Gen Z, Please Give George Michael’s Freeek The Attention It Deserves
He’s like a gay Iron Man and it’s fantastic.
Gen Z makes me feel great. They just love bringing back my favorite songs like they’re brand-spanking new. The early 2000s is being appreciated for its campy futuristic vibe. Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” is charting on iTunes.
Amazing.
Gen Z, please do me this favor: Give George Michael’s Freeek the attention it deserves.
I don’t remember this video or song being played in America. In fact, it didn’t chart in the United States at all, which confirms my suspicions. I first saw the tantalizing music video when I was visiting Costa Rica. They always played the stuff Americans didn’t play, like that music video where Madonna threw a grenade at the president (that I think turned out to be just a lighter, anyway).
Why this song, and this video? It’s so deliciously 2000s. It’s so futuristic. It’s got leather sex scenes and birth pods. George Michael starts off in a Matrix-like world and he’s basically Iron Man. You have the AOL dial-up noise. It samples Aaliyah.
And these lyrics…peppered with early internet references:
You got yourself some action
Said you got your sexy Java
You got your speed connection
Free chat, fuck that, get a little harder
And let’s never forget:
I think I need a re-booty!
I still don’t know how Java can be sexy, but I don’t think it much matters. I appreciate that Michael went so hard, so 100%, really dove into this pornographic Blade Runner world. He ate. He left no crumbs. He was the physical embodiment of the early 2000s. He had women on leashes. He had heel-less heels a decade before Gaga.
He was Zaddy before Zaddy was a thing.
It wasn’t well-received at the time, and the lack of references makes me believe it was probably banned in the USA…but I think this early 2000s gem is just what TikTok…and I…need right now.
(I can’t take credit for the gay Iron Man comparison…that was in a YouTube comment. In fact, I didn’t monetize this article because it’s pure appreciation. Go click on the link — you know you wanna.)
