The 1984 Wham! song “Last Christmas” has become a regular holiday favorite among listeners who like their Yuletide jingles with a touch of romantic heartbreak. But is Last Christmas a gay song? It depends on how you view its history and lyrics (especially since its music video is decidedly heterosexual).
To answer the question “Is ‘Last Christmas’ a gay song?” we took a deeper look at its biographical, historical, and cultural contexts. In short, a lot of fans think Last Christmas can be interpreted as a gay or bisexual song, even though its lyrics aren’t explicitly gay.
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Is Last Christmas a gay song? It was created by a queer man.
Wham! was a 1980s British music duo consisting of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. Though the duo began releasing albums in 1983 and broke up in 1986, they had an outsized impact as one of Britain’s biggest pop acts, even rivaling Boy George’s Culture Club, performing at the iconic 1985 Live Aid concert against hunger, and becoming the first Western pop group to tour in China.
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The duo’s debut album, Fantastic, was Number 1 for two weeks in the U.K. album charts, and their 1984 single “Last Christmas” has repeatedly reached the top of the singles charts and appeared in numerous holiday-themed TV shows and movies, even decades after its release.
Even though Wham! released “Last Christmas” as a single, Michael wrote, performed, and recorded the song without Ridgeley. A year before the song’s release, Michael told Ridgeley that he considered himself bisexual, GQ magazine reported.
“I used to sleep with women quite a lot in the Wham! days,” Michael told the publication, “but never felt it could develop into a relationship because I knew that, emotionally, I was a gay man. I didn’t want to commit to them, but I was attracted to them. Then I became ashamed that I might be using them.”
Michael dated female makeup artist Kathy Yueng between 1986 and 1988; she even appeared in his music video for “I Want Your Sex.” However, George said that he started to realize he was gay by 1986; and by 1991, he was in a relationship with male Brazilian dress designer Anselmo Feleppa. Michael publicly came out as gay following his April 1998 arrest for public lewdness in a men’s park restroom.
So, to recap: Michael publicly identified as bisexual at the time that he wrote and released “Last Christmas” (even if he suspected that he might actually be gay at the time). However, the song’s ambiguous lyrics also lend credence to the idea of “Last Christmas” as a queer song.
Is Last Christmas a gay song? Its lyrics can go either way
People who ask, “Is ‘Last Christmas’ a gay song?” often point to the lack of gender and pronouns in its lyrics. The song is mostly addressed to an anonymous “you” who has left the singer heartbroken, though the singer also addresses them as “baby” and “someone to rely on.”
Here are the lyrics many people point to when suggesting that Michael may be singing to either a man, a woman, or someone of an indeterminate gender.
(Chorus) Last Christmas I gave you my heart
But the very next day you gave it away
This year, to save me from tears
I’ll give it to someone specialOnce bitten and twice shy
I keep my distance, but you still catch my eye
Tell me baby, do you recognize me?
Well, it’s been a year, it doesn’t surprise me
However, one stanza that appears later in the song mentions “a man undercover” with “a fire in his heart.”
A face on a lover with a fire in his heart
A man under cover, but you tore me apart
Oh, oh now I’ve found a real love
You’ll never fool me again
It’s likely that this man is Michael himself, but it’s entirely possible that the man could be the lover that the song is addressed to.
Does the “fire in his heart” refer to Michael’s heart or that of his lover? Does the “man undercover” refer to Michael — because he felt like a closeted gay man at the time — or is his lover “undercover” because he’s hiding his true affections for someone else?
It’s worth noting that when Michael repeats this stanza near the end of the song, he sings, “A man under cover, but you tore him apart,” changing “me” to the third-person male pronoun “him,” possibly suggesting a man other than Michael or a past version of himself that he now feels distant from.
The debate over whether “Last Christmas” is a gay song mostly hinges upon these lyrics and the singer’s sexual orientation. However, the song’s 1984 music video also holds a vital clue.
Is Last Christmas a gay song? Its 1984 music video is very heterosexual
The 1984 music video for the song shows Michael exiting a jeep in front of a snowy Swiss cabin hideaway and then waving to an excited brunette woman and several other opposite-sex couples who watch from the cabin’s deck. However, Michael then escorts a blonde woman out of the Jeep’s backseat, putting his arm around her as the brunette woman notices and looks disappointed.
Michael and the brunette share a few intense glances and moments near the Christmas tree and from across the room. A sequence near the video’s end shows Michael and the brunette running and lying together in the snow and then resting on the floor inside near a fire: She opens a ring box and then rests her head on his chest — but the entire sequence may just be a fantasy or a memory. (It’s unclear.)
All other couples in the video are male-female pairings, and all significant interactions occur only between men and women. As such, the video doesn’t give off any major homoerotic vibes (apart from Michael wearing earrings, some makeup for his rosy cheeks, and briefly wearing sparkly tinsel as a scarf while decorating the tree).
A final shot shows Michael and the brunette, their arms around one another, as they walk up a snowy hill. Interestingly, the video never shows Michael interacting with the blonde woman he escorted out of the Jeep, apart from briefly listening to her speak at the dinner table near the video’s middle. As for the brunette woman, she has her own male partner who she mostly ignores in the video as well.
Is Last Christmas a gay song? It’s up to you!
So, is “Last Christmas” a gay song? In conclusion, it really depends on how you want to see it. Michael publicly identified as bisexual (but privately worried he was really gay) while writing it. He dated a woman shortly after the 1984 release and showed a heterosexual relationship in the music video.
However, the lack of female pronouns in the song’s lyrics at least suggests it could be addressed to a man, especially when considering the lines about “a man undercover” and “a fire in his heart.”
The great thing about “Last Christmas” is that Michael made it into a sort of surprise Christmas gift that, once unwrapped, can contain a story about a straight, gay, or bisexual relationship. It’s a gift that keeps on giving, as its continued popularity each year proves again and again.
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