Geri Halliwell Horner is releasing her first single in nearly four years to honour her close friend and late music icon George Michael.
The former Spice Girls member revealed during an interview with ITV’s Lorraine that her new track – “Angels In Chains” – will be released next week and is inspired by Michael.
Horner said that after Michael died of natural causes on Christmas day last year, she “just didn’t know what to do.”
“I was a fan and I was a friend and he had such an impact on my life,” she explained. “I didn’t know what to do with all my feelings, I couldn’t… it was a unique relationship and so I just wrote a song.”
The 44-year-old said she wrote lyrics and a melody, and submitted the song to her record company, who, in turn, wanted to release the song.
“I was so scared for so many reasons particularly because it’s vulnerable and it’s about George and what would people think,” she admitted.
Writing “Angels In Chains” was a “painful” experience, said Horner, and came with interesting timing. Four days after demoing the single, she welcomed her son Montague George Hector.
“And then I had the baby and it’s a boy, and you just think God, this is the circle of life,” she told ITV.
Montague takes his name from Michael, an idea that came from Horner’s mother.
“He really was very close with my mother, she used to always write him letters and he’d send her a hamper,” said Horner. “He was adorable in that way, very loving person and that is the legacy I think he has left with all of us as well as his amazing music.”
Horner’s single, “Angels In Chains,” will be released on Friday, June 23.
This article originally appeared on PEOPLE