• Choked Up
• Nostalgic

‘George Michael – Freedom Uncut’

The Wham! documentary that just debuted on Netflix sent me all the way down a George Michael rabbit hole. As a child of the ’80s, I of course have some fondness for that group’s particular blend of effervescent pop, but few would disagree with the assertion that the bulk of what people will remember about George Michael for decades to come — “Last Christmas” aside — is the body of work he left behind as a solo artist. George Michael: Freedom Uncut is a documentary that very specifically focuses on Michael’s solo career, from his gargantuan, world-dominating 1987 LP Faith to the battles he endured fighting his record label around the time of 1990’s Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1, to the unrelenting heaps of scorn and shame he endured when his life became a tabloid sensation after his 1998 arrest for public lewdness. Michael was hard at work at the doc when he died of heart disease in 2016 at the age of just 53, and to be honest, the end results are a bit of a mess, but I urge you to look past some of the narrative flow issues and instead focus on his majestic, unforgettable talents as both a singer and a songwriter — and the costs he paid to bring his art to the world.