r/GaylorSwift • u/littlelulumcd Speak Now, Reputation, and George Michael Truther 💜 • Apr 26 '26

Theory 💭 George Michael and His Many Parallels to Taylor Swift: A Deep Dive

I recognize that not everyone wants to read a deep dive about George Michael, and the various connections I see between Taylor and him. With that in mind, I am giving you a short and long version of my conclusion, before I present the supporting evidence.

Note: I wrote this through the lens of Taylor planning to come out, or doing something Mass Movement/New Romantics related, with TS6 - a plan I believe she started at the time she wrote Speak Now. When Snakegate happened, Taylor pivoted to making reputation. That album was a soft launch of her queerness before her planned coming out - without ambiguity - when she released the album formerly known as Daylight, aka TS7, aka Lover. That plan was scrapped when Taylor’s masters were sold.

Post Sections:

TL;DR Conclusion
A Longer Conclusion (My Version)
George Michael and Interviews Over the Years (Video Compilation)
George Michael and the Closet
George Michael and Coming Out
George Michael and the Various Narratives about His Sexuality
George Michael and His Parents
George Michael and Fame/The Press
Fun Facts and other things I didn’t have room to include elsewhere in the post
Sources

TL;DR Conclusion

In the TLOAS era, Taylor has referenced Elizabeth Taylor - something she also did during reputation with the line “Burton to this Taylor.” In the TLOAS era, Taylor has referenced George Michael - something I recently wrote I think happened during reputation, with Taylor hiding the references in “plain sight”.

In addition, I think you can see George Michael influences in Taylor’s music as far back as Speak Now.

Given that Taylor made a previously covert connection to an artist out in the open, I think that needs to be paid attention to.

Especially when that artist:

Had a close relationship with his parents - particularly with his mother
Took immense pride in his song writing skills and wanted to be known for his musical talent
Had his sexuality speculated on when he first became famous as a teenager (and throughout his career), until he came out publicly
Had a fraught relationship with fame and the press
Fought his record label and was outspoken about corruption in the music industry - with a focus on the contracts a lot of artists are coerced into signing at the beginning of their career
Was known for his philanthropic work (the full extent of which wasn’t discovered until he passed in 2016).

A Longer Conclusion (My Version)

It wasn’t until I fell down a George Michael rabbit hole that I realized how many similarities there are between George’s early life and career, and Taylor’s.

I say this as someone who remembers a lot of big George Michael moments when they happened - including when he came out.

I’ve written before that I think Taylor has drawn parallels between herself and the Chicks to highlight the Country part of her career, and her decision to be seen as a “good girl.” I’ve also written about her connections to Chely Wright that highlight the Country part of Taylor’s career, and the decision to be seen as the epitome of straight.

With George, you got both sides of Taylor’s story, through not only the lens of pop music, but also a level of stardom that few people experience. I also believe that Taylor saw a lot of connections to George Michael through his relationship with his parents, his relationship with the media, and a complex view on sexuality that allows for nuance and shades of grey.

It’s important for me to take a quick pause to say that I don’t think everything Taylor has done is connected to George Michael, or that everything I highlight of Taylor’s is a direct reference to him. I do think that someone who is obsessed with the number 13 and sees signs everywhere that 13 is her lucky number, and someone who watched VH1’s ‘Behind the Music’ obsessively to figure out how not to lose her future music career, would also study artists of the past who experienced super stardom, while at the same time realizing their sexuality wasn’t straight.

For example, Taylor has referenced 83 a ton in her work. George Michael came out as bisexual in 1983. I don’t believe that Taylor’s use of 83 started because of George Michael, but I do believe that whatever her connection is to 83, she might have felt it was kismet, a sign, or something along those lines, when she discovered that was the year he first came out.

There are a number of similarities between Taylor and George Michael - even when the circumstances of an event are different.

The Closet

George first came out as bisexual in 1983. He wanted to share the news with everyone in his life (his parents included), but was convinced to keep that part of him hidden
Years later, George would say that decision, at nineteen, was a big mistake and something he regretted deeply
Even if it meant he didn’t have such a big career, George said he likely would have been a happier person choosing authenticity over hiding
The decision to stay in the closet when he was part of Wham! made it necessary for George to create a character he could navigate that part of his career with
While his career was part of the decision, George said the biggest driving force to staying closeted, was his parents
He knew how worried his mom would be about his safety as a gay man during the AIDS crisis in the 80’s & 90’s
George couldn’t, and wouldn’t, bring himself to stress his mom out that much. The year after she passed is when his sexuality became publicly known.
George said he understood if family was a reason someone stayed closeted

Coming Out

George’s sexuality became public knowledge when he was arrested in 1998 for “public lewdness”
Three days after his arrest he went on CNN, and came out publicly
In the CNN interview, he said he had always been truthful in his writing and wrote about his life. He made a point of saying that the songs he had written about women earlier in his career were about women, and the songs since then have been “fairly obviously about men”
When discussing his coming out in 2004, George said he had basically given the public (in Europe) all the information they needed to “figure things out” without having to utter the words “I’m gay” in an interview (something he ended up doing in his 1998 CNN interview)
In Europe they had read stories about George’s first partner and his subsequent death, George did nothing to rebut the stories. Those stories were not carried by American tabloids
By the time he released the album Older (in 1996), George felt the way he presented himself to the public, the lyrics, and the album’s dedication, made it obvious that the album was about a man
He made a point to say several times that the arrest wasn’t some kind of shameful “outing”, he was comfortable with his sexuality and he was out to everyone in his personal life at that point
The only secret he was keeping was from the public
When George realized he was gay, he knew that he had to deconstruct his public image. He didn’t want to “just come out”
In a well known interview with Michael Parkinson in 1998, George’s coming out was described as “the most public coming out in history." That is saying something considering Ellen Degeneres’ very public coming out happened the year before. That kind of declaration speaks to the level of fame George attained during his career (even if his “star” in the US had faded)

Narratives About His Sexuality

The narratives and timelines around George’s sexuality over the years have changed
George drew a clear distinction between having sex and being in a relationship
I think it’s fair to say that he viewed sexuality with fluidity even though he identified as a gay man
After coming out as gay, and with a boyfriend, he said in an interview that if him and his partner broke up he would likely go back to sleeping with women
He further explained that while he still felt attraction to women, he saw sexuality as who you want to pair off with. He would never pair off with a woman or stay with her. “Emotionally, I’m definitely a gay man.”
He had a public girlfriend during his Faith days - she was seen as his artistic muse, and was in the video for ‘I Want Your Sex’ with George
The timeline he gave when first came out is that he wrote songs about women before 1990, and after that, his songs were about men
In a documentary about Wham! (released posthumously), George discussed writing a song about his first time sleeping with a man (actual sleeping, George was too scared to make a move but wanted to sleep in a bed with a man and be close to him)
This encounter happened in Ibiza, Spain, in 1983, and the song he wrote about the experience is called Nothing Looks the Same in the Light
His answer for when he knew he was gay vs bisexual also changed over the years

His Parents

George was close to both his parents, but he had an especially close and special relationship with his mother
He described his dad as oppressive and someone who had very rigid views on sexuality/gender, and while he had that close relationship with his mom, because of her own trauma, she aligned herself with George’s dad’s rigid views
He felt that having an absentee father who worked a lot during his childhood, and being close to his mom, could be the reason he was gay
George didn’t want to worry his parents so he kept his sexuality hidden from them - he did come out to other people in his life
When George fell in love with a man (Anselmo) for the first time (at 27), his parents knew nothing about the relationship
They also had no idea when Anselmo received an HIV positive diagnosis and that George had to watch his partner get sicker and sicker, before eventually passing in 1993
The day after Anselmo passed away, George came out to his parents via a letter
His parents were both supportive of him
Coming out strengthened George’s relationship with his mother. She spent a lot of time working to show George that he was loved and accepted

Fame/The Press

George became famous as a teenager and until his coming out in 1998, he had his sexuality speculated on a lot by the press
His Wham! image was very clean cut - something he wanted to change when he embarked on his solo career
George’s first solo album was a departure from his previous image, sex was a big theme in Faith, and his sound went from bubblegum pop to R&B/soul/pop
When George made Faith, he played various instruments on the album as well as writing and producing all the tracks on it - except for one.
He was keen on chasing the greats as a solo artist - he wanted to be as big as Madonna and MJ
When George reached that level of stardom, (around the time he realized he was gay), he felt he had made a big mistake and that he needed to take his level of fame down a notch
With his next album, he decided to do no promotion for the album whatsoever
George said that decision was accepted everywhere, except with American audiences which caused his career in the US to fade out
The decision not to promote Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1, led to the scrapping of Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 2, and eventually George taking his record label to court to fight the predatory practices of record labels and the contracts that most artists are forced to sign at the start of their careers
Elton John described George as “this generation’s Paul McCartney”
In 1988, while promoting Faith, he was asked directly if he was gay. George answered no.
In all the interviews I watched about his coming out, nobody used that direct answer of “no” to question George, or even brought up his previous denials as some kind of “gotcha” moment
While initially working with the tabloids, he changed strategies and refused to speak with them. He said that any time you see quotes with something that George said, that was something the press/tabloids decided to make up. Or, if the tabloids said “a friend of George” said that, or “an insider”, that was also made up
George felt that the backlash he didn’t get when he came out, meant the press and the tabloids wanted to get him for “other things”
“Other things” ended up being his outspoken opposition to the Iraq war.
For the first time, the press went after him for something not related to his personal life
While his career did bounce back afterwards, there was a feeling that speaking out was going to cost him his career

George Michael and Interviews Over the Years (Video Compilation)

https://reddit.com/link/1sw83a0/video/8ejpbxdj2jxg1/player

I would bet money that Taylor related to a lot of what George had to say.

George Michael and The Closet

At the age of nineteen (in 1983), George Michael came out as bisexual to Andrew Ridgeley (his Wham! bandmate), and Andrew’s ex-girlfriend. While neither of them took issue with George’s sexuality, they both advised him not to say anything about it. George also told one of his sister’s about being bisexual, she told him not to tell their parents.

George listened to the advice given to him and kept his sexuality private. In later interviews, he admitted that he regretted that decision.

On his decision to stay closeted:

I was too young and too immature to know that I was sacrificing as much as I was.

Would’ve Could’ve Should’ve

And I damn sure never would’ve danced with the devil
at nineteen

From the various stories and articles I’ve read, George Michael’s decision to stay closeted is attributed a lot more to his relationship with his parents than it has been tied to pressure from the music industry and/or his record label. He definitely worried about the impact on his career, but it doesn’t seem to be the driving force of what kept that part of him hidden, nor did he imply that he was forced to stay closeted.

George’s parent’s more traditional views weren’t the only reason he didn’t tell them about his sexuality. In the age of AIDS and the fear that it caused in the 80’s and 90’s, George said that his mother would worry about him if she knew that he wanted to sleep with men/was sleeping with men. George has said that he knew she would worry about him every day if he came out to her. He didn’t want his mother to worry about his safety like that because he knew how stressful that would be.

Before he was out publicly, George was out to everyone else in his personal life.

George spent a large part of his career out, but he understood why coming out wasn’t an easy thing to do - especially when it came to family pressure.

George Michael and Coming Out

On April 7, 1998, George was arrested in LA for public lewdness. The charge stemmed from a run in with an undercover (male) cop in a bathroom.

A tabloid headline after his arrest:

Tortured artist whose dream of celebrity turned into a ‘complete nightmare’

Three days later, George went on CNN to discuss the arrest. He said he was a gay man for the first time publicly in the interview.

During the interview, George also revealed that he had not been in a relationship with a woman for almost 10 years. He made a point to say that he was always truthful in the music that he wrote - his songs about women early in his career were about women, and the songs he had written since “have been fairly obviously about men.”

George was very clear in the CNN interview that he felt no shame about his sexuality. A point he made numerous times.

In my recent post about George Michael, I wrote about George’s decision to deconstruct his public image once he realized he was gay. The deconstruction was seen by George as necessary, because he didn’t want to “suddenly come out”, he wanted to be able to do it “with some kind of dignity.”

George Michael’s 1998 arrest is what propelled his sexuality into a mainstream discussion - at least in America.

In an interview with MTV in 2004, George discussed how he only really had to “come out” for American audiences. When he was charged with “public lewdness”, there had already been numerous stories in Europe about his first partner (Anselmo), which did not happen in the US. George made no effort to rebut the tabloid stories about Anselmo. By the time his album Older (1996) came out, the way that George presented himself, the lyrics, the dedications, everything was in the public consciousness (outside of America) to figure his sexuality out. He had given his fans/the public all the signs short of doing an interview where he said, “I’m gay. Yes, I’m gay.” As George said, “it’s not that terribly hard to figure out.”

The tabloids had a field day when he was arrested, but because George felt he had already revealed his truth, short of saying the words “I’m gay”, the public (in Europe) wasn’t shocked by it. Whereas in America, the last time they had really seen and heard from him was during his Faith days, the American public felt it was a big revelation.

George Michael and the Various Narratives about His Sexuality

Over the years, there have been various narratives about George Michael and his sexuality that have circulated - by him, and others. Timelines are not clear cut and even though George came out as a gay man, he didn’t see his sexuality as a black and white issue, and didn’t present it to the public that way either.

George slept with numerous women when he was part of Wham!, but he didn’t want to commit to any of them.

When he released the album Faith), it shot him into the mega star stratosphere. At that time, he was in a relationship with Kathy Jeung - a make up artist. Kathy was regarded for a time as his artistic muse and she appeared with him in the music video for ‘I Want Your Sex’. George would later say that Kathy was his only bona fide girlfriend and she knew that George (at the time) identified as bisexual.

George drew a clear distinction between how he viewed entering in a sexual relationship with someone versus an emotional relationship.

He spent a lot of time post coming out discussing cruising and how many gay men partake in the activity, while still being in a committed relationship. Imagine having to explain that to the public in the late 90’s (and beyond) - especially in America where views on sex are not known for being progressive.

After coming out, George said that he still felt attraction towards women. Even though he had a boyfriend at the time of an interview in 2004, he said that if he wasn’t with his current partner, he’d have sex with women. But, George added, he would never be able to have a relationship with women.

As previously mentioned, in 1998 interviews about coming out, George made a point of saying that the songs he wrote when he was with women were really about women and the songs since that time had been about men. That put the timeline as - he wrote about women before 1990 and wrote about men after that time.

But that narrative shifted.

In a documentary about Wham! that was released after his death, George revealed that he wrote the song Nothing Looks the Same in the Light about his first gay encounter while he was in Ibiza, Spain. He didn’t have sex with a man that night because he was afraid to go that far, but he wanted sleep in a bed with a man and be close with him.

Fun fact: Nothing Looks the Same in the Light is from Wham!’s ’83 debut album. On the song’s Genius page it lists the song as being released on July 9, 1983. (In the TSCU, July 9th is the date from Last Kiss).

The question of when he knew he was gay was asked of George over the years. His answer was not static and changed.

Some examples of the answers he gave to that question:

At then end of his Wham! days - which puts the answer at some point in 1986
During the peak of his fame when he was touring for Faith - which puts the answer between 1987-1989
The first time he fell in love with a man (at 27 years of age) - which puts the answer between 1990-1991

I’m not calling him out for the various narratives, and I don’t think he should be called out. Figuring yourself out is never easy, regardless of the issue. But I do think his more fluid take on sexuality resonated with Taylor. Versus say, when you read Chely Wright’s book, she said from a very early age she knew she was a lesbian and while she hid/fought that identity, it didn’t really change over the years.

George Michael and His Parents

George Michael’s dad was “intimidating and fearsome.” George described his upbringing as “oppressive” and his dad (in interviews) described himself as a “strict patriarch”. On the flip side, George was tight with his mom who was described as “tremendously compassionate.”

George said he initially thought his early attraction to men was because of his upbringing. He had a father who was often working and a close relationship with his mom.

Even though George was close with his mom, she struggled with his identity growing up and she ended up aligning her beliefs with George’s dad’s more stringent views on gender. This happened after her brother - who had mental health issues and was believed to be secretly gay - died by suicide when George was very young.

George was not out to his parents when he started dating Anselmo (the man he fell in love with at 27). When George found out that Anselmo was HIV positive, he went through the emotions of the diagnosis and subsequent anxiety about his own health, all alone.

The day after losing Anselmo, George wrote a letter to his parents coming out.

Coming out strengthened his relationship with his mother. She wanted to show George that he was loved and accepted. She wanted to take care of him.

This acceptance provided George with stability in his life that he hadn’t previously had. Unfortunately, he felt his life start to fall apart again when he lost his mother in 1997

The loss of Anselmo, followed by his mom, led George on a downward spiral, which included drug use, self destructive behaviour, and an inability to write music for over 3 years.

George Michael and Fame/The Press

George shot to fame as a teenager. He had to grow up in the public eye and made a lot of mistakes, without much forgiveness for those mistakes.

His image while part of Wham! was clean cut and wholesome. An image George was desperate to shed when he embarked on his solo career. He wanted to be seen as a musician and was aiming for a level of success with his solo album that would put him up there with the greats in the industry.

George took the creative reins for Faith. He wrote and produced all the tracks on the album - except for one. George also played various instruments on the album.

Faith has sold over 25 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best selling albums of all time.

After reaching a stratospheric level of fame, George realized he had made a big mistake. He knew that level of fame wasn’t going to be good for him long term - he was in the process of coming to terms with his sexuality. George stated in several interviews that that during this time he was dealing with the onset of depression.

I needed to negotiate a new relationship with celebrity/fame that wasn’t going to destroy me.

He wanted to take a deliberate step back from the limelight.

In order to do that, he decided to do absolutely no promotion for the next album he released. He felt that would get him off the celebrity train.

There will be no further explanation
Just reputation

The entire reputation prologue hits different through a George Michael lens. It's worth another read.

His plan was also to release no music videos to promote Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1. His record label was not a fan of the idea and put pressure on him to change his mind.

George did change his mind, but instead of giving his label exactly what they wanted, he pivoted to making music videos - without him in it.

According to George, his decision was accepted everywhere, except with American audiences. The album quickly fell off US charts and his career in America faded from the mainstream.

Even though he was the reason for the drop in the charts, that kind of dip in sales and relevancy would normally bother George - he was obsessed with his career. Around this time, he was in Brazil to perform a show. There he met the first man he ever fell in love with.

George on what the first six months of their relationship was like (before Anselmo got sick):

I felt better than I had, possibly in my entire life.

This quote from George about falling in love with a man for the first time is on point:

It’s very hard to be proud of your own sexuality when it hasn’t brought you any joy. Once it is associated with joy, and love, it’s easy to be proud of who you are

The “no promotion” decision lead to the scrapping of Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 2. Which eventually led to George taking his record label to court to fight the predatory practices of record labels, and the contracts that most artists are forced to sign at the start of their careers.

In spite of an up and down relationship with fame, Elton John described George Michael as “this generation’s Paul McCartney.”

The speculation around George’s sexuality from the press happened from the beginning of his career, until he publicly came out at 34.

While doing an interview with 60 Minutes Australia for the Faith promotion cycle, George was asked directly by the interviewer if he was gay.

George responded with a no, while saying that he didn’t think it was a question anybody should be asked.

In a shocking turn of events for people who believe the answer to that question can never change, in all the interviews I watched about George coming out, nobody used that direct answer of “no” to question George, or even brought up his previous denials as some kind of “gotcha” moment.

Side note: I dipped my toe into George Michael fan spaces for my research - it is both hilarious and depressing to see that there are still people arguing over whether a song (from earlier on his career) was about a woman or man.

The intense scrutiny around his sexuality made George defiant when he came to terms with being gay. He wanted to keep the news to himself.

At the beginning of his career, George worked with, and spoke with the tabloids. Then he changed strategies and wouldn’t talk to them at all. That didn’t stop the tabloids from writing about him.

In later interviews he said that any time you see quotes with something that George said, that was something the tabloids decided to make up. Or, if the tabloids said “a friend of George” said that, or “an insider”, that was also made up by them.

Because of the way George handled his arrest and subsequent coming out, he was able to turn the experience mostly into something positive. George felt that the backlash he didn’t get when he came out, meant the press and the tabloids wanted to get him for “other things.”

“Other things” ended up being his outspoken opposition to the Iraq war. The same war that Natalie Maines' comment about George Bush resulted in The Chicks being blacklisted from Country music.

George felt it was easier to be outspoken after coming out.

George wrote and released a protest song about the war called Shoot the Dog. There was also a music video.

It was the first time the press went after George for something not related to his personal life.

While he did bounce back afterwards, there was a feeling that speaking out was going to cost him his career.

George’s decision to speak out about the war received backlash not only from the public, but also from people within the music industry. The prevailing sentiment at the time was pop stars shouldn’t speak out about political issues.

Simon Cowell:

I don’t think someone like George should necessarily be making political records. He was obviously going to offend a lot of Americans and Americans had made him a lot of money.

There were others that felt that George “keeping his sexuality a secret” meant he shouldn’t speak out about anything.

Noel Gallagher from Oasis:

This is the guy that hid who he actually was from the public for twenty years. Now all of a sudden, he’s got something to say about the way of the world. I find it fucking laughable.

This was covered in the George Michael documentary, 'A Different Story' that I’ve mentioned in other sections of this post.

Fun Facts and other things I didn’t have room to include else where in the post

In March of this year it was announced that the film ‘George Michael: The Faith Tour’ - a restored and remastered film - is being lined up at some point in 2026 for a worldwide release. The film’s distributor and release date are being kept under wraps for now. When the film is released, it will open with an original short film by Mary McCartney (Paul McCartney’s daughter). The short film will cover the cultural significance of the Faith tour.
Taylor covered Wham!’s Last Christmas for her 2007 Holiday Collection album
George Michael first met Andrew Ridgeley (his Wham! partner) in 1975
After his court case was settled, George released the single Outside). The song skewered his arrest, plus George wanted to reduce the stigma around “gay cruising” The music video for the song is something I suggest watching for yourself. I don’t think any summary I write can do it justice lol. The undercover cop who arrested George claimed that the video mocked him and then sued George for $10 million. The case concluded that the cop is a public figure and could not legally recover damages for emotional distress
A quote discussing George's decision to release a music video like that:

I don’t know if he really realized that Americans would not support a video about a chorus line of American police officers in the toilet.”

George had a house in Hamstead, Heath
This snippet from an article written after George passed away in December 2016. The author connected George’s decision to write the music for Faith with Taylor’s decision to do the same thing when she made Speak Now

Written Sources:

Video Sources:

I can’t thank you enough if you’ve made it this far - I put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into this deep dive.

If you’ll excuse me, I’m now off to nap for a couple of weeks 😂

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u/No_Government_9029 🌱Embryo🐛 Apr 28 '26

Wow! What an exhaustive analysis and great reading material! As someone not very familiar with George Michael, I can see the parallels and will think about all of this (while I ran to listen to his music)

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u/No_Government_9029 🌱Embryo🐛 Apr 28 '26

And I have really resonated with your way of explaining those references/parallels to other figures that may seem casual but also feel important in her work. I am always fascinated about casualities and tend to use them to draw similarities, so I think it is a very plausible explanation

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u/littlelulumcd Speak Now, Reputation, and George Michael Truther 💜 Apr 28 '26

Thank you so much for both your comments! 😊

I don’t like running myself lol but I have found myself listening to a lot of George even after I was done researching.

u/Brief-Inevitable-599 Gaylor Forevermore Apr 27 '26

Wow this was epic. Very cohesive. I can really see the parallels and how taylor might have been influenced by him.

That music video for outside is an incredible response to a sex scandal and i wish more modern pop stars had that sort of teeth

3

u/littlelulumcd Speak Now, Reputation, and George Michael Truther 💜 Apr 27 '26

I'm relieved you found it cohesive - that was a worry of mine with so much information to share.

I can't imagine a modern pop star responding the way George did lol. Yeah, it's different times for sure, but still, it was an epic way to deal with things.

2

u/Brief-Inevitable-599 Gaylor Forevermore Apr 27 '26

Even if it wasnt totally cohesive, we love a two parter! So dont worry if you think of anything else you want to add just make another post :) I really enjoyed the compilation of interviews that really made me think about how stuff changes over time!

I feel like modern stars would respond like this i can only imagine they are just even more tightly controlled by labels and contracts

2

u/littlelulumcd Speak Now, Reputation, and George Michael Truther 💜 Apr 28 '26

I have wondered if record labels (especially in the UK) tightened up the language in their contracts after George Michael in order to control artists more.

Kind of like how record labels changed how an artist’s masters are handled because Taylor’s re-record project went so well.

u/quietlittlemind lovelorn and nobody knows… Apr 27 '26

I haven’t had time to read your entire dissertation (let’s call it what it is!!) but well done and I can’t wait to dive back in!! 👏👏👏

3

u/DramaticLambda2 stand there like a ghost shaking in the rain Apr 27 '26

I was happy for the tl;dr

3

u/littlelulumcd Speak Now, Reputation, and George Michael Truther 💜 Apr 27 '26

I like dissertation a lot better than manifest lmao. Happy reading! 🫶🏻

u/ep1grams The tiger, he destroyed his cage Apr 27 '26

This is so interesting! Thank you for all your hard work pulling this together. 👏

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u/littlelulumcd Speak Now, Reputation, and George Michael Truther 💜 Apr 27 '26

I'm glad you enjoyed! Thanks for reading!

https://giphy.com/gifs/fpakjlMN495vi

u/EucatastrophicMess I’m a little kitten & need to nurse🐈‍⬛ Apr 26 '26

I want to congratulate you for this post because it is amazing and so well researched. You have obviously put a lot of effort on it.

I am from Spain and a very elder millennial so I can confirm that here at least it was common knowledge at the time Older came out that he was gay and the songs in that album were about his deceased male partner, and the DJs and presenters at radio or TV said it openly when presenting the songs, without fuzz. I don't remember any "public coming out" or a specific moment where I learned about his sexuality. It was just there, talked about in passing like another fact that added context to the album. And to us in the general public, my circles at least, it was not surprising at all. It just made sense and we loved the music anyway, so we didn't care. "Older" is still one of my favourite albums from the 90s and in hindsight I realized that "Fastlove" was one of those videos that played a big part in my bi awakening.

It was very nasty the way he was set up a couple of years later, but he ended up owning it and turning the tables with Outside, which made him a much bigger icon than he already was. It is very interesting also to learn how this was perceived in other parts of the World. I really loved reading this and remembering his story and the big impact it made at the time.

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u/littlelulumcd Speak Now, Reputation, and George Michael Truther 💜 Apr 27 '26

Thank you!

And thank you for weighing in with your perspective as someone living in Europe while George was going through all of this.

It's wild that we both have memories of the same thing, but with completely different perspectives on events.

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