Wham’s “Freedom” vs. George Michael’s “Freedom! ‘90”

The Wham song.

I never ever liked it. Never understood the love for it and it’s popularity.

Freedom 90. Great song, great lyrics, iconic video.

R2 facts. Watching the video for the first time since the 90s made me miss the 90s so fucking much. Man. I loved it.

They are both pop songs, but Freedom 90 is much more mature pop than Wham’s Freedom. I think both songs having the same title makes them good examples of his growth as a songwriter.

Wait, I just watched that video for the first time (born 2000), why didn’t you fucking whores tell me about this video? That’s brilliant and while simple, it is interesting and you can’t stop watching. THAT is iconic. I loved it. Who were the male models in the video? Of course we know the women.

Naomie slamming the doors open as the music grows and dancing in the dark looks beautiful. The way she moves looks amazing on film. Always liked her since I discovered her as a kid. And her being a monster makes her more interesting to me.

R5 I don't know who the male models were, except for the guy with the long hair - an Italian model named Mario Sorrenti.

Glad you liked the video. It was HUGE in 1990, and it holds up to this day.

A little background on the video, R5. This album was released at a time when George Michael decided he no longer wanted to appear in his own music videos and wanted to keep his focus on the music.

He proposed getting supermodels to lip synch in the video, and record executives were nervous the record wouldn't sell without George himself in the video. Instead, it became a huge sensation.

He did something similar in his "Too Funky" video, although he did appear in silhouette in that one.

It always bugs me, though, when the blonde model misses the first word of her lyric at 5:26,

"It always bugs me, though, when the blonde model misses the first word of her lyric at 5:26"

Wow, that's my absolute favorite part. It's so unexpected yet it totally fits in to the whole "far too aloof/cannot be bothered" vibe of these supermodels.

Also, "the blonde model"???? TURN IN YOUR GAY CARD (unless you're very young in which case educate yourself) and put respect on the named Tatjana Patitz.

She’s the only one I don’t know r9. Her face looks familiar but her name doesn’t come to mind the way the other ladies do (especially Naomie and Cindy).

My favorite part of the video will always be at 5:08.

R10 THANK YOU. I do recognize that name very much and I’ve seen her face before but I couldn’t put the two together for some reason lmao

Tatjana had the best "role" but poor Cindy got stuck in that tub.

Linda and Christy doing the blood oath? OMG OMG OMG, yes please.

R14 I saw an interview with Cindy where she said there was no water in the tub. They just sprayed water on her so she'd look like she was wet. She also said the video was filmed in a castle in England and there was no heat, so she was freezing during filming.

Cindy didn’t open her eyes the entire time

I saw Wham! In Philly. Very day-glo. Terrible really. Still: Wham! Era Freedom. I never liked the solo George Michael. Joyless stuff.

“Too Funky” featured many of the new top models of that period, with supermodel Linda leading the way.

“Freedom 90” had the core supermodels.

The male models were John Pearson (considered the first Male Supermodel), Scott Benoit, Peter Formby, Todo Segalla, and Mario Sorrenti.

John Pearson is still beautiful in old age.

"Old age?" He's 56.

Vogue article on him from last year.

Another Vogue article from 2017

I never knew there were two!

R23 You see, new models don't care about old models. They for sure don't want to sit still for "advice" from them. That is the nature of such things as modeling.

R25 they sure should be willing to, as new models aren’t real models.

R8 - um - duh. Listen to the lyrics of the song. It's all about how he had to change his look and face for his career and that he wants some freedom for his music.

The lyrics for Freedom 90 are pretty dark and telling about how unhappy he was in his role in the music industry. Nobody seems to listen to the lyrics though.

Tatijana and Cindy were absolutely wasted (not used well) in the video. It was really Christy and Naomi's show. Christy's face was so god damn thin - EAT SOMETHING.

The 4K remastered version released last year. It takes away that 90s allure the original has but it’s nice to see still.

R27 she’s always been very thin. Still is.

I must be stupid because I never realized Freedom 90 was called that because it was the 2nd Freedom song from Georgie.

R27 Whaddya mean "duh?" I was explaining to the poster who was born in 2000 and who had never seen the video what was going on with George Michael at the time.

God, why do some queens have to be such miserable cunts?

Cindy’s take on why George wanted the five supermodels.

Reflecting on the video in 2015, Crawford stated that, at the time, they thought they were simply making "a really cool video," but that in retrospect, the video exhibits a dark humor: As MTV had altered the music industry so that physical beauty was now necessary to sell music, the video used five beautiful faces instead of the song's vocalist to mock this.

R31 - yeah, and also it was the height of the Supermodel madness. It guaranteed a lot of play and success. Models are a dime a dozen - he didn't have to go after the Trinity plus the other big names.

It was marketing pure and simple.

Hey, OP, Gia had already been dead for 4 years when this video was made. Doubt she could've gotten herself together enough to be in it.

R32 he wanted those five specifically because British Vogue had them on the cover and inside declared those five as THE Supermodels of the world. They were the biggest names in the modeling/fashion world. He saw that and insisted it be those five specifically. Linda was the one who gave the hardest time to do it, and George had to convince her to do it himself. She had no desire to do it, but years later admitted he was right because still to this day most people who approach her do so because of the video they loved so much.

“Evangelista took some persuading before agreeing to appear in the video, saying, "He thought it would make us into a big deal, that it would be good for us. I was like, 'Please, we're here. We've already arrived!'" After speaking with Michael, she was convinced, and rearranged her schedule. In a 2015 Vanity Fair article, Evangelista reflected on her decision positively, saying, "Little did I know that to this day, when someone meets me for the first time, they bring up that video. That's what they remember. So yeah, George was right." An initial disagreement over their salaries was resolved when Annie Veltri, who represented Crawford, Evangelista, Campbell, and Patitz at Elite Model Management, clarified that all of her clients would be compensated equally, at $15,000 a day.”

The best thing about this video is that Tyra Banks is not in it.

I like the Wham version more for just a song in an upbeat playlist, but I think the GM Freedom is an overall better song.

R36 this was 1990.

She was still very new (and young) then. She became a name in the modeling world 1-2 years later, which then GM used her for his 1992 music video.

George Michael wanted the top Supermodels in his video, and in 1990 there were five who were dominating. He wanted those five and he made sure he got them. Why would Tyra be in the video when she was not a supermodel yet?

If the video was in 1995 I can assure you she would be there.

The Story Behind

I seriously love this video!

Thanks for introducing me to this video OP

Never heard the Wham song, but the George Michael song was a big song from my childhood. It really is a well constructed song all through, too. There is no part that is only there to pass time until the chorus or what have you, it's all brilliant, and builds up to the final chorus beautifully. I loved the video too, but I think I remember enjoying the video for Too Funky even more as a kid.

R43 I love Too Funky

My brother and I were obsessed with the motorbike outfit worn by Emma in the Too Funky video.

I've always preferred "Freedom '90". When it was first released I figured it was George's coming out song.

It wasn’t r46. Listen to the lyrics

So many beautiful people in one video 🥵

But I have a question… when did Tyson Beckford become a big name in the modeling world?

R47 - exactly. Almost every pop star of the 80's signed these massive, huge money contracts that they later regretted. George Michael, Prince, Janet Jackson. They then complained about their artistic creativity and input - well, they should have read the fine print instead of signing for the biggest money they could get.

That being said, this is one of the most iconic videos ever made.

R48 - Tyson didn't come onto the scene for a few more years. Are you complaining that there weren't enough people of color?

R49 I don’t feel there should be “more” POC as much as I feel one man of color would have seemed appropriate, and Tyson was one of the biggest male models in the world.

I never liked Wham's "Freedom" despite being a big fan of them at the time. "Freedom '90" was much better in terms of songwriting and capturing the beginnings of 1990s culture. Wham didn't do a lot of creating in terms of cultural change, but George Michael by himself absolutely did.

R50 - well, it was 3 years before Tyson came on the scene. The only male model really profiled is John Pearson - you can't really see the other one much. It's a female driven video as female supermodels were becoming a force in society.

It's an unfair criticism.

Women always dominated the modeling and fashion world. The highest paid female models make over 10x what the top male models make. Sometimes more.

Also, there were more than two male models r52. During “act 2”, as I call it, there are 3 different male models. The one hanging upside down, the one laying on the floor messing with the lamp and then the one with long hair.

All are dark haired white males.

Ok, so Tyson came up around the same time as Kate Moss, Heidi Klum and Tyra? He was a part of that next batch.

My one quibble with the video is the appearance of the men. None of them are famous, ok, but worse, none of them are strikingly beautiful like all of the women here. The men are just....there.

Also, do each of these supermodels live in the same shabby house? Or do they each have their own shabby house? Are all of the shabby houses on the same fabulously shabby street in London? So many questions, so few answers.

Male models RARELY become household names. That’s why the top female supermodel sometimes pulls in $40 million in one year while the top male will male $1-$5 million.

As stated above, that industry is female dominant. Most people don’t care about male models.

The focus was always about the 5 supermodels. They added the male models in because they felt it seemed weird to only have the women.

But people only cared about the women.

I don’t think it’s fair to compare male models to female models. Supermodels were always women. If a male model did become a star it was more because he branched out into other ventures, like music or acting. People like Marky Mark, Tyson and Michael Bergin all earned the title of “Male Supermodel” after they began doing other stuff, which raised their profiles.

Male models themselves have spoken about how being a male model pays SHIT. The women are the ones who make the $$$ in that field.

I remember reading how the five women were paid $15k a day for this video, while the males were paid a flat rate of $2-$3k each. John made a little more than the other male models but a lot less than the women.

I’m kind of obsessed with this video

If they remade this video in 2021, who would the five supermodels be?

R62 Bella Hadid, Kendall Jenner, Emily Ratajowski, Gigi Hadid and someone else.

"One of the greatest singer-songwriters of MTV's first decade."

That's Tom Cruise saying that.

Freedom 1985 all the way, for me. Sorry folks. The bouncy, 60s-style pop hook does it for me every time. Perfectly reflects the breezy, fun, bubble-headed party era it came from.

R55 your vision needs to be checked 🙄

Freedom 90 is perfect as a music video, an excellent representation of the symbiosis in having the right people, at the right time, with the right look, within an almost timeless context. It's held up extremely well and will continue to hold up. The video is shot incredibly well, great ambiance, and there's almost an industrial loft feel that still reads, even knowing it was shot in a palace doesn't age or displace the environment.

Golden age of music videos.

R66 my vision is fine. I love the video, just don’t see the value of the male models.

Maybe you meant to react to a different post?

I love this video

George Michael - the face and voice of an angel.

The bridge in Freedom 90 is probably my favorite of any song. The part of the video where the guy in the white boxers scratches his ass is perfectly done too.

It is as relevant today as it was in the 80’s. In many ways George was beyond his years in his songwriting ability and vocal skills. People needed to get over the rumors of George’s sexuality and his drug use and look at the man and his artistry.