George Michael was always about more than just pop music. Sure, Wham gave him an outlet to make the most letter-perfect melodies, but there were bound to be limits on where he could go if he stayed there for too long. His heart was in soul music anyway, and when the late 1990s started, he wanted the chance to work alongside Lauryn Hill after leaving The Fugees.
Granted, it’s not hard for anyone with eyes to see why Hill was the breakout star behind the group. Yeah, they all brought their own special spice to the table, but in terms of balancing singing and rapping at the same time, no other female MC did it better. When she exploded with The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, fans got a taste of what kind of artist they were working with.
She would still rap when she wanted to, but half of the album was focused on creating this warm atmosphere, which had glimpses of everyone from Marvin Gaye to Stevie Wonder in her delivery. Hill wasn’t aiming to be a pop star; she was looking to become the next soulful figure, a la Tina Turner or Whitney Houston. And it’s not like Michael wasn’t paying attention. Since his turn as a solo star with Faith, he had started making various inroads into soul on hits like ‘One More Try’, and his latest album, Older, was a bold exploration of different soundscapes which didn’t seem to fit traditional pop by any means.
So it wasn’t out of the question for Michael to make that pivot, and he knew Hill had everything he loved in a musician, saying, “I’m not that mad about some of the other stuff that the other two have done. But she, I mean her solo album, I think, is the best soul album that I’ve heard in many years. I’d really love to work with her.”
Just like everyone else, Michael would end up waiting for years on end before he hoped to see another record from her. Despite collecting almost every conceivable Grammy a breakout star hoped for, Hill would disappear after her live album for Unplugged 2.0, eventually only working on various guest features and never releasing any new project.
That didn’t mean Michael couldn’t take inspiration from her, though. Outside of working on a collection of standards, his final album, Patience, contained some of the best soulful songs of his career, including a handful of tracks that flirted with dance music, like ‘Shoot the Dog’.
While Michael and Hill seem to be on completely different ends of the musical spectrum, there is at least a little bit of overlap. These were two artists who were willing to stick their necks out on the line when they went solo, and by staying true to themselves, they created the kind of track record no other pop artist could compete with. It’s one thing to make pop music for their time, but had Michael had time to collaborate with Hill, we could have been in for one of the more adventurous duets of the modern age.