Freak

Album: Honeymoon (2015)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Lana Del Rey is inviting her lover here to join her in California. She wants him to be a freak like just like her having fun dancing "by the ocean" and "talking 'til we both turn blue." Del Rey described the song in an Instagram post as "very sexy."
  • During an interview with NME, Del Rey was asked what music she was listening to as she plotted her Honeymoon album. She replied: "I really love Rae Sremmurd so that might be a surprise inspiration. Also Sage The Gemini. I really love listening to some of the people that came out of Atlanta in the last two years. I don't think I was trying to emulate that sound, but I had elements of it in 'Freak' and 'High By The Beach.'"
  • Lana Del Rey shares a passionate embrace with Father John Misty in the song's trippy video, with Misty portraying some sort of cult leader. During the extended outro, the singer dives into a pool, where she is joined by Father Misty and the girls from her "Music to Watch Boys To" clip, as the music transitions into Claude Debussy's "Clair De Lune."

    The video was filmed in early 2014 and was originally intended for a different song. Misty recalled to NME: "The thing I remember most about the video is how difficult acting underwater is. I had to do stuff underwater at one point, and I kicked some girl in the face by accident. It was horrible. I felt like such a loser."

    This isn't the pair's first collaboration. Father John Misty opened several concerts for Lana Del Rey in 2014. The songstress previously expressed her admiration for her co-star in 2013 telling Radio.com, "Well, I'm sort of influenced each day by whatever I come upon. Like I don't listen to that much new music, but I actually really love Father John Misty, who kind of reminded me of my roots."

    Misty responded by posting a photo of Del Rey to his Facebook page.
  • Del Rey wanted viewers to feel like they had stepped into a French Impressionist artwork by painter Claude Monet while watching her new music video. "The whole thing was inspired by a moving Monet," Del Rey said, before detailing how she recruited her sister and her sister's friends for the clip. "We were shooting with a couple of special cameras and shooting everything in slow motion and taking a lot of time to color it."

Comments: 1

  • Katrina Kole from Northern California Just heard for the first time this evening. LDR is my favorite artist. And when I heard Claire de Lune I came running in too see if the vid had somehow changed. Nope. LDR just never fails to amaze me. SHE is my spirit animal
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Loudon Wainwright III

Loudon Wainwright IIISongwriter Interviews

"Dead Skunk" became a stinker for Loudon when he felt pressure to make another hit - his latest songs deal with mortality, his son Rufus, and picking up poop.

Name the Character in the Song

Name the Character in the SongMusic Quiz

With a few clues (Works at a diner, dreams of running away), can you name the character in the song?

Michael Bolton

Michael BoltonSongwriter Interviews

Into the vaults for this talk with Bolton from the '80s when he was a focused on writing songs for other artists.

90s Music Quiz 1

90s Music Quiz 1Music Quiz

First question: Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson appeared in videos for what artist?

Dave Alvin - "4th Of July"

Dave Alvin - "4th Of July"They're Playing My Song

When Dave recorded the first version of the song with his group the Blasters, producer Nick Lowe gave him some life-changing advice.

Stan Ridgway

Stan RidgwaySongwriter Interviews

Go beyond the Wall of Voodoo with this cinematic songwriter.