Five things we’ve learned from the Will Young album cover

Yesterday, Attitude favourite Will Young revealed details about his sixth studio album – namely its cover and its title – 85% Proof. Here at Attitude HQ, we’ve become very excited by this news and have set about immediately examining the lovely cover to find out if we can learn anything more about what the doe eyed soul singer has up his sleeve (or vest top) for us.

1. Will Young is in some sort of boxing ring

Will Young is back in the ring. We’re not sure which one, or who he’s fighting, or if there’s anyone there to give him a sip of water (we’re available), but he’s very much in a boxing ring. There’s a hint of the Jealousy video in this, where Will also held on to some bars, but this was more trapeze based. Nevertheless, he looked fit in that too, so that’s a theme we’re glad he’s kept up. Speaking of which…

2. Will Young looks pretty fine

Much to the joy of everyone, Will still looks every bit the handsome chappie he always has done – in fact he’s looking even better than we’ve seen him looking for a while, and this is good. Look at how he owns that vest top, with a confidently grown beard and a right tidy haircut. #would #wood

3. Will Young is using some new font

Will likes to mix it up with his branding, and he’s never used the same font twice on an album cover. This time he’s gone for something delightfully simple, bold, and very much to the point. This could be indicative of the direction the music will go in, I don’t know, I’m not a mind reader, but this is very nice font. I’m not a typographer either, but at a quick glance I’m going to guess it’s Brandon Grotesque Medium, 72pt. Look it up.

4. Will Young is either almost certain, or certainly pissed

The title of the album is ambiguous. It could imply that Will has 85% proof of something – perhaps that the colour scheme of this cover is black and blue, not white and gold, or that Kanye West is the Messiah. Alternatively, he could be referring to the strength of a bottle of alcohol, in which case, he’s a bit confused all the same. Proof is a number which comes from doubling the bottle’s percentage of alcohol, and is not a percentage itself. If the bottle in question has a proof of 85, that means its alcohol content is 42.5%, meaning he’s either referring to a bottle of Woodford Reserve or Old Pulteney 35-year old Highlands Single Malt Scotch. Either way, cheers!

5. Will Young has an inner arm tattoo

We’ve not seen this before, and we’re not quite sure what it is, but we have set up an Attitude Exploratory Committee to investigate. Initial suggestions are that it’s either Paddington Bear’s hat, an upside down bucket, or the beginning of a sleeve dedicated to the American Horror Story characters of Jessica Lange. We look forward to seeing the finished work.

Will’s single Love Revolution will premiere this Friday morning at 8.30am on BBC Radio 2, and the aforementioned album will be released on 25 May.