![\"George](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/George-Michaels-Father-Figure-is-sampled-on-Taylor-Swifts-new-album-The-Life-of-a-Showgirl.jpg\")
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George Michael\u2019s \u2018Father Figure\u2019 is sampled on Taylor Swift\u2019s new album The Life of a Showgirl. (Getty)<\/p>\n
As Taylor Swift releases her 12th studio album The Life of a Showgirl, fans are intrigued by her \u201ccollaboration\u201d with late queer music icon George Michael.<\/p>\n
It was confirmed earlier this week that track four on Swift\u2019s new record, entitled \u201cFather Figure\u201d, features George Michael<\/a> as one of the credited songwriters.<\/p>\n The track, also written by Swift and her collaborators Max Martin and Shellback \u2013 who have worked on Swift\u2019s more pop hits including \u201cI Knew You Were Trouble\u201d and \u201cStyle\u201d \u2013 likely includes an interpolation of George Michael\u2019s 1987 track \u201cFather Figure\u201d, which topped the US Billboard charts.<\/p>\n Looking back at Michael\u2019s original song might give Swifties some hints as to what the pop superstar\u2019s new track could be about.<\/p>\n George Michael\u2019s \u201cFather Figure\u201d is about \u201ca very specific experience\u201c<\/p>\n George Michael\u2019s \u201cFather Figure\u201d became his fourth solo US Billboard chart-topper, and a top 20 hit in his home country, the UK. Yet the musician, who died of heart and liver disease on Christmas Day in 2016 aged 53, was fairly coy about the subject of the song.<\/p>\n During an interview with ET<\/a>, the former Wham! singer explained that \u201cFather Figure\u201d was about \u201ca very specific experience\u201d in a relationship he had.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018Father Figure\u2019 is just a very, without going into too much detail, it\u2019s just a very specific experience that I wrote about a specific relationship with one person,\u201d he shared.<\/p>\n \u201cI think there\u2019s a definite pattern in people\u2019s lives where they move away from their parents, then they spend time on their own and then they look for that replacement. It\u2019s always talked about in terms of boys being discarded in terms of their mothers, and then finding a replacement.\u201d<\/p>\n In an interview with Billboard<\/a>, the legendary musician delved deeper into the song\u2019s background, without dishing too much on the song\u2019s subject.<\/p>\n \u201cThe initial concept was completely different from the way the song turned out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIn fact, the initial concept for \u2018Father Figure\u2019 was to make it a kind of mid-tempo dance track. And what happened was I wanted to hear something in my mix so I happened to cut out the snare on the board and suddenly it changed the whole entire mood of the track.<\/p>\n \u201cSuddenly it just seemed really dreamy. And this was halfway through writing it because I was writing the song as I was going along in the studio. And I just thought, well, hey, this is actually much better! So I worked the rest of the feel of the track around this kind of spacey type sound. And it ended up, in my mind, being the most original sounding thing on the album.\u201d<\/p>\n Exploring the song\u2019s lyrics<\/a>, \u201cFather Figure\u201d appears to be an ode to a significant other who Michael wished to love and care for like a father would their child.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI will be your preacher, teacher (Be your daddy)\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI will be your father figure (Oh, baby) \/ Put your tiny hand in mine (I\u2019d love to) \/ I will be your preacher, teacher (Be your daddy) \/ Anything you have in mind (It would make me),\u201d he sings on the stirring chorus.<\/p>\n Some George Michael megafans believe that on verse three, the \u201cFaith\u201d singer quietly references his sexuality. At the time of the song\u2019s release, Michael was still in the closet; he did not reveal his sexuality publicly until 1998.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s all I wanted, but sometimes love can be mistaken for a crime \/ That\u2019s all I wanted, just to see my baby\u2019s blue eyes shine,\u201d he croons, potentially referencing prevalent homophobic attitudes in the UK during the late \u201880s. Homosexuality was partially legalised in the UK in 1987, with Scotland and Northern Ireland following suit in 1981 and 1982 respectively.<\/p>\n In recent years, Michael\u2019s \u201cFather Figure\u201d has taken on a new life thanks to its use in Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson\u2019s steamy 2024 thriller Babygirl, ibecoming a viral sound on TikTok. The track is often used over videos of celebrity men who fans have dubbed \u201cdaddies\u201d, such as Pedro Pascal and, ironically, Swift\u2019s fianc\u00e9 and NFL player Travis Kelce.<\/p>\n Many Taylor Swift<\/a> fans believe her version of the song will reference her love for and engagement to Kelce<\/a>, who she has been in a relationship with since 2023.<\/p>\n Swifties have particularly noted the significance of the release date of Michael\u2019s track, 1987, as Kelce\u2019s Kansas City Chiefs uniform is emblazoned with his player number, 87.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Life of a Showgirl is out on 3 October.<\/p>\n Share your thoughts! Let us know in the comments below, and remember to keep the conversation respectful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"George Michael\u2019s \u2018Father Figure\u2019 is sampled on Taylor Swift\u2019s new album The Life of a Showgirl. (Getty) As…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57245,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[93,40326,61,60,278,6543,40327],"class_list":{"0":"post-57244","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-george-michael","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-music","13":"tag-taylor-swift","14":"tag-wham"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/George-Michael.jpg\")
George Michael. (Getty)<\/p>\n