Robbie Williams keeps repeating two words to fans and it made no sense – until now

It’s been more than a year now that legendary pop artist Robbie Williams has begun every social media post with “Hail Keanu”.

Some fans have loved the eccentricity of it; for others, it’s sparked concern – has Williams gone mad? But it turns out that there’s a perfectly logical explanation behind the bizarre greeting.

Ahead of the Australian leg of his Britpop World Tour, Williams dialled up Today Entertainment Editor Richard Wilkins to chat all things tour, family, and social media greetings.

When Wilkins asked Williams to explain the “Hail Keanu thingamajig”, he didn’t hesitate a second before explaining that it “all started a few years ago”.

Williams explained that the reason he starts every Instagram caption with “Hail Keanu” stems from a competition he ran on his Instagram a while back. He posed this question to his followers: If aliens landed on Earth, who would we want to greet them as our ambassador?

“So I picked out like 32 of the world’s renowned ‘good egg’ celebrities,” he said.

“You know, Dolly Parton, Tom Hanks, blah blah blah ... and Keanu Reeves won, naturally.”

In keeping with the bit, Williams made sure to sign off his interview with Wilkins with a simple, “Hail Keanu”.

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Williams is currently on his Britpop tour, travelling throughout Europe before he’s scheduled to kick things off in Australia in November.

He recently came under fire from some fans complaining that for a tour titled after his Britpop album, there is a major lack of songs from Britpop on the set list, with Williams instead veering more toward his classic hits.

He responded to fans’ criticisms directly on Instagram, explaining that his duty is to entertain.

Williams recalled a conversation he had with Taylor Swift about set lists before one of her concerts, explaining that she was at a point in her career where everyone in the audience would know every track, regardless of whether it was a single.

“You can’t know until it stops. And when you’re in it, why would you imagine it ever ending?” He wrote.

He pointed out other stars later in their career such as Paul McCartney, The Cure and Bryan Adams, all of whom are sticking to the same formula of a set list filled with their older hits.

Williams explained that while he loves the Britpop album, and he appreciates the fans that do too, his ultimate goal at a show is connection.

“I’ve written about this before, but I’ll go again. These new songs have a MASSIVE task. Evict the old ones,” Williams continued.

“And those old songs aren’t just three-minute pop songs. They’re friends.”