How ‘Faith’ liberated, then trapped, George Michael
It was time for something new. For his first half-decade in the public eye, George Michael was the clean-cut, impossibly talented young singer and creative force behind Wham!, the synthpop duo that became Britain’s biggest act of the mid-1980s. But Wham! was stifling, with a primarily teen audience too busy shrieking at Michael rather than listening to his music.
His first major step out was ‘Careless Whisper’, a solo single that was packaged as a Wham! single in America. Although the track was a rare co-write with bandmate Andrew Ridgeley, Michael was credited as a solo artist on most versions of the track. More sophisticated than the light and fluffy material that Wham! was transitioning toward in the middle of the 1980s, Michael saw an avenue to explore outside of the confines of Wham!
Once the duo broke up in 1986, Michael almost immediately set about recording his solo debut. Focusing largely on his own personal relationships, Faith was a step out for Michael. To celebrate his newfound independence and his leap into adulthood, Michael radically altered his image, growing facial hair and embracing a more explicitly sex-focused style.
That new image would be on full display in the video for the album’s title track. Although it wouldn’t be the first single to show off Michael’s new look, with ‘I Want Your Sex’ coming out five months prior, ‘Faith’ would become the iconic visual and musical statement for Michael in this period.
While Michael wasn’t publically broadcasting his sexuality at this point, even bringing in his then-girlfriend for the video of ‘I Want Your Sex’. But the ‘Faith’ video had more than a few clues for discerning viewers. ‘Faith’ would become the iconic point of Michael’s independence, but it didn’t take long for Michael to grow tired of the song and the video.
In fact, just three years later, Michael felt the need to explode out of his previous image. “At some point in your career, the situation between yourself and the camera reverses,” Michael told The Los Angeles Times. “For a certain number of years, you court it, and you need it, but ultimately, it needs you more, and it’s a bit like a relationship. The minute that happens, it turns you off … and it does feel like it is taking something from you.”
As such, Michael refused to appear in the video for his latest single, ‘Freedom! ’90’. Instead, he hired director David Fincher to make a stylised video featuring an array of supermodels. As an extra touch, Fincher decided to literalise Michael’s abandonment of his past by destroying some of the iconic objects from the ‘Faith’ video, including his leather jacket, guitar, and jukebox.
“By the end of the Faith tour, I was so miserable because I absolutely knew that I was gay,” Michael told Attitude in 2004. “I didn’t suddenly want to come out. I wanted to do it with some kind of dignity. So I thought ‘Okay, you have to start deconstructing this whole image.'”
Check out the video for ‘Faith’ down below.
