George Michael’s Estate Responds to Taylor Swift’s “Father Figure”

On track four of her forthcoming record, The Life of a Showgirl, Taylor Swift reimagines George Michael’s 1988 hit “Father Figure.” The new song shares the original title and weaves an interpolation of Michael’s melody into Swift’s composition.

George Michael Entertainment posted a response on Oct. 2—hours before the album’s release—confirming the estate’s approval. The statement said the estate welcomed Swift’s request to incorporate the interpolation, praised the resulting collaboration between the two artists’ legacies, and expressed its best wishes for Swift and the new album.

The estate noted it was pleased Swift and her team reached out about using the interpolation, and that they had no reservations after hearing the finished track, adding that they believed George would have approved.

When it was first issued, “Father Figure” spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1988 and was one of four chart-toppers from Michael’s 1987 solo debut, Faith—the others being “Faith,” “One More Try” and “Monkey.”

Michael once described the song as a very specific narrative about searching for a parental-type figure in adult relationships—a theme he said reflects patterns he’d observed in people’s lives. In 1989 the single earned him a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Vocal Performance, and Faith ultimately won Album of the Year.

Coincidentally, 1989 is also the title of Swift’s fifth studio album, her 2014 pop pivot that topped the Billboard 200. Like The Life of a Showgirl, that era of Swift’s work involved collaborations with producers Max Martin and Shellback.

The Life of a Showgirl is set to be released at midnight ET on Friday, Oct. 3, and will mark Swift’s 12th full-length studio album. “Father Figure” appears among the album’s 12 tracks, which open with “The Fate of Ophelia.”

For more on the song’s background, Michael reflected on its meaning in archival interviews, noting how people sometimes seek replacements for parental roles within romantic relationships.

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