{"id":241155,"date":"2025-11-03T10:23:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T10:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/241155\/"},"modified":"2025-11-03T10:23:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T10:23:08","slug":"kae-tempest-shares-euphoric-george-michael-cover-freedom-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/241155\/","title":{"rendered":"Kae Tempest shares euphoric George Michael cover ‘Freedom! ’25’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kae Tempest<\/a> has released a euphoric cover of George Michael<\/a>\u2019s \u2018Freedom! \u201890\u2019, re-titling it \u2018Freedom! \u201825\u2019 \u2013 check it out below.<\/p>\n

The rapper, poet and playwright released his fifth studio album \u2018Self Titled<\/a>\u2019 in July via Island Records, a record produced by Fraser T. Smith (Adele<\/a>,\u00a0Stormzy<\/a>,\u00a0Dave<\/a>) and featuring appearances from Pet Shop Boys<\/a>\u2019 Neil Tennant,\u00a0Young Fathers<\/a> and Connie Constance<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now, Tempest has released his version of Michael\u2019s vintage pop single, a track he first performed on Jo Whiley\u2019s BBC Radio 2 show from Maida Vale studios around the release of the new album.<\/p>\n

Check out the recorded version alongside a clip from the session and the original here:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Speaking about the cover, Tempest has said: \u201cSo excited to be joined on this track by Leah Cleaver, whose voice gives me life. It\u2019s been a dream to work together with Fraser and Leah.\u00a0 I have loved this song forever, but I am still only just now discovering what these lyrics can unlock.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis song is a victory,\u201d he added. \u201cLove George Michael so much. Grateful to him for the light he shone. It feels powerful, re-summoning the spirit of this song in this moment. I\u2019ve performed it live a few times, and it\u2019s a stunning feeling to find it with the crowd; it feels like a revelation. All we have to see is that I don\u2019t belong to you, and you don\u2019t belong to me. Freedom\u201d.<\/p>\n

Tempest has been touring around Europe in recent weeks and will bring the show to the UK next week<\/a>, with shows in London, Bristol, Manchester, Edinburgh and Dublin. See all the dates and info here<\/a> and find any remaining tickets here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

NME awarded \u2018Self Titled\u2019 four stars<\/a>, noting: \u201c\u2018Know Yourself\u2019 is a powerful combination of two voices: Kae today, and Kae years ago, billed as \u201ca dialogue between selves across time, in real time\u201d tracking the process of shifting identity via a sample of an old lyric. Amid these internal battles is a clear vision of the chaotic world outside, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tempest recently spoke to\u00a0NME\u00a0about the new album<\/a>\u00a0and the responsibility he feels as a non binary person in the public eye. \u201cIt\u2019s not like I feel the weight of a responsibility,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was important for me to show up for my community, to show up for myself being a trans man and a non binary person. These are just crucial elements of my make-up.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I\u2019m being celebratory and honest and uncompromising about expressing myself, there\u2019s some freedom that will come in terms of other people\u2019s own feelings about what they may not feel comfortable expressing amongst friends, family or in public.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kae Tempest has released a euphoric cover of George Michael\u2019s \u2018Freedom! \u201890\u2019, re-titling it \u2018Freedom! \u201825\u2019 \u2013 check…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":241156,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[25065,96,128,678,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-241155","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-alternative","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-music","11":"tag-rap","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241155\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}