10 Minute Freak

Lana Del Rey is not an artist I play very often. Her music can be pretty laidback, but I usually also find it to be a bit moody, and that’s not always something I’m into. You know how there’s a time and a place for everything.

But I’d heard about her latest, 10 minutes long, video, so I was very curious to see “Freak”. When I hear that an artist made a long video, I get flashbacks to Michael Jackson’s lengthy videos in the 80s. When those came out, it was a real event. When Taylor Swift did it, recently, it was also a real event, but Lana Del Rey pretty much just made a dual video.

The first half is the official video for “Freak”, which takes you back to the Flower Power days and everybody loving San Francisco and everybody being on something. On the topic of freakiness, she could’ve obviously gone very extreme, but that’s not Lana Del Rey. She has stayed true to her hippie vibe.

My first impression of the second half of the video was that they may have had some footage left from her “Music To Boys To Watch To” video. As I recall it had some swimming pool shots in there and that’s pretty much all of what the second half of “Freak” is. The girls swim like sirens in the sea over a beautiful (I have to give her that) piano piece.

Video put aside, I actually really like the lyrical angle of Freak’s chorus. Yes, the track is a bit moody, but I seem to get into this track a lot easier than other Lana tracks I’ve heard. I can really respect that she really looked for her own sound, a niche. It’s unusual in these times, to have someone so young use the 60s and 70s as such an obvious inspiration to her music.

For some, she even goes further back, because what I tie into the 60s hippie culture, others see in a more romantic view and recognize more of a 50s style in her.

I know people always say to artists that they have to find your own sound. You have to different from the rest, but the business revolves around formats and being different from the rest means you’ll always get told to sound more like someone who’s already famous. This is why, I think people like Lana are very important. They break the rules and pave the way for others.