Wham! their tour of China, received its world premiere as part of the festivities. For several years after becoming a solo artist, Michael spoke negatively, in public, about his time with Wham, partly because of the negativity of intense media coverage on Ridgeley. Michael complained of the constant pressure he felt, and he claimed that the duo had been mistreated financially. He also spoke disparagingly about some of the videos and songs from the Wham repertoire, especially the video from "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go", and the songs from Fantastic. However, his perspective on the era softened somewhat in the
Wham! Wham album was "Careless Whisper", but it featured only George Michael in the music video. The single was also promoted as "Wham featuring George Michael" in many markets but, unlike any Wham single except "Wham Rap!" and "Club Tropicana", it was also co-written with Andrew Ridgeley. The song, about a remorseful two-timer, had more emotional depth than previous releases. It reached No. 1, selling over 1.3 million copies in the UK. "Careless Whisper" marked a new phase in Michael's career, as his label Columbia/Epic began to somewhat distanced him from the group Wham's playboy image. The next single was "Freedom"