"Freak the Freak Out" is a song performed by American pop recording artist Victoria Justice. It was produced by The Super Chris and Michael Corcoran, who also co-wrote the song with C.J. Abraham, Nick Hexum, Zack Hexum, and Dan Schneider, for , the soundtrack to the Nickelodeon television series, Victorious. It was released as the album's lead single on November 19, 2010 through Columbia Records. Musically, the song is a fast-paced electronic rock song with influences of electropop and teen pop lyrics, and the lyrics speak of getting the attention of a distant friend. The song was met with generally positive reviews from critics, with the majority of them praising its message and aggressive sound. "Freak the Freak Out" charted on the BillboardHot 100 at number 50, remaining as the highest peaking song from the soundtrack. The accompanying music video portrays Justice with the Victorious cast at a night club dancing, singing and enjoying the moment.
Background
"Freak the Freak Out" is the first commercial single released from the soundtrack , for the television series of the same name on Nickelodeon. It was first heard on the series's one-hour special, "Freak the Freak Out", which premiered on November 26, 2010 in North America, a few days after the single's release. The scene where the song was performed features Justice, disguised as a very ugly girl Louise Nordoff, who comes up on stage to sing and later reveals her true self as a part of a plan to win a bet with the two main antagonists in the episode, Hayley and Tara. They won a previous contest only because Hayley's father owns the karaoke place. Justice continues singing as Elizabeth Gillies and Ariana Grande, playing Jade West and Cat Valentine, come up on stage and dance beside her. The song was written by Michael Corcoran, C.J. Abraham, Nick Hexum, Zack Hexum, Dan Schneider. It also featured addition production by Greg Wells on additional production. The mixing for the song was provided by Greg Wellstook place at Rocket Carousel in Los Angeles, California. Backhouse Mike and The Super Chris produced the track along with providing all the instruments on the song. Michael Corcoran also provided the guitars. Corcoran was also included on the programming for the song with CJ Abraham, both of which engineered the track in The Backhouse in Los Angeles. Corcoran and Abraham provided additional vocals along with Niki Watkins, Nick and Zack Hexum.
Composition
"Freak the Freak Out" is an electronic rock song that contains influences of Hi-NRG, teen pop and electropop. The song runs For 160 beats per minute respectively, through a Dance-rock oriented beat and features a more aggressive sound than the rest of the album's songs, at one point received comparisons to American recording artist Katy Perry's musical stylings. Much of the song features relentless beats, synthesized instrumentations, nonstop simple, and repetitive choruses. The theme of the song is centered around managing relationships. The lyrics are about getting the attention of a distant partner who doesn't listen.
Critical reception
Bob Hoose and Steven Isaac of Plugged In Online condemned the song for its objectionable content, mainly noting the title's second "freak" was, stated by Hoose and Isaac, "a not-so-subtle substitute for an intended obscenity." Joe DeAndrea of AbsolutePunk praised the song, along with "Beggin' on Your Knees", for its catchy nature, further commenting that "They will get stuck in your head and you'll probably feel a little ashamed, but no worries: it's the good type of ashamed! Like eating chocolate cake in a bathtub alone on a Friday night. But really, it's easier to accept it when you realize that the songs aren't all that worse than what is currently on the radio."
Performances
Justice performed this song in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2010. Also, the song was performed in a Victorious episode of the same title as the song.
Music video
The music video premiered on Nickelodeon on November 19, 2010, after the iCarly episode "iStart a Fan War". The video opens with Justice talking on the phone with someone outside of the club. She is upset that her friend is not coming to the club, but decides to go in anyway. As she walks around the club, she sees the Victorious cast socializing with other people. They are also shown dancing individually on the dance floor in another part of the club. There are also interspersed shots of Justice singing the song while sitting down, singing parts of the song into her phone, performing the song in a room with people dancing behind her and at the DJ booth. In a shorter version of the music video, there are interspersed shots of Justice recording the song in a studio.
A little over six months after its release, the single was certified Gold by the RIAA in the United States on June 13, 2011. However, Justice's label incorrectly certified it as an album. It has been confirmed that the song has sales of over 600,000 digital copies in the U.S.
