| This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia (view authors). |
“Free” is the fourth single and second track from Florence and the Machine’s fifth studio album Dance Fever. The song is an urgent pop song that lyrically discusses the singer's problems with anxiety and traumas related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Background and release[]
During an interview with Apple Music, Welch described the process of conception of the song: "Ironically, 'Free' was actually the last song I wrote before the first lockdown[...] It’s a song about my anxiety and how I process it and this feeling that it’s just something that’s been with me my whole life, and even as my life stabilizes ... when I'm playing or I'm making music or I'm in the flow of creativity [the anxiety] goes away, so it's kind of this push-and-pull throughout the song of the anxiety, and then taking it out of the way and dancing and feeling free."[1] The song premiered on BBC Radio 1's Future Sounds on April 21, 2022.[2]
The single was released through the band's record label Polydor Records digitally on April 20, 2022. A remix made by American DJ The Blessed Madonna was also made available for sale.
Composition[]
"Free" is a pop song which contains an "urgent" sound that is primarily driven by synths-and-guitar. Music critic Neil Z. Yeung of AllMusic musically described its sound as "Antonoff's band Bleachers taking on an early-aughts Bloc Party or Strokes number".[3] Lyrically, the song describes a protagonist who is feeling "overwhelmed" by the outside world and describes Welch's experience of finding freedom in her music.[4] It was musically compared to the band's earlier singles "Dog Days Are Over" (2008) and "Shake it Out" (2011).[5]
Lyrics[]
Sometimes I wonder if I should be medicated
If I would feel better just slightly sedated
A feeling comes so fast and I cannot control it
I'm on fire, but I'm trying not to show it
As it picks me up, puts me down
It picks me up, puts me down
Picks me up, puts me down
A hundred times a day
It picks me up, puts me down
It chews me up, spits me out
Picks me up, puts me down
I'm always running from something
I push it back, but it keeps on coming
And being clever never got me very far
Because it's all in my head
And "You're too sensitive", they said
I said, "Okay, but let's discuss this at the hospital"
As it picks me up, puts me down
It picks me up, puts me down
Picks me up, puts me down
A hundred times a day
It picks me up, puts me down
It chews me up, spits me out
Picks me up, puts me down
But I hear the music
I feel the beat
And for a moment
When I'm dancing, I am free
I hear the music
I feel the beat (ahh)
And for a moment
When I'm dancing, I am free, I am free
Ooh, ooh
Is this how it is?
Is this how it's always been?
To exist in the face of suffering and death
And somehow still keep singing
Oh like Christ up on a cross
Who died for us? Who died for what?
Oh, don't you wanna call it off?
But there's nothing else that I know how to do
But to open up my arms and give it all to you
'Cause I hear the music, I feel the beat
And for a moment, when I'm dancing
I am free, I am free
I am free, I am free
Music video[]
The music video filmed for the song was directed by American director Autumn de Wilde and was released on April 20, 2022 on the band's official YouTube channel. It was filmed on November 18, 2021 in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. The choreography for the clip was invented by Ryan Heffington.[4]
Katerina Konovalova was responsible for the Ukrainian folk art that can be seen in the clip and Volodymyr Radlinskiy served as its production designer. As the release coincided with the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Welch dedicated the music video for "Free" to Ukrainian people.[6]
Synopsis[]
The video opens with Florence Welch starring as herself and British actor Bill Nighy starring as "her anxiety".[7] In the first part, Welch is seen donning a red dress.[8] In the first half of the video, the two are seen sitting next to each other in a banquet hall surrounded by white walls and large windows.[8] As the song progresses, the duo is seen in various scenes and settings; they are standing next to each other, with Nighy scrolling and speaking on her phone, drinking a cup of coffee, driving a car, activities meant to portray the singer "grappling with her mental health".[7] During one scene, she can also be seen being carried into a room at the hospital by two male nurses portrayed by Ryan Heffington and Alexander Antofiy.
In the video's second half, Welch can be seen outdoors against a "sun-streaked winter landscape" which is then shifted to Welch singing against a white and gray backdrop, with Nighy in the background.[8] Interspersed throughout the clip are instances of Welch dancing and jumping around. In the last few scenes, Welsh can be seen crawling on the table, standing against a landscape and posing as the wind blows in the background. It ends off with a note that says "spirit, creativity and perseverance of our brave Ukrainian friends".
Reception[]
Hilary Remley of Collider observed that De Wilde's work "expresses the emotions that the music itself stirs, without the explicit need of exact recreation".[8] Interpreting the story line, she viewed it as an "exploration of anxiety and overwhelming emotions coming to the question of how we bear it all".[8] Emma Sanchez of Variance magazine called it "a beautiful, whirlwind visual for an equally spectacular, exhilarating song about coming out on the other side of a struggle". [1] Conseuqence interpreted the activities that Nighy performs in the video as similar to how other people also deal with their feelings of anxiety and viewed Welch's dancing as her "means of melting away anxiety".[4] Kate Brayden of Hot Press praised the "humorous visuals, with gorgeous landscape shots".[5] Kasper Hermans writing for the Dutch Nieuweplaat magazine felt the clip was fitting for the "free, lightly euphoric feeling" that the song conveys.[9] As of July 2022, the clip has been watched more than 5.8 million views on YouTube.
Critical reception[]
Upon its release, the song was lauded for its "anthemic" character and "exhilirating" feeling by Emma Sanchez from Variance magazine.[1]
Commercial performance[]
On the UK Singles Chart, "Free" debuted and peaked at number 66 for the week ending April 29, 2022. Following the album's release, "Free" also debuted at number 83 on the Irish Singles Chart for the week ending May 20, 2022.
Refrences[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 https://variancemagazine.com/sights/13056-florence-and-the-machine-free
- ↑ https://www.pmstudio.com/music/20220421-16535
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20220518211639/https://www.allmusic.com/album/dance-fever-mw0003683935
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 https://consequence.net/2022/04/florence-and-the-machine-free-video-bill-nighy-watch/
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 https://www.hotpress.com/culture/florence-the-machine-unveil-video-for-free-starring-bill-nighy-as-anxiety-22902228
- ↑ https://www.fox5ny.com/news/florence-the-machine-dedicates-new-music-video-filmed-in-kyiv-to-ukrainians
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/florence-and-the-machine-free-video-1340853/
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 https://collider.com/florence-and-the-machine-music-video-free-bill-nighy-autumn-de-wilde/
- ↑ https://www.nieuweplaat.nl/indie/florence-the-machine-free/
[]
 | |
|---|---|
| Tour • Merch • Photoshoot • Producers | |
| Discography | |
| Releases | Dance Fever |
| Tracklist | King • Free • Choreomania • Back in Town • Girls Against God • Dream Girl Evil • Prayer Factory • Cassandra • Heaven Is Here • Daffodil • My Love • Restraint • The Bomb • Morning Elvis |
| Deluxe | Cassandra (acoustic) • Free (acoustic) • Morning Elvis (acoustic) • My Love (acoustic) • Search And Destroy |
| Complete Edition | The Bomb • Mermaids • Morning Elvis • King (Poem Version) • My Love (Poem Version) • Cassandra (Poem Version) |
| Non-Album | Morning Elvis with Ethel Cain • Just a Girl |
| Other Eras | |
| Lungs • Ceremonials • How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful • High As Hope • Dance Fever | |