On the surface, George Michael’s “Freedom! ‘90” is a catchy, soulful pop anthem. But beneath its upbeat groove lies a deeply personal, fiercely defiant declaration of independence.
The song and its iconic music video represent George Michael’s formal resignation from his own manufactured image. It was a direct battle with his record label (Sony) and an announcement that he would no longer sacrifice his mental health or authenticity for the sake of MTV stardom.
The Message in the Lyrics: Shedding the Persona
By 1990, George Michael was one of the biggest pop stars on earth following his massive 1987 solo album Faith. However, the relentless promotion, the hyper-sexualized image, and the pressure to stay in the closet left him deeply depressed and trapped.
In the lyrics to “Freedom! ‘90,” he lays it all bare:
· Regret over the “Faith” era: In the opening verses, he references his quick rise to fame with Wham! and his early solo days, admitting he played a character to get what he wanted: “I think there’s something you should know / I think it’s time I told you so / There’s something deep inside of me / There’s someone else I’ve got to be.”
· The commodification of stardom: He sings about how the music industry packages artists like products: “When you shake your ass, they notice fast / And some mistakes were built to last.” He felt he had become a prisoner to his own marketing.
· A plea for his fans’ understanding: The chorus isn’t just about defiance; it’s an honest request for his audience to let him grow up: “I won’t let you down / I will not give you up / Gotta have some faith in the sound / It’s the one good thing that I’ve got... Please don’t give me up on me.”
The Music Video: Literal Iconoclasm
The music video, directed by David Fincher, is where the message becomes unmistakably clear. George Michael famously refused to appear in the video. He was done being the focal point of the camera’s gaze. Instead, inspired by a Peter Lindbergh photo shoot, he hired five of the world’s top supermodels—Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Cindy Crawford, and Tatjana Patitz—to lip-sync the lyrics for him.
By replacing himself with the ultimate symbols of 1990s visual culture, he was making a cynical but brilliant point: If you only care about the look, look at them. Just let me be the music.
Beyond the models, the video features the literal destruction of the props that defined his Faith superstardom:
1. The Leather Jacket: The iconic “BSA” leather jacket he wore throughout the Faith tour is shown bursting into flames on a hanger.
2. The Jukebox: The Wurlitzer jukebox he leaned against in the “Faith” video explodes into pieces.
3. The Guitar: The guitar he famously strummed is shattered.
By blowing up and burning these artifacts, Michael was telling the world that the “Faith” version of George Michael was dead.
The Closet and the Bigger Picture
While “Freedom! ‘90” was overtly about freedom from the music industry and the burdens of fame, it also carried a heavy subtext regarding his sexuality. Michael was a closeted gay man at the time, facing immense pressure to maintain his image as a heterosexual heartthrob to a global audience.
While he didn’t officially come out until 1998, the song’s central theme—that keeping up a false front will destroy you, and true freedom requires burning down your old life to live authentically—remains a timeless anthem for anyone fighting to break free from external expectations… or old version(s) of The Self.
My lesson & insight
I would posit that instead of “blowing up or burning down” your last chapter, you consider, as I have, integrating all the uniquely unique aspects of you into the “new” unique you. Whether an artist-musician, writer, mother, “A Father Figure” (another great song by George Michael) of any sort, a sister, a brother, a friend—all aspects are of value when done with Authenticity. It can be fun and playful when done with presence. It could feel like a little girl dressed up as a princess, the boy playing cowboy, a Lincoln Log builder, or I don’t know, yet. I am seeing my entire life in a retro-casual way, as an artist in whatever it is I am or “do,” as a gift to myself and maybe others of a unique uniqueness. Maybe they are watching, maybe not. Maybe I say something of deep impactful meaning or IDK what the fuck I am talking about. Ha.
“There’s someone deep inside of me that I forgot to be!”
Similar to a SpaceX rocket, that didn’t blow up or burn...
I took flight from my parents launchpad of home at 18, at the start of summer, post high-school graduation. And I wanted out and away from that place, that environment. I returned to be near my parents and family in ’24, after living across the country for 26 years. At times being near my parents, it has been like observing two people hold each other captive by their childhood traumas/conditioning, as if in a verbal Ground Hog day (a Bill Murry movie) inside a Guantanamo Bay.
So the rocket landed. I was asking Why? Maybe it is for me (interpersonal me) to transmute the memories of my childhood. Or! Maybe I am breaking chains of conditioning—through seeing now clearly what type of environment made me who “I was” or who “I am” becoming. Learning Love, the messy unconditional Love my parents did their best to show me and my siblings, in the only way they knew/know how.
By the way, this all came to me in pieces or lessons, over time. At one point, only months ago, as a straight man—and I won’t pretend I know—I felt as if closeted — unable to relate to, share, or even start a conversation with my father about who I’ve become; about all the new, interesting things I have learned over the last 5, 7, 20 years. The EQ, SQ, esoteric, all the transformative growth and not being able to even start a conversation with him around who I am.
A Kaleidoscope of perspectives
Just this week, I’ve moved from the perspective of an inmate of Guantanamo Bay, to a viewing it from outside the chain-link fencing, to a place of Acceptance and Love. To lovingly see my father and mother—and to admit I don’t know all the difficulties they went through just to get “here.”—versus “They Can’t handle the truth!” of their very own mindsets and World Views. Pretty sure this more right between these lines, here, for me to see. So, I see them as they are, with eyes unclouded by longing for what they might have been. That’s just selfish, even though I think about it wanting the love, for them, for each other. I want my father to feel love, maybe for the first time in his entire life. I want my mother to have more affection. Maybe being George Michael after hitting number 1 on the chart in 1987 was his experience and for another 8 years he maybe felt trapped, and this is mine. No more or less. Just different. Just different musical notes for different folks.
If we all as humans see each other through the eyes of a child and I am only Human and there’s a kaleidoscope of people with different perspectives and each came to experience something different.
Like the Skittles candy commercial— [Let people] Taste the[eir] Rainbow!
Whether you’re currently “corporate,” live in the bush, a musician, a model, a butcher, a baker, or the candlestick-maker YOU have the Freedom to Find the good in the thing that You’ve got right in front of you, now. And! you can change or better yet transmute it, into who I am becoming.
To be clear, this lesson was for me. For my growth. My path, my lesson. My shadows, my mirrors of who I was to who I am becoming. And the growth has come from an interactive interbecoming. Some days feel like a bad acid trip staring into a scary kaleidoscope of WTF, why am I here, I could be doing other things much more valuable and impactful in people’s lives, elsewhere. Here is NOT where I am supposed to be! There’s a teacher in all of our lives.
One more note. I’ve learned that the lesson is complete, when the charge is completely removed. It is not necessarily when you first see it. Not when it is witnessed for the first time—which may result in a burying or avoidance. For me, it is when I can clearly see, observe, hear, and feel all the same behaviors that used to bother me and in 1/10,000th of a second accept and appreciate the reminder.
I can tell you the future me will hold near and dear this time with them, this chapter, re-membering the parts of me through their eyes and ears and the heart of a me as a rocket man, maybe even a future Father Figure of sorts that I learned how to be in the most peculiar way, with a new-found Freedom.
10, 9, 8, 7, …
© Ryan Scherzinger 2026+
The Voice lives here on Substack and my Instagram.
If you feel this might resonate with someone, share. I give thanks to all my teachers.