"Everything She Wants" is a single by the English pop duo Wham!, released on 3 December 1984 via Columbia Records and Epic Records as part of a double A-side single release with "Last Christmas". Written and produced by George Michael, a member of the duo, "Everything She Wants" garnered significant acclaim, marking Wham!'s third consecutive million-selling number-one hit in the United States.

Production Writing Like most other Wham! songs from this period, "Everything She Wants" was written by George Michael. He discussed the origin of the song in the fall 1985 issue of ASCAP in Action:

Michael elaborated on the song's lyrics and the meaning behind them in Dick Clark's Countdown radio show. Said Michael, "It's a lyric about a man who is six or eight months into a marriage which obviously isn't going well. He's faced with the 'happy' news of an arriving baby. So he's in that situation where he can't back out." "Everything She Wants" describes the situation of a man who works hard to support his family, but sees it as a trap. "It's a situation I've seen. It's not the kind of thing I usually write about. Our lyrics are usually a lot closer to the kind of pop lightweight lyric we enjoy, but it's a departure, and I think it worked."

In September 2011, during a performance at the SAP Arena in Mannheim, Germany as part of the Symphonica Tour, Michael said that the song "Understand" featured on disc three of the compilation album Twenty Five (2006) was written as a follow-up to "Everything She Wants", with the man in the song realizing that his woman cared a lot more about love than he ever dreamed of.

Recording "Everything She Wants" was recorded in August 1984 at Marcadet Studios in Paris using a 3M 32-track recorder, and was most likely finished off at Sarm West Studio 2 in Notting Hill, London, after most of the Make It Big album had been finished at Studio Miraval in southeastern France over a period of six weeks. The song is based around a mono 2-bar LinnDrum loop, which was originally intended as a guide track, but was eventually kept on the finished record.

As a Wham! track, "Everything She Wants" is a departure in the sense that Michael recorded the song entirely by himself (with engineer Chris Porter in attendance), as opposed to the typical process of involving session musicians and Michael conveying his ideas to them. Apparently, the musicians involved in Make It Big had already flown back to the UK when Michael came around to recording the track en route from Studio Miraval, so it was partly out of necessity he worked on it himself. According to Porter, "I think this was when George started to realise that if he wanted to, he could do everything himself. He could cut out all these other people and their ideas." This would pave the way for "Last Christmas", which followed the same approach.

Michael confirms:

He added that both songs were made on one synthesizer, referring to a Roland Juno-60.

Chart performance Upon release in the UK, "Last Christmas" took the majority of the attention and airplay as it was appropriate in early December as Christmas approached. However, the presence of an equally-billed flip-side meant that radio stations had something else to play once "Last Christmas" had lost its seasonal topicality.

"Do They Know It's Christmas?" by the Band Aid project, in which George Michael participated, prevented the double A-side from reaching number one in the UK singles chart (although in the process it became the biggest-selling record not to get to number one). In the US, however, "Everything She Wants" did reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 after being released in February 1985 accompanied by a music video.

The single reached No. 1 in May of that year, becoming the third consecutive chart-topping single from the Make It Big album.

Critical reception

Reviewing the "Everything She Wants" single, Cash Box wrote that the song is a "probing R&B cut" that is "perfect dance floor material." In her review for AllMusic, Amy Hanson described the song as "another glimpse of R&B driven, synth swept dance grooves" which brings in "elements of classic blue-eyed soul." Tom Breihan of Stereogum described "Everything She Wants" as "an anguished, panicked, panting lament about not wanting to have a family."

In 2021, "Everything She Wants" was included on The Guardian list of Michael's 30 greatest songs. Ranking the song third, reviewer Alexis Petridis stated, "If you turned over 'Last Christmas', you found Wham!'s greatest song, evidence of George Michael's rapid development as a songwriter." He described the song as "six and half minutes of lyrical misery [...] set to sublime synth-funk that has somehow never seemed to date."

Live performances Although Michael bemoaned much of Wham!'s material as he began his solo career, "Everything She Wants" remained a song of which he was proud, and he continued to perform it in his shows. Furthermore, Michael remarked in an interview (to promote 25 Live tour) that "Everything She Wants" was his favourite Wham! song.

In 1996, the song was performed at the MTV Unplugged concert.

Other releases In 1997, the song was remixed and re-released as "Everything She Wants '97" on the greatest hits album The Best of Wham!: If You Were There....

The song makes an appearance in the game Grand Theft Auto V, being accessible by selecting the Non-Stop-Pop FM radio station.

"Everything She Wants" was featured on the official soundtrack album to Last Christmas released by Sony Music on CD, 2-disc vinyl, and digital formats on 8 November 2019.

Cover versions Rapper Foxy Brown sampled the song on the track "I Can't" from her 1999 album Chyna Doll.

The a cappella group Naturally 7 sampled "Everything She Wants" on their 2011 song "Life Goes On", an arrangement that was personally approved by Michael.

In 2013, the song was covered by electro/hip-hop artist Egyptian Lover for his 2015 album, 1984. Like the original, it is also featured in Grand Theft Auto V (though only in the Enhanced Edition) on iFruit Radio.

In 2020, Alien Ant Farm recorded a rock remake of the song. Its music video, shot during the COVID-19 pandemic, features cameos from artists like Insane Clown Posse, Hyro the Hero, Charlie Benante of Anthrax, CJ Pierce of Drowning Pool, and several others. The track was eventually included on their 2024 release, Mantras.

Music video

The official music video for "Everything She Wants" was directed by Andy Morahan, and consists of black and white footage of a live performance. The video also includes an extra verse not present on the Make It Big album.

Personnel George Michael – lead and backing vocals, Roland Juno-60 synthesizer, LinnDrum programming

Track listing

Also released in a limited edition with a 1985 calendar (WQTA 4949).

Note: Track 1 plays the 7″ remix but is labelled only as "Remix".

Charts

Weekly charts +Weekly chart performance for "Everything She Wants"Chart (1984–1985)PeakpositionAustralia (Kent Music Report)7Canada (The Record)Lwin, Nanda. Top 40 Hits: The Essential Chart Guide (2000). Mississauga, Ont.: Music Data Canada5Europe (European Hot 100 Singles)4Iceland (RÚV)1South Africa (Springbok)5US Cash Box Top 1001US Contemporary Hit Radio (Radio & Records)1

Year-end charts +1984 year-end chart performance for "Everything She Wants"Chart (1984)PositionUK Singles (Gallup)6 +1985 year-end chart performance for "Everything She Wants"Chart (1985)PositionAustralia149Canada (RPM)32UK42US Billboard Hot 10025US Cash Box Top 10022

Certifications and sales

References