’s not a stress.

I presume you wrote songs before you appeared on Pop Idol in 2001 and 2002 – did any of those songs end up on your albums down the line?

Will Young: There was one song, actually, on my second album, called Going My Way that I did do some lyrics for. So yeah, one. I was writing songs, but at that age, it wasn’t so easy to record things, and I didn’t play the piano as much. So, I would just sing in a car park, because it’s actually quite echoey, which is typical [laughs].

Besides the songwriting and touring – and I obviously can’t forget about the acting you’ve done! – you’ve got your podcast, The Wellbeing Lab. You’re a published author too. How do you find the time? Are you ever able to switch off from work mode?

Will Young: It seems like my output is a lot – my output is a lot – but what’s interesting is I’m not flat out. I did half an hour of songwriting today, and that’s probably me done on that for the day. And then I walk the dog. 

I’ve been writing for six years, and the podcast is pretty easy. It’s just doing an interview with someone – there are no cameras, none of that. So, even if my output is a lot, the way I work isn’t unmanageable at all. You know, I’ve just been on holiday for a week, and I deliberately didn’t do any work there. My thing is to try and do little and often, so I never feel overwhelmed. I think that’s a perfect way of working.

Will Young, St David’s Hall, Cardiff, Thurs 3 Nov. Tickets: £52.50/£45.50. Info: here

Swansea Arena, Thurs 10 Nov. Tickets: £46.50. Info: here

words CARL MARSH