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SHOWBIZ: NEWSMAKERS & WORLD CELEBRITIES

"I'm writing with more ease and confidence than since I was in my early 20s," said the 40-year-old London-born singer who shot to fame in the early '80s in the duo Wham!. "After two or three albums' worth of hits I started to get intimidated by my own catalogue." The new album came together in two stages. The first batch, written as he was getting back on the horse, is more intellectual and pontificates about the world at large, looking at the newspaper headlines with the eye of a man with four decades of life experience. As the recording progressed, he spent more time exploring his emotions concerning the passing of his mother, his lover Anselmo Feleppa of an AIDS-related illness and taking stock of his life, reflected in songs like Please Send Me Someone and My Mother Had a Brother, which offer a window into his soul. "Much of the social commentary stuff was written during a period where I was still too afraid to look really deep inside because I was so down," he said. Some of that commentary touches on events such as the American incursion into foreign lands, the supposed liberation of countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq, and the reaction of the people to political and cultural reform. "The liberal ideas that we depend on -- empowerment of women, rights for children -- are very hard things for people in the developing world to come to terms with because they've suddenly been introduced to it via satellite. They see Madonna and think she's Satan's bride. If you'd shown the British or American family these images in the 1950s and said that's what 2004 would be, we would have been terrified," he said. "The big problem is that we're expecting people in these other countries to accept a culture shock of this size with no backlash. It's not about oil." While these opinions aren't written quite that plainly in his songs, Michael does what artists do, disguising them in metaphor and allegories for interpretation in songs like the title track, Patience, which looks at how Western society has abandoned the extended family for the nuclear unit and opened the world for women in a very short period of time. "In human experience, 50 or 60 years is the blink of an eye, and yet we have actually completely changed the way we think," said Michael.

That song, as expressed in the title, is a plea for people of all cultures and on all sides of the debate show a little patience toward one another as humanity works through the next social change. "The lyrics are the most important ones on the album," he said of the song that was written and played on John Lennon's piano. These opinions shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who's followed Michael's career. His videos have often made important statements about sexuality, intolerance and conservative values. His homosexuality helped break down social barriers for gay people. And last year's video for Shoot the Dog, a commentary on the then-impending Iraq war, created quite a stir when it was released. It depicts Britain's Tony Blair as U.S. President George W. Bush's pet.

 

"The incredible thing is how decisive politics is now and how it's considered just a no-no in pop music in general," said Michael of the debate ignited by the track. "I'm making pop for my generation who remember that Jerry Dammers is one of the reasons Nelson Mandela was freed. My generation remembers Bob Geldof doing Live Aid." After being burned by the media, he is cautiously stepping back into the spotlight. "It's really about acknowledging fans now that I have the emotional energy to be around. I just didn't have the strength to take the chance that people were going to be having a go at me," he admitted. He's done a handful of interviews in England but is still shying away from American newspapers. He's scheduled to appear on Oprah soon, which he says he'll use to as a gauge of acceptance. "America has changed so vastly in the last eight years in terms of the way the media behaves. Oprah's perfect testing ground for me. It's so my age group . . . if there is going to be a George Michael comeback in the States then it'll start there," he said matter-of-factly. But as with his last few albums, Michael won't be supporting this one with a major tour (although he suggested he might do a few shows, including ones in Canada). And he's planning only one more disc -- a duet's CD -- to fulfil his contract with Sony before retreating from the music industry altogether. At that point, Michael insists he will only release new songs for free over the Internet.-Angela Paciensa.

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