Songfacts®:

• This Paul Stanley sung self-empowerment anthem interested a certain modern star who is well known for singing tunes about embracing who you are. Gene Simmons told Billboard magazine: "When 'Freak 'was being written, Lady Gaga got interested in singing on it, because it espouses her emotions about being comfortable in your skin and all that stuff. And that's a healthy message for everybody. For a while Paul and I were going to sing it, for a while I was gonna sing it, and then Paul and Gaga were gonna sing it, and then finally I suggested Paul should sing it by himself, let's just do a band album. And while it's great that Gaga-who in my estimation is the only rock star out there, modern. There's nobody else-talks about self-empowerment, all that stuff, we made our imprint and stuck our foot firmly into the ground almost 40 years ago and said, 'This is who we are, take it or leave it. 'So in the days of tie-dyed shirts and hippies and anti-war stuff and schools being closed down, we didn't care. We are Kiss, we are alive, we are our own definition. We've never looked over our shoulder to see what's in fashion, what's not, we don't care. And Kiss continues today. Fashions come and go. Punk came and died. Grunge came and then died. Thrash came and then died. New romance came and died. Alternative came and died, then they called it indie. We. Don't. Care. Kiss is its own definition."
• Paul Stanley told Noisecreep that he's felt like an outsider since his teenage years in Queens, New York. "I absolutely still feel like a freak. That's a state of mind. It has nothing to do with how much money you have or how successful you are," he said.
  The Kiss vocalist/guitarist added that he's eventually came to peace with those feelings. "So am I a freak? Of course I am. But I'm proud to be one. Just look at what I'm doing every night. Look at how I live. I'm not rebelling against anything, because the ultimate rebellion is to live your life your own way.
  Anyone that thinks being a successful person, or a millionaire, rules out feeling like a freak and makes you conventional... sorry. The two co-exist proudly. You can become a big success because you're a freak and that's the ultimate win-win."