In honour of this year’s pride month, Apple Music has teamed up with a collection of LGBTGIA+ artists to create a very special playlist. Entitled George Michael Covered, the playlist was released last week as part of the Apple Music Pride collection. The playlist sees various artists cover some of Michael’s biggest hits, the compilation includes nine covers taken from the singer’s vast back catalogue.
Celebrate #Pride with your favorite George Michael songs reimagined by @palewaves, @yearsandyears, @MNEK, @theebillyporter, and more.
Listen now to all the covers in #SpatialAudio with @Dolby Atmos. https://t.co/15lheVMHIu pic.twitter.com/DnFoPe45Zp
— Apple Music (@AppleMusic) June 28, 2022
Opening the playlist is “Faith” covered by English indie outfit Pale Waves, the 1987 smash hit is widely regarded as the start of Michael’s long and storied solo career. Next up is “Outside” covered by Olly Alexander’s solo project Years & Years. Originally released in 2006 the track was accompanied by an infamous music video which cemented Michael as a cultural hero. Alexander has spoken on the importance of Michael and the power of his enduring legacy, “One of the things I love most about George Michael was his ability to own his narrative. He was a huge, huge star. I’m sure he struggled with some of the attention and issues that come with worldwide fame, and he still remained so iconic, so true to who he was.”
The singer continued to discuss the impact of the music video for “Outside”, “He still had fun with it. He was always trying new things and taking risks and unashamedly himself. And I take so much inspiration from that … He got arrested in 1998—I think the terminology is ‘soliciting a police officer in a public toilet’—then goes and writes a song about it. And it’s such a banger. Wow! I just think it’s so incredible for him to just own that narrative and really go, ‘Yeah, I like to have sex outside.’ And it’s such a bop.”
The next hit to receive a makeover is the 1996 track “Fastlove”, included within the playlist is a cover by Grammy-nominated singer and producer MNEK. The fourth song within George Michael Covered is” Praying For Time” covered by English singer-songwriter Self Esteem, the track was originally released in 1990 and was taken from the seminal album Listen Without Prejudice Vol 1. Apple Music’s playlist also features celebrated figure Billy Porter, the multi-talented American artist can be heard within his cover of “Monkey”. Originally released in 1988, the track was featured on the iconic album Faith and was the sixth single to be released from the album.
Faith was Michael’s debut solo album and is now a landmark release within popular music, Apple’s playlist also contains the album’s final single “Kissing A Fool”. Originally released in 1987, Apple’s curated collection features a cover by Brooklyn-based artist serpentwithfeet. Michael’s anthem and cherished love song “Careless Whisper” is also included within the playlist and has been covered by 26-year-old singer Tiana Major9. Britain’s Got Talent contender Calum Scott provides a cover of “One More Try”, the third track from Faith to be included within the playlist. The specially created compilation concludes with “Amazing” covered by Jake Shears, best known as the lead singer of pop-rock group Scissor Sisters.
For Pride, Apple Music are honouring an icon. Hear my cover of George Michael’s #Amazing now on their #GeorgeMichaelCovered playlist here: https://t.co/otq0XZHBiH pic.twitter.com/krRkFVk1z7
— Jake Shears (@Jakeshears) June 28, 2022
In celebration of the playlist’s release, Apple Music teamed up with Gay Times to host a special party. The event took place on Wednesday 29th June 2022 and was held on the rooftop of London’s The Standard hotel. Those in attendance included guests such as Ella Vaday and Kitty Scott-Claus, stars of RuPaul’s Drag Race and English electro pop artist Girli. The event also included DJ sets from ABSOLUTE and Nimmo and performances by LGBTQIA+ dance troupe Sue Veneers Club.
Along with the specially curated playlist, fans have also been treated to the inclusion of Michael’s back catalogue in Spatial Audio. This is the first time that the singer’s music has been made available in the cutting edge 3d audio technology and is accessible to stream now via Apple Music.
