WATCH: George Michael releases video for first single off new album

ABOVE: Watch the video for “Let Her Down Easy” by George Michael. Warning: Contains brief nudity.

TORONTO — George Michael released the debut single from Symphonica, his first new album in a decade, on Tuesday — and it’s a cover of Terrence Trent D’Arby’s 1993 song “Let Her Down Easy.”

A video for the song opens with the words of Voltaire: “It is an infantile superstition of the human spirit that virginity would be thought a virtue and not the barrier that separates ignorance from knowledge.”

The circus-themed video is shot in black-and-white and ends with a woman disrobing for a man. Michael does not appear in the video.

“Hey lovelies! So what do you all think of the video? I think it’s quite moving once you get past her dad’s moustache,” Michael tweeted on Tuesday.

Michael, 50, hasn’t released an album of new recordings since 2004’s Patience.

The former Wham! singer is known for hits like “Faith,” “I Want Your Sex” and his duet with Elton John, “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me.”

Michael has been reaching out to fans via social media in recent weeks.

“Firstly, I can only apologise from the bottom of my heart for worrying you for so long with my silence,” he tweeted. “Suffice to say that 2013 was a year that i am glad to put behind me and that i hope you can forgive me for.”

Last May, Michael suffered head injuries after falling out of a moving vehicle on a London highway.

Symphonica, set for release March 17, was produced by Michael and Phil Ramone, who died in March. The album was recorded during Michael’s 2011-2012 tour.