"Free" is a song by New Zealand

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with a DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and s ...

duo

Broods Broods are a musical duo from Nelson, New Zealand, composed of Georgia Josiena Nott on lead vocals, with older brother and multi-instrumentalist Caleb Allan Joseph Nott on production and backing vocals. They released the single "Bridges (Broo ...

from their second studio album, ''

Conscious Consciousness, at its simplest, is awareness of a state or object, either internal to oneself or in one's external environment. However, its nature has led to millennia of analyses, explanations, and debate among philosophers, scientists, a ...

'' (2016). It premiered via

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

on 30 March 2016 before being officially released to digital retailers via

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

, Dryden Street, and Universal Music Australia on 1 April 2016 as the album's lead single. The song was serviced to American

modern rock Modern rock is an umbrella term used to describe rock music that is found on college and commercial rock radio stations. Some radio stations use this term to distinguish themselves from classic rock, which is based in 1960s–1980s rock music. ...

radio on 12 April 2016 through

as the duo's third North American single.

Composition

"Free" is a midtempo

anthem An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to sho ...

about having the freedom to express oneself. The song was written by duo members Caleb and Georgia Nott alongside its producer, Joel Little. A

synthwave Synthwave (also called retrowave, or futuresynth) is an electronic music microgenre that is based predominantly on the music associated with the Film score, film soundtracks of action films, science fiction films, and horror films of the 1980s. ...

song with industrial elements, it features prominent

synth A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

instrumentation and a rhythmic backbeat evoking a war drum; industry professionals have described the production as "menacing and liberating" as well as more evolved than their previous songs. Georgia Nott explained to

Triple J Triple J is an Australian government-funded national radio station founded in 1975 as a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It aims to appeal to young listeners of alternative music, and plays far more Australian conten ...

that the song's thematic content arose out of a desire to produce "more mature" songs that deviate from the topic of love and address real issues in people's lives.

Commercial reception

"Free" debuted at number 30 on the

New Zealand Singles Chart The Official Aotearoa Music Charts, formerly the Official New Zealand Music Chart (), is the weekly New Zealand top 40 singles and albums charts, issued weekly by Recorded Music NZ (formerly Recording Industry Association of New Zealand). The M ...

dated 11 April 2016 and peaked at number 21. It also debuted at number one on the New Zealand Artists chart ranking tracks performed by local artists. In Australia, the song entered the ARIA Top 50 singles chart at number 35 on the chart dated 17 April 2016 and has since peaked at number 30. In the United States, "Free" entered the ''Billboard'' Hot Rock Songs chart at number 47 on the chart dated 23 April 2016, their second entry on the chart. "Free" ranked as the most-added song on alternative radio for the week ending 16 April 2016, with 14 Mediabase-monitored stations. Despite this, it did not reach the ''Billboard''

Alternative Songs Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks between 1988 and 2009, and Alternative Songs between 2009 and 2020) is a music chart published in the American magazine ''Billboard'' since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-play ...

chart ranking airplay on the format for another two weeks, whereupon it debuted at number 38 on the chart dated 7 May 2016. It has since peaked at 26.

Music video

An accompanying music video was directed by Jessie Hill and premiered on 31 March 2016.

Chart performance

Certifications

Release history

References

{{authority control 2016 songs 2016 singles Capitol Records singles Universal Music Group singles Broods songs Songs written by Joel Little Synthwave songs