Just heard it, im a really big george fan and was anticipating release. Just heard it once and I really dont like it infact its giving me a bit of a headache with the use of what sounds like a vocoder.

Just a bit of a background of the track its one 4 completed songs of an album he was working on before his death.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6Gxl5PFJuk

the first 30 seconds were very promising, but then, as you wrote, it all bombs.

I guess the brainless youth from today will like it more than the old guard. It has autotune, spanish guitar, and multiple repeating of random stop-words. Hit!

Just some info from the George Michael newsletter on the background of the song work began on it in 2012 at air studios in London and finishing touches were done in late 2015 during George's final recording sessions. I'm assuming then he wasn't in the studio at all in 2016.

Fits in with the rest of his latter catalogue, mid-tempo but sadly IMHO very average & forgettable.

That said, he really did have one of THE most incredible voices of the modern era.

PURPLEIZED3121 said:

I'm a huge GM fan, and I'm not feeling this at all.

.

Even at the end of his career, his voice remained a wonderful, though different from his sound pre-Older; as demonstrated by his live performances. I feel as though this song makes his vocals drown in the production and effects. I'd rather have heard a more acoustic, stripped down track of his.

ginusher said:

nextedition said:

Does anyone know this version is the origina or did some producer worked afterwards on it?

NME says: "The previously unreleased track, which was recorded during George’s final studio sessions, is his first original material to be shared for seven years,” a press release said. The lyrics, written exclusively by George, see the star addressing society’s ills with his trademark blend of self-deprecation and wry humor.”

I like the song. It is very indicative of his latter catalog sound. It reminds me of things like "Amazing," "Round Here," and "White Light." It seems after Older, he layered more vocals and blended in synths differently, almost making it a collage of sounds instead of separate parts. GM's songs used to be filled with hooks. It reminds me how people said Prince should be limited to only 48 tracks because he'd put so much into a song.

GM was sorta the same way, but it worked. Look at "Fastlove"'s layered choruses and "Forget Me Nots" section, one on top of the other. Yet it worked perfectly. Later, he seemed to step away from that and rely more on a repetitive approach (like "Flawless", which is a great track but it's a 4 on the floor type jig). Sometimes that approach is interpreted as uninspired or pedestrian. But the storytelling stands out along with that aforementioned sense of satirical humor.

The song is fine. It is like the better part of his later up tempo work as mentioned by other posters. The vocal detracts from the song, and would have sounded better cleaner and stripped back. I think it is reasonable work. I think he certainly did worse songs such as "shoot the dog"

It's very bad!

EmmaMcG said:

Ok, I've listened to it about 20 times now. No exaggeration. It could actually be more than 20 times. On first listen I agree with TheFman. The first 30 seconds or so were looking good but then it kind of fell apart for me. I didn't dislike it but I just wasn't feeling it. Second time around, I liked it more. Then third time I really liked it. After that I had it on repeat for about an hour and I've gone back over the course of the day to listen to it a few more times. And now I absolutely love it. Seriously, I can't get enough of it. It kind of reminds me of his version of True Faith. Only more uptempo.

same here, especially the vocal effects

EmmaMcG said:

Ok, I've listened to it about 20 times now. No exaggeration. It could actually be more than 20 times. On first listen I agree with TheFman. The first 30 seconds or so were looking good but then it kind of fell apart for me. I didn't dislike it but I just wasn't feeling it. Second time around, I liked it more. Then third time I really liked it. After that I had it on repeat for about an hour and I've gone back over the course of the day to listen to it a few more times. And now I absolutely love it. Seriously, I can't get enough of it. It kind of reminds me of his version of True Faith. Only more uptempo.

I listened again cause of you, but i'm still not a huge fan of this 'modern' song. If he left that autotune out, we'd perhaps be talking differently. But what annoys me even more on this song, are the lyrics: they really dont fit such upbeat thing imo. It's awqward.

EmmaMcG said:

It's alright, ain't it. Bit of a grower.

I like the new George single - as always his voice is sublime. What a singer! I think it sounds fresh and nice to hear new sounding music from the artist - perhaps the Prince Estate could take note (Black Is The New Black pls)

[Edited 11/8/19 0:42am]

EmmaMcG said:

On a side note, I seen the movie "Last Christmas". I won't spoil anything here because I know it's not released over here until next week but it's awful. Really really awful.

yeah ive seen the really bad reviews, whats so bad about it? Venom had bad reviews when it came out last halloween and i quite enjoyed that

Dilan said:

EmmaMcG said:

On a side note, I seen the movie "Last Christmas". I won't spoil anything here because I know it's not released over here until next week but it's awful. Really really awful.

You said that already months ago you really hate this movie don't you?

EmmaMcG said:

nextedition said:

Glindathegood said:

Back on topic: After giving the track repeated listens this one is a solid grower. It sounds like Precious Box more intimate sibling. I've put them back to back in a playlist. His productions sensibilities took on a new sound in is Patience era. I wasn't a fan of GM using autotune, especially on his cover of True Faith, but this is a little different. Calls to mind his experiments with his voice on the song Hard Day. I guess I'm saying the effect has its place and his normal voice is in there, too. A rhythm part in the song also caught my attention. After digging deep into some old tracks, it sounds like he reused a distinct rhythm part from his Wham! song “Battle Stations.” So musically, this is a very GM song.

The lyrics' lament make me wish he was someplace where I could go and give him the biggest hug. "My heart is better than that." Yeah, we know. He brought a lot of happiness into the world. He seemed to possess a beautiful and troubled soul, like his sensitivity to the world around him affected him deeply. I hope he found peace.

[Edited 11/11/19 15:01pm]

nextedition said:

That voice! Love the song on first listen, although its a pretty enotional experience to hear his voice again

Yeah, and those lyrics... oof...

this is what I think of it...