| Freaks | |
| Cover: | Freaks Surf Curse.jpg |
| Written: | 2011 |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Surf Curse |
| Album: | Buds |
| Recorded: | 2013 |
| Genre: | |
| Length: | 2:27 |
| Label: | Atlantic |
| Prev Title: | Hour of the Wolf |
| Prev Year: | 2019 |
| Next Title: | Sugar |
| Next Year: | 2022 |
"Freaks" is a song by American surf rock band Surf Curse. It was originally released in 2013, from the band's first studio album Buds. The song was re-released as a single on May 15, 2021, via Atlantic Records.[1] The song later went viral in summer 2021, seeing mass use on social media platforms like Tiktok.[2]
The band wrote the song in 2011, but in 2020, the song garnered attention due to Internet memes, gaining more than 200,000 views on TikTok and 200 million streams. Responding to the viral memes, the band's guitarist Jacob Rubeck told American Songwriter: "It's a very strange trajectory. It's been a strange wave". He also described "Freaks" as "a pretty depressing song, but there are a lot of depressed people out there, and people who feel alienated".[3]
Adam Schulz, the band's A&R rep at Atlantic, told Los Angeles Times: "When I heard 'Freaks' for the first time, the thing that stood out to me was how exhilarating the song is, that energy is consistent across the band's catalog, and once you watch videos of the band performing live, you realize it translates even better in real life."[4]
An accompanying music video was released on August 6, 2021, and directed by the band itself. They talked about the video via TV News Desk: "We never had any intention to make a music video for 'Freaks', but when the opportunity occurred we knew what it needed to be, we had to make a video set in Charles Burns' Black Hole world, which originally inspired the song. We were lucky to cast our friends and put them in this mutant makeup. We were lucky to capture great moments on film and had an opportunity to make an ode to a graphic novel that heavily inspired us."[5]
| Peak position | |
| Australia (ARIA)[6] | 95 |
|---|---|
| Germany Single Trend (Official German Charts)[7] | 5 |
| Greece (IFPI)[8] | 45 |
| Lithuania (AGATA)[9] | 25 |
| Mexico Airplay (Billboard)[10] | 26 |
| Slovakia (Digital Top 100)[11] | 45 |
| Position | ||
| US Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (Billboard)[12] | 21 |
|---|
| Date | Format | Label | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Various | May 15, 2021 | Atlantic | [13] |