"Freedom! '90" (also known simply as "Freedom") is a song written and performed by George Michael, and released on Epic Records in 1990. The "'90" added to the end of the title is to prevent confusion with a Wham! song also titled "Freedom".
History
The song was a highly-praised confessional project from Michael, acknowledging his fortune and luck from his early days with Wham! - referring directly to Andrew Ridgeley as his "buddy". The cleverly worded song was initially promoted as describing Michael's effort to break free from his publishing contract with Sony Music. However, as Michael's sexuality came to light a few years later with his arrest in a public bathroom in April 1998, the song became equally recognized as a one that describes the struggles of being a closeted homosexual. Michael has since been open about his orientation.
Music video
As if to reinforce the song's sentiment, Michael refused to appear in the music video - which was directed by David Fincher and shot by Jeff Cronenweth - and instead recruited a number of supermodels (including Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Tatjana Patitz, Cindy Crawford, and male models John Pearson, Mario Sorrenti, and Peter Formby) to mouth the words. It also featured the destruction of the three items from "Faith" that had come to symbolize Michael's career at that point: his leather jacket (burned), jukebox (exploded) and guitar (exploded).
Chart performance
"Freedom! '90" was 6:30 long, but a shorter version was made available for radio consumption. The addition of the year to the title was to distinguish the song from "Freedom", a #1 hit in the UK for Wham! in 1984 (#3 in the US in 1985). It was the second US single from the album Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1, and had contrasting fortunes on each side of the Atlantic - it peaked #28 on the UK Singles Chart, but was a major success on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, reaching #8 and selling over 500,000 copies to earn a Gold certification from the RIAA. It remained in the Billboard Top 40 for twelve weeks in late 1990 and early 1991.[1]
Chart positions
| Chart (1990) |
Peak positions |
| Japanese Singles Chart |
1 |
| Dutch Top 40[2] |
7 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 |
8 |
| U.S. Hot Dance Club Play |
16 |
| Australia ARIA Singles Chart |
18 |
| UK Singles Chart |
28 |
| German Media Control Singles Chart |
41 |
Formats and track listings
CD single (USA)
(Released December 15, 1990)
- "Freedom! '90" – 6:29
- "Fantasy" – 4:12
Official remixes/versions
- Radio version – 7:11
- Radio mix – 7:00
- Mix 1 Vox Hi – 6:36
- 12" Fab Four Mix for Cleveland City – 8:25
- X-tended Club Mix – 6:47
- Ruffneck Mix – 8:23
- Alternative Mix – 7:12
Cover versions
Robbie Williams version
"Freedom" is a 1996 single released by Robbie Williams, his debut single since leaving Take That.
It reached #2 in the UK, twenty-six places higher than George Michael's original and has not been included on any of his studio albums since. The single had sold 280,000 copies by the end of 1996, being certified Silver by the BPI.[3]
Williams had left Take That the previous year and therefore could identify himself with much of the sentiment in the song, although he did not use the line "we had every bigshot goodtime band on the run boy, we were living in a fantasy" in his version. The music video shows Williams dancing in the sea and in a field, celebrating his separation from his former group. Williams later admitted that the song had not even been recorded by the scheduled date of filming and instead mimed to George Michael's version of the song.
Chart performance
| Chart (1996) |
Peak positions[4] |
| UK Singles Chart |
2 |
| Australia ARIA Singles Chart |
6 |
| Finnish Singles Chart |
7 |
| Italian Singles Chart |
8 |
| Swiss Singles Chart |
8 |
| German Singles Chart |
10 |
| Dutch Singles Chart |
12 |
| Belgian (Flanders) Singles Chart |
16 |
| Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart |
16 |
| Austrian Singles Chart |
19 |
| Swedish Singles Chart |
24 |
| New Zealand Singles Chart |
39 |
References
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Robbie Williams |
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