![]() If I’m stopped at a red light and someone catches me in the act, I’m not turning down the volume or lowering my voice. Whenever I hear this live version of “Freedom ‘90,” my truest self is singing along, missing notes in reality but sounding exactly like George Michael in my heart. Years after coming in contact with the original performance, I rediscovered the live version on YouTube, as well as the performance’s behind-the-scenes footage, which shows Michael walking in as his singers are warming up with a version of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together.” He gives some hugs, takes his position in the middle of the circle, and immediately starts singing and dancing, as if there’s no place like home, being soulful. I’ve always wanted to feel something as much as George Michael seems to feel the music here, absorbing the energy from the musicians around him. “Freedom ‘90” stuck with me, in large part because of this video. Some songs like this show up in your life and disappear quickly, but a handful stick with you. “Freedom ‘90” is a power song - one of those things that can get you out of bed, shake you out of a depression, take you from good to great, from inspired to exalted. But if you take an inch from Michael, he’ll give you a mile in return. I didn’t know anything about Wham!, or that “Freedom ‘90” was a not-so-subtle coming-out anthem. “Heaven knows I was just a young boy,” go the lyrics, “didn’t know what I wanted to be.” I was in seventh grade, and I could relate. It became a distant memory, but the song stuck - and as I got older, I began to actually ingest the words. As the months - and soon years - went on, the official video remained a mainstay on MTV and VH1, but I never saw the live performance again on TV. If you wanted something, you had to just wait and hope to get lucky. There was no YouTube, so you couldn’t just summon the things you liked at a moment’s notice. And it was filmed in a way that only heightened the experience - that hypnotic, dizzying rotating circle shot.Īs too frequently happened when you saw a video you liked on MTV in the mid-’90s, I spent months anxiously waiting to see it again. There were his backup singers, who looked like they’d been hired straight off the Rhythm Nation tour. There was his single gold-hoop earring, his dark shades, and his all-black outfit, complete with the black leather jacket and backwards black Raiders cap with a small tuft of hair sticking out the front. There was the dark room, the studio audience, and the smiles on everyone’s faces. It seemed like they loved him and he loved them back - this was an unfamiliar reality I didn’t even realize was allowed.Įvery aspect of the video was overwhelming to my first-grader brain. But here was white man George Michael, surrounded by black and brown musicians, looking comfortable. Before watching the channel, I only really knew black people and cartoons. MTV was my first real introduction to white people. To have the freedom to be the person whom you aspire to be is what almost everyone desires.Before I ever heard “Freedom ‘90” or saw its official music video with Naomi and Cindy, Linda and Christy, I saw this live performance, from a mid-’90s re-airing of MTV’s 1991 10th Anniversary Special. What are some of the ways that you experience being free? Let us explore this list on the 50 Best Songs About Freedom and find out what songs relate to you the most! Freedom to be Yourself They will be able to get the freedom of truly being themselves. A few might say that they have a door to a magic shop in their mind to run away from reality. Personally, I feel free when it is late at night, getting away from everything and being by myself as during the day I feel suffocated. There are many ways to define freedom, and it all depends on the perspective of everyone. As RM of BTS once said, there is no ‘freedom’ when you say ‘freedom’ out loud. Girls / Girls / Boys – Panic! at the Disco.Destiny’s Child – Independent Women, Pt.Girls Just Wanna Have Fun – Cyndi Lauper. ![]() Really Don’t Care – Demi Lovato, Cher Loyd. ![]() ![]()
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