Ten years after George Michael died on Christmas Day 2016 at age 53, the VMAs turned Sunday night into a singalong in his honor. Orville Peck introduced the tribute, and then the songs came one voice at a time. Sombr opened with “Faith” and slid into “Father Figure,” RAYE took on “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me),” and Teddy Swims delivered “Careless Whisper,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Then came the surprise. Adam Lambert, unannounced, closed the segment with “Freedom! ’90,” joined by MNEK and Saint Harison, and the room came to its feet. Billboard notes the tribute also marked 30 years of “Older,” the 1996 album George Michael considered his most personal work.
George Michael’s Songs Have Not Aged A Day
The staging said something true about him. No single performer tried to be George Michael, because nobody can, so four of them shared the load.
It was a fitting salute on MTV’s own stage, a network whose story we revisited when its music channels shut down and marked the end of an era.
George Michael’s Legacy Continues With Rare Concert Footage
The VMAs tribute was particularly fitting given Michael’s complicated history with MTV. His 1990 video for “Freedom! ’90” famously featured supermodels Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, and Tatjana Patitz lip-syncing to his vocals instead of showing the singer himself. Michael had grown uncomfortable with the demands of fame and wanted the music to speak for itself. Directed by David Fincher, the video became one of MTV’s most recognizable productions, proving that Michael could create an unforgettable visual statement without ever appearing on screen.
Fans will soon have another opportunity to revisit his remarkable career. A previously unreleased concert film, George Michael: The Faith Tour, is scheduled to arrive in theaters in December 2026, accompanied by a live album on November 6. The film features newly recovered 35mm footage from Michael’s 1988 performance in Paris, capturing him at the height of his solo success.
It offers a rare look at the singer performing songs from Faith, the album that transformed the former Wham! frontman into one of the biggest solo artists of the decade.
A decade on, the catalog still does what it always did. It fills a room and then breaks your heart on the way out.
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