User:Dontuseurrealname/sandbox/Last Christmas (rewrite)

"Last Christmas" is a song by English pop duo Wham!. Written and produced by lead singer George Michael, it was released on December 3, 1984 as a single internationally through CBS Records and through Epic Records as a double A-side with "Everything She Wants" in several European countries. A synth-pop Christmas song, it has been covered by several artists, including Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Carly Rae Jepsen, Jimmy Eat World and Backstreet Boys.

The song was a commercial success, being certified 5 times Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry in the UK. It initially peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart, being held off from the top position by "Do They Know It's Christmas?" by Band Aid. After many subsequent chart runs, which included three more weeks at number two, the song peaked at number one on New Year's Day, 2021, more than 36 years after its initial release. Outside of the UK, the song topped record charts in Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Slovenia, and Sweden, and entered the top ten of several countries including Australia, Canada and the United States.

Wham! donated all of their royalties to relief efforts for the Ethiopian famine. In a UK-wide poll in December 2012, it was voted eighth on the ITV television special The Nation's Favourite Christmas Song and was voted most popular song of the 1980s in Channel 5's Christmas 2020 countdown Britain's Favourite 80's Songs. It was the most-played Christmas song of the 21st century in the UK until it was overtaken by "Fairytale of New York" in 2015.

Background
The song was written solely by Wham! lead singer George Michael, who composed in his bedroom while he and Andrew Ridgeley were visiting Michael's parents. In an interview with Smooth Radio, Ridgeley stated, "we'd had a bite to eat and were sitting together relaxing with the television on in the background when, almost unnoticed, George disappeared upstairs for an hour or so". Michael then played him the chorus melody, which he referred to as "a moment of wonder".

Recording for the song began in the summer of 1984 at Advision Studios in London, where Michael handled record production and played every instrument. According to Chris Porter, Michael, as the lead singer and songwriter of Wham!, had little practice with actual instrumentation, stating, "George wasn’t a musician... [He] had no training on instruments at all. He nevertheless insisted on doing everything himself... It was a laborious process, because he was literally playing the keyboards with two or three fingers".

Promotion and release
The song was released on December 3, 1984 as a standalone, twelve-inch single, though the flip-side varied depending on the country of release. In the UK, Ireland, Greece, Australia, New Zealand and Brazil, it was released as a double A-side via Epic Records with "Everything She Wants", a single from Wham!'s second and final studio album, Make it Big (1984). In Portugal, the Philippines, Hong Kong, and several other countries, "Last Christmas" was released via CBS Records and had no A-side or B-side, while the Japan release had the song "Credit Card Baby" as the B-side. Since it's original release, "Last Christmas" has been reissued several times, with the first being in 1988. The song was subsequently reissued in 1991, 1994, 1997, 2006 and 2019, all of which were through Epic Records.

Composition and lyrics
"Last Christmas" is an upbeat synth-pop song composed in the key of D major and follows a tempo of 108 beats-per-minute. It features an electronic drum beat made with a LinnDrum drum machine, a Roland Juno-60 synthesizer, and sleigh bells, all of which were played by George Michael. Although it is often considered lyrically as a Christmas song, it mainly deals with themes of unrequited love.

Critical reception
The song received positive to mixed reception from music critics.

Commercial performance
Upon release, "Last Christmas"