He flies on his private jet toting a custom-made purple Hermès Birkin bag larger than the regular model, a Goyard washbag and a copy of his favourite book, Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist. With hits such as 'Happy', a TV advert with Jay-Z and collaborations with Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, Snoop Dogg and Justin Timberlake (who he met at church when they were children), the musical chameleon never stands still. He has written a limited-edition hardback Places and Spaces I've Been, which includes conversations with Anna Wintour, Zaha Hadid and Kanye West, and his recent single 'Freedom' is dedicated to refugees; the video includes shots of him dancing in sweatshops and factories in Paris and Beijing. Williams says he writes some of his best songs on planes, which he puts down to heightened senses in the air, as well as his condition synesthesia, which allows him to see colours when he hears sounds. For downtime, he jets off to the Casa de Campo hotel in the Dominican Republic to watch the sunset and eat Caribbean crab. At home in LA, he practises skateboarding on a half-pipe ramp in his backyard between sketching for his fashion line, the Billionaire Boys Club. His clothes have travelled even further than he has; astronaut Leland Melvin wore one of his T-shirts on a mission to the International Space Station.
This feature first appeared in Condé Nast Traveller January/February 2017