Latest news with #Freedom!
Daily Record
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
'Forgotten' original supermodel from George Michael's iconic Freedom video's heartbreaking death
She was one of the most relevant supermodels of all time, but went on to live a quiet life before passing away Fans of George Michael's unforgettable Freedom! '90 video will remember the moment a group of impossibly glamorous supermodels lip-synced his lyrics in peak 90s style. Among them was Tatjana Patitz - perhaps the most mysterious face of them all, and certainly the one who stepped furthest from the spotlight once the supermodel era began to fade. Patitz, born in Hamburg to an Estonian mother and German father, was a horse-loving teenager growing up on the Swedish coast when she first tried her luck in modeling. She placed third in an Elite Model contest in Stockholm at just 17, earning a ticket to Paris. But there was no instant stardom: Patitz spent a year with no bookings before a turning point came from photographer Peter Lindbergh, whose preference for natural, unretouched beauty transformed her image. His lens captured a self-assured confidence and mature elegance that set Patitz apart from the other beauties of that era. Patitz herself reflected in Vogue in 2020, 'I never sold my soul,' describing how she resisted the superficial side of the fashion world even as her star rose. That integrity and quiet strength showed through Lindbergh's photographs, including the famous January 1990 cover of British Vogue uniting the 'original supermodels' in one unforgettable image. When George Michael saw that cover, he invited the same group to appear in his Freedom! video - and Patitz's magnetic, soulful screen presence made her an icon for a whole new audience. Unlike some of her peers, Patitz never seemed interested in celebrity for its own sake. She built a life away from New York or Paris, choosing instead to live in California near nature and her beloved animals. There, she raised her son Jonah, who she described in a 2019 interview with Mercedes-AMG's 63Magazine: 'My son is my source of happiness in life. My friends, my animals, and nature give me balance and satisfaction – the feeling of being connected... I would like to send an empathetic person with a big heart out into the world. Jonah should always have the self-belief to be himself and to embody and articulate his own attitude and opinions." Patitz also shared her graceful philosophy on ageing with the magazine, saying, 'I am proud of my wrinkles. I worked for each one and they belong to me. Growing older is beautiful. You become wiser and more mature. For me, giving away or changing that gift is not an option... Beauty means being a good person and being there for others. In my opinion, beauty is not only about looks, but everything that makes up a person.' After her death, Anna Wintour, former chief content officer of Condé Nast, described what made Patitz so distinctive, telling Vogue: 'Tatjana was always the European symbol of chic, like Romy Schneider-meets-Monica Vitti... she was more mysterious, more grown-up, more unattainable — and that had its own appeal.' Even while enjoying a lower public profile, Patitz continued working with some of the fashion industry's greatest talents, including Peter Lindbergh, Herb Ritts, and Patrick Demarchelier. Her later Vogue features celebrated a new chapter of her life, showing her and Jonah in peaceful domestic scenes on their California ranch, far from the catwalks of Milan and Paris. In January 2023, Patitz died at the age of 56 after a battle with metastatic breast cancer. Tributes poured in from across the industry for a woman who was a symbol of ageless sophistication. While other stars of the Freedom! video continued to chase magazine covers and runways, Tatjana Patitz seemed to embody a quieter, more personal freedom until her last days.
Sydney Morning Herald
19-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
Thirty-something and newly single? Haim know exactly how you feel
Haim, I Quit There's no doubt that pop music is a woman's world right now, and more specifically a solo woman's world, belonging to the likes of Taylor, Olivia, Charli, Chappell, Billie and many more. But the three sisters of Haim are proving to be a unique threat. 'They could all certainly have been in Fleetwood Mac,' Stevie Nicks recently said about the band. It was no idle claim. Over the space of three previous albums, the LA trio – Danielle, Este and Alana Haim – have become a force to be reckoned with, crafting soaring, radio-friendly pop with close harmonies honed from years of sibling revelry. And much like the Mac, they're not afraid of airing dirty laundry and working out personal dramas in their songs. The band's last album, 2020's Women In Music, Pt III, was particularly close to the bone, delving into grief, sadness and depression, reportedly after they were working out a lot of issues via therapy. Throughout it all they've presented a united front, a gang of three precociously talented musicians who are undoubtedly cool, but also relatable and a little goofy. It's no coincidence that they come from the San Fernando Valley, like their frequent artwork and music video collaborator, film director Paul Thomas Anderson. Like him, they grew up in 'the Valley', where Hollywood studios meet the 'burbs, and they mine regular human hopes, dreams, foibles and failures to do their thing. The title of their fourth album, I Quit, might at first sound like a shoulder-shrugging statement of resignation. But, in fact, it's the opposite. They've quit giving a shit, they're embracing life and they sound positively dizzy about it. It's telling that this is the first album they wrote and recorded while all three sisters, who are all in their thirties, were single. And for Danielle, who ended a long-term relationship with their regular producer Ariel Rechtshaid, it sounds like a new beginning of sorts. 'Now I own the mud that I'm standing in,' she declares in the closing track, Now It's Time. Over the previous 14 songs there is plenty of mud, but Haim aren't wallowing in it. Instead, they're acknowledging it and then shaking it off. As Stevie once sang, 'When the rain washes you clean, you'll know.' Listen to the opening track, Gone. Over a stripped-back shuffle, Danielle lays down the law: 'I'll do whatever I want, I'll see who I want to see, I'll f--- off whenever I want, I'll be whatever I need.' Oh, did I mention that the song features a joyous sample of George Michael's Freedom! '90 and that Danielle rips out a guitar solo that cosies up to Keith Richard's famous stinging riffs from Sympathy for the Devil?
The Age
19-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
Thirty-something and newly single? Haim know exactly how you feel
Haim, I Quit There's no doubt that pop music is a woman's world right now, and more specifically a solo woman's world, belonging to the likes of Taylor, Olivia, Charli, Chappell, Billie and many more. But the three sisters of Haim are proving to be a unique threat. 'They could all certainly have been in Fleetwood Mac,' Stevie Nicks recently said about the band. It was no idle claim. Over the space of three previous albums, the LA trio – Danielle, Este and Alana Haim – have become a force to be reckoned with, crafting soaring, radio-friendly pop with close harmonies honed from years of sibling revelry. And much like the Mac, they're not afraid of airing dirty laundry and working out personal dramas in their songs. The band's last album, 2020's Women In Music, Pt III, was particularly close to the bone, delving into grief, sadness and depression, reportedly after they were working out a lot of issues via therapy. Throughout it all they've presented a united front, a gang of three precociously talented musicians who are undoubtedly cool, but also relatable and a little goofy. It's no coincidence that they come from the San Fernando Valley, like their frequent artwork and music video collaborator, film director Paul Thomas Anderson. Like him, they grew up in 'the Valley', where Hollywood studios meet the 'burbs, and they mine regular human hopes, dreams, foibles and failures to do their thing. The title of their fourth album, I Quit, might at first sound like a shoulder-shrugging statement of resignation. But, in fact, it's the opposite. They've quit giving a shit, they're embracing life and they sound positively dizzy about it. It's telling that this is the first album they wrote and recorded while all three sisters, who are all in their thirties, were single. And for Danielle, who ended a long-term relationship with their regular producer Ariel Rechtshaid, it sounds like a new beginning of sorts. 'Now I own the mud that I'm standing in,' she declares in the closing track, Now It's Time. Over the previous 14 songs there is plenty of mud, but Haim aren't wallowing in it. Instead, they're acknowledging it and then shaking it off. As Stevie once sang, 'When the rain washes you clean, you'll know.' Listen to the opening track, Gone. Over a stripped-back shuffle, Danielle lays down the law: 'I'll do whatever I want, I'll see who I want to see, I'll f--- off whenever I want, I'll be whatever I need.' Oh, did I mention that the song features a joyous sample of George Michael's Freedom! '90 and that Danielle rips out a guitar solo that cosies up to Keith Richard's famous stinging riffs from Sympathy for the Devil?
