George Michael – Freedom! ’90

1990: Fincher, five models, jukebox on fire

In late 1990 Freedom! ’90 arrived from Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 as George Michael’s clearest break with his own image. He wrote and produced it. The groove is loose and soulful: drums with a live feel, short organ chords, a chorus built to be shouted by rooms that no longer needed him in the leather jacket. The lyric names the problem. Sometimes the clothes do not make the man, and the picture in the frame has to go. He wrote and produced the track on that album as the break. Live-feel drums and short organ chords carry a chorus made for a room, not for the jacket.

David Fincher directed the video. Michael does not appear. Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Cindy Crawford and Tatjana Patitz lip-sync in a mansion while Faith props get destroyed: guitar, jukebox, leather jacket, the billboard image. The clip argues with the previous campaign. Fincher shot it with a cold, precise look, years before his Hollywood features made that look famous. The same five models lip-sync in the mansion. Guitar, jukebox and leather jacket are the props destroyed on screen.

The chorus lifts without a dance-floor trick, and the verses stay close to speech. Michael is absent from his own video and still leaves a hook strong enough for karaoke decades later. Fincher shot the clip years before the Hollywood features. The chorus does the work without a dance remix. The verses stay spoken. On screen the models smash the jukebox. On the record, the groove has already left the costume.

The five models smash the jukebox on screen. On the record, the groove is already out of the Faith costume. The chorus is strong enough that karaoke rooms still use it decades later.