George Michael was a hitmaker. He easily made songs that were easily memorized and, at the beginning of Wham!‘s career, it was a skill used with clearly commercial intent. Years later, when he was already one of the biggest stars on the planet, on the same level as Michael Jackson and Madonna, it is said that he rejected some of these songs, rarely playing them when he was on his solo career. One of them is precisely the delicious Last Christmas, which even generated the film starring Emilia Clarke in 2019.

Included on the group’s first album in 1984, Last Christmas is still one of the band’s biggest hits, one of its most iconic, and every year, unsurprisingly, it plays again at Christmas. Even Taylor Swift recorded her version, as did Alanis Morissette. According to what he said in an interview anticipating the song’s 40th anniversary, Wham’s manager, Simon Napier-Bell, recalled that the singer was irritated by the song’s success, not because he considered it “bad”, but rather “perfect” and, therefore, man, one of the best I would have written.

Last Christmas opened the international market for Wham!, especially the United States. Interestingly, after two years of Emma Thompson‘s film, it reached number one in 2021, kind of returning to being a Christmas anthem. A bit sad, given that George Michael died on Christmas Day, seven years ago, in 2016, aged just 53.

What’s most beautiful about Last Christmas is that, by George Michael’s decision, all of his royalties are donated to famine relief in Ethiopia, but one of the philanthropies the singer kept secret throughout his career. Does anyone doubt that popcorn will appear on Christmas playlists? It’s in mine.

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