Over the years, the United Kingdom has been a resourceful land for fresh and authentic talent. Today, From The Vault pays homage to an artist that helped bridge the gap between the UK and the rest of the world. George Michael‘s ‘Freedom! 90’ is this week’s pick.

The third single from 1990’s ‘Listen Without Prejudice Vol I’, the Gospel-infused ‘Freedom’ – which was produced and arranged by Michael himself – is an introspective track that sees the crooner look back at his time in former band Wham! and the blessings and curses it had brought him. He also longs to become the man he never allowed himself to be. Seemingly just another pamphlet against authority and the darker side of fame, a closer look at the clever songwriting also reveals a song about the artist coming to terms with his sexuality.

‘Freedom’ was a huge hit for the ‘Jesus To A Child’ vocalist, peaking at #8 in the US and #1 in Canada. It only reached the 28th position of the Official Charts on home-soil but still is considered alongside ‘Faith’ and ‘Careless Whisper’ a George Michael signature track in the UK, evidenced by the musician performing it at the London Olympics 2012 closing ceremony.

Perhaps what cemented this as a Pop-Culture moment lies in its uber slick visual. Instead of appearing in the video – in a bid to distance his image from his music – Michael turned to director David Fincher and 90’s larger-than-life supermodels Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington and of course Cindy Crawford to take the musical piece to the next dimension resulting in an editorial, moody-yet-funky 6-minutes-and-30-second-long masterpiece. Staying true to the lyrics, the video aims at destroying the caricatural image George cultivated during the ultra-succesful ‘Faith’ era. Explosive!

With record labels routinely trying to launch the next Mariah, Usher, and Beyonce to varying level of success, we feel they should go on a hunt for an heir to the mighty George. For that particular brand of honest and Soulful Pop would be refreshing and could definitely be a chart fixture in a post-EDM-crazed world.

Anyhow, ladies and gentlemen, here’s to George Michael at his best.

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