You can’t keep George Michael down. During the past few years the out entertainer has weathered a terrifying traffic accident and a near-fatal bout with pneumonia, but he’s lived not only to tell the tale, but offer more beautiful music. For the first single from his upcoming album Symphonica (his first album of new material in a decade, due March 17), the singer wraps his golden voice around a dramatic cover of a number previously recorded by Terrence Trent D’Arby.
Watch a teaser for the song’s video below.
jimbryant
It’s hilarious how George Michael’s new image seems to be pandering to heterosexuality yet again. Need the money, George? The record label got to you and ordered that you go back to looking hetero?
Remember how this creepy Brit used to put female models in his videos? You could hardly see a male model in sight. The pandering to female vanity, along with the hetero-normative nature of his songs, was appalling.
Go back to your beats or wherever it is you get your pleasure, George.
Stache1
He’s got such a great voice. My favorite albums will always be Ladies and Gentleman and Listen without prejudice.
Stache1
@jimbryant: Everyone already knows George Michael is Gay. He’s not trying to be “hetero normative” for anyone. Most of his songs are ambiguous and that’s just fine.
CAxlRose
@jimbryant: “Remember how this creepy Brit used to put female models in his videos?”
Umm, George has acknowledged countless times that he was bisexual back then; he had girlfriends and slept with a bevy of women throughout the 1980s. Those closest to George believed he swung both ways.
It wasn’t until George met and fell in love with Anselmo (at age 27) that Michael realized he wasn’t bisexual. He was gay. So this notion that he was a gay man deliberately pandering to straight stereotypes, and that it was all some of sort of cynical ploy to sell records, is pure crap.
DShucking
@CAxlRose: You’re not denying that George Michael was in the closet during his heyday with Wham and a solo artist, are you?
Drew2U
….Ladies please–just listen to the f*cking music and retract the claws.
MMDD
@CAxlRose: He’s still bisexual if he’s attracted to both genders, and I get the impression that he is. That doesn’t just disappear when you fall in love with someone, you know.
Richard
I love George Michael. Hope he is around to make music for a long time to come.
CAxlRose
@DShucking: No. But a closet bisexual and a closet homosexual are slightly different, especially in the context of the original comment, which refers to how George was marketed in the Wham!/”Faith” days (i.e. the quintessential ladies’ man).
@MMDD: Oh I know. I’m bi as well. But George self-identifies as gay now, and has since the Anselmo days, so I guess we have to take his word for it.
SpunkyBunks
Was George ever in the closet? Hell no! Even when I was a kid, George and Andrew (Wham!) were definitely gay and hot, check out their old videos, they are a hoot. And we really didn’t care that they were gay, but corporate America had a hard time with it. British musicians from the 80s had to tone it down when they came to America (MTv). Don’t blame George for pandering to the straights, that’s how mainstream America was marketed to back in those days.
MTv was white and straight in the 80s. We’ve come a long way where musicians can be openly gay without any issues in America. In Europe, it was never a big deal.
Arkansassy
I’m sure some people will like this, but I’m not one of them. Melba toast at its worst. There is nothing compelling about this song whatsoever.
Cam
@SpunkyBunks:
Please stop lying. This is the part that is so irritating. It isn’t even the closeted stars, it’s their weird gans that continually try to rewrite history by claiming they were always out.
No, they were not. George Michael even denied it in an interview. Even more ridiculous, after he was outed because of his arrest he hurriedly ran to assure heteros that all of his songs were written about women, and not “GASP” men.
jimbryant
Regardless of George Michael’s sexuality, there is no doubt that he has pandered to the idea of romancing women. This has been particularly evident in his music videos, which often contained female models.
As far as I’m concerned, he has not been inclusive towards gay and bisexual men image-wise. And, please, don’t attempt to counter me by citing those ridiculous T-shirts (which said “Choose Life”) or the glowing gloves he wore in the video for Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go. Those were examples of camp, not homosexuality.
George Michael needs to understand that we are not happy and won’t support his non-inclusive image.
MMDD
@CAxlRose: Lots of bisexual guys misidentify themselves as gay because they would only pursue a relationship with a man, but that still doesn’t change the fact that they’re actually bi when it comes to their sexuality. George has openly made comments about women he was attracted to and even said in a fairly recent interview that he would hop into bed with a woman again without hesitation. Sounds pretty bi to me. Too many people want to change the meanings of words to suit their own personal definitions.
jimbryant
MMDD,
I agree with you on the meanings of words and how they can be twisted.
In the case of celebrities, just remember that they are whatever they wish to be at any point in time depending on how much money they’re going to make from it.
MMDD
@jimbryant: Also I think it’s important to keep in mind that celebrities lead very different lifestyles than those of average, everyday people around the world. This is one of the reasons why I think we walk a slippery slope whenever we equate them with being role models.
CAxlRose
@jimbryant: Actually, I was going to counter with the “Outside” video. Ever seen it? Probably the gayest song/music video ever made!
DShucking
@CAxlRose: GM’s evolution really just supports the notion that most people come out as bi as a step toward eventually identifying as gay.