“The essence of a musical holiday”

On December 25, 2016, the singer died George Michel at age 53 due to a heart attack. It seemed like a sign of fate that the end of his life was linked to Christmas, a time of year that also brought him one of his greatest successes musically, when he was still in the band. Bang! with his friend Andrew Ridgeley.

We are specifically talking about ‘last Christmas‘, a song that, more than 40 years after its publication, continues to be one of the most listened to songs every Christmas, especially if we focus on Christmas pop music, a subgenre that never seems to have a commercial purpose, and which is also covered by different artists year after year.

This is how George Michael composed “Last Christmas”

In 1984, the same year of its publication, he composed the song George Michel in his parents’ house, as told by the man who was then his musical partner, Andrew Ridgeley in the autobiographical book he wrote about his relationship with the singer and the story of Bang!the group they formed together and which brought them worldwide fame, ‘Bang! George and me.

Ridgeley recounts how the two were at his parents’ house. George Michel when he silently went up to his room and brought “Last Christmas” to life: “Almost without realizing it, George disappeared upstairs for an hour. When he came back, he was as excited as if he had found gold…and part of it was like that…we went to his old room, where we had spent so many hours as kids, recording radio shows and jingles, and where he had a keyboard and a tape recorder and then he started playing the beginning and the chorus,” he said.

Andrew Ridgeley the other half of Bang!also comments on what it was like to hear it for the first time: “It was a wonderful moment. George had achieved musical alchemy… he had transformed the essence of Christmas into music. The lyrics about a betrayal in love gave it a masterful touch and, as usual, managed to touch your heart,” he adds.

After composing it, George Michel He was also responsible for the production of “Last Christmas”, released as a single on December 3, 1984 as a single from the album “Music from the Edge of Heaven”, which would become the duo’s final studio album and one of their most iconic songs along with songs like “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go” or “Club Tropicana”.

It may seem to us from the title and its music, but ‘Last Christmas’ is not about Christmas, but about a breakup and how the reunion with your ex-partner occurs and that they took charge of telling in a certain way in the video clip that was recorded in Switzerland and in which Andrew appears with George’s ex-girlfriend, something that is seen in the looks and flashbacks, and with certain winks like the gift of a brooch in the past, which his friend then carries into the present.

The curse of “Last Christmas” number 1

Despite its great success and the fact that over two million copies were sold, “Last Christmas” was not number 1 in the year it was released, and in fact, it held the record for the best-selling single that did not reach the top of the list, which was not possible as it was ahead of “Do They Know It’s Christmas” by Bandagea solidarity project against hunger in Ethiopia, in which the group itself collaborated and which was in charge of “Live Aid”.

A success that can also be measured further if we see the number of artists of different genres and different nationalities who have covered “Last Christmas”, from Taylor Swift, Kyle Minogue, Ariana Grande, Backstreet Boys, Coldplay and Gwen Stefaniamong others.