"Freak" is a song recorded by American singer and songwriter

Lana Del Rey Elizabeth Woolridge Grant (born June 21, 1985), known professionally as Lana Del Rey, is an American singer-songwriter. Her music is noted for its cinematic quality and exploration of tragic romance, glamour, and melancholia, with frequent ...

for her album ''

Honeymoon A honeymoon is a vacation taken by newlyweds immediately after their wedding, to celebrate their marriage. Today, honeymoons are often celebrated in destinations considered exotic or romantic. In a similar context, it may also refer to the phase ...

'' (2015). It was written by Del Rey and

Rick Nowels Richard Wright Nowels Jr. is an American songwriter, record producer, multi-instrumentalist and arranger. He has co-written and co-produced over 90 hit singles with multiple artists NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'', Al Horner noted the "bassy trap rambles" in the song. Horner asked Del Rey what music she was listening to while composing ''Honeymoon''. Del Rey answered: In an interview with ''The Current'', Del Rey she wanted the album ''Honeymoon'' to have a "bit of a noire 'sic''feel," but that the album "loosened up" with songs like "

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

" and "Freak."

Composition

"Freak" is a ballad sung by Del Rey in a

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

voice.

Critical reception

Digital Spy's Amy Davidson stated that Del Rey "dance in slow motion with you before leaning in to convincingly whisper the argument towards being "a freak like me too" in your ear." Jessica Hopper of Pitchfork stated that Del Rey branched away from the normal "

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...

style" that she is known for and had begun to include California girl-lyrics into some of the songs off the album include "Freak", " High by the Beach", and "Art Deco". Hopper later went on to praise the switch in lyrical styling which is sampled in the song.

Music video

On January 25, 2016, Del Rey confirmed on social media that a music video to accompany "Freak" had been completed, later confirming that video would premiere on February 9, 2016. She announced that the video would star the girls featured in "

Music to Watch Boys To "Music to Watch Boys To" is a song by American singer Lana Del Rey from her fourth studio album ''Honeymoon'' (2015). It was written by Del Rey and Rick Nowels. It was released as the second single from ''Honeymoon'' on September 11, 2015, via dig ...

" and singer-songwriter

Father John Misty Joshua Michael Tillman (born May 3, 1981), better known by his stage name Father John Misty, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He has also performed and released studio albums under the name J. Tillman. Maintainin ...

. Segments of the music video were featured in ''The Honeymoon Sampler'' that was released onto YouTube on September 8, 2015. The video, which was released on February 9, 2016, features clips of Del Rey, Father John Misty, Chuck Grant and the girls from ''The Honeymoon Sampler'' and "

" who were featured earlier in the film in a swimming pool as

Claude Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...

's " Clair de Lune" plays. The video was directed by Del Rey herself.

Release

The video premiered on February 9 at The Wiltern theater in Los Angeles, California, and was released on her

Vevo Vevo ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized as VEVO until 2013) is an American multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available as an app on selected smart TVs, di ...

channel on the same day of the premiere.

Critical reception

Critics responded positively to the video, with Alex Young of ''

Consequence of Sound ''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. In addition, the website also features the Festival Outlook ...

'' describing it as a "compelling, sultry visual" and Nolan Feeney of ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' suggesting that the "extravagant" film could be one of the best music videos of 2016.Feeney, Nolan (2016) ''Watch Lana Del Rey’s Trippy ‘Freak’ Video Starring Father John Misty''. Time. [Access Date: February 10, 2016
/nowiki>">ccess Date: February 10, 2016">Feeney, Nolan (2016) ''Watch Lana Del Rey’s Trippy ‘Freak’ Video Starring Father John Misty''. Time. [Access Date: February 10, 2016
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References

External links

* {{authority control 2010s ballads 2015 singles 2015 songs Josh Tillman Lana Del Rey songs Song recordings produced by Rick Nowels Songs about California Songs written by Lana Del Rey Songs written by Rick Nowels