George Michael‘s “Father Figure” is reimagined by Taylor Swift on The Life of a Showgirl‘s fourth track, a new song that shares a title and incorporates an interpolation of Michael’s original that became a hit in 1988.
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The late Michaels’ estate issued a statement on Swift’s recording on Thursday (Oct. 2), hours before the official release of Showgirl.
“We were delighted when Taylor Swift and her team approached us earlier this year about incorporating an interpolation of George Michael’s classic song ‘Father Figure’ into a brand new song of the same title to be featured on her forthcoming album,” George Michael Entertainment said in a note posted on Michael’s social media accounts. “When we heard the track we had no hesitation in agreeing to this association between two great artists and we know George would have felt the same. George Michael Entertainment wishes Taylor every success with The Life of a Showgirl and Father Figure.”
Michael’s “Father Figure” held steady for two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1988; it was one of four No. 1 smashes from Faith, his 1987 solo debut LP. (The other three No. 1s from Faith: title track “Faith,” “One More Try” and “Monkey.”)
“‘Father Figure’ is just a very specific experience that I wrote about,” Michael, who passed away in 2016, once said of the song’s origin. “I think there’s a definite pattern in people’s lives where they move away from their parents and then they look for that replacement. It’s always talked about in terms of boys kind of being discarded, in terms of their mothers, and then finding a replacement. But you don’t necessarily always hear about that with women, although I’m sure it’s just as much the case, that women in a sense look for a father. Not necessarily a father, but they look for that replacement.”
In 1989, “Father Figure” earned Michael a nomination for a Grammy in the best pop vocal performance category, and parent album Faith won album of the year — and Swift was born.
The year of 1989 would later became the title of Swift’s fifth album — her ’80s pop-influenced, Billboard 200 chart topper from 2014 that, like The Life of a Showgirl, features production by Max Martin and Shellback.
Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl, available at midnight ET on Friday, Oct. 3, marks her 12th full-length studio album. “Father Figure” is among 12 tracks on the set, which is led by opener “The Fate of Ophelia.”
