"Free" is a song by Scottish DJ

Calvin Harris Adam Richard Wiles (born 17 January 1984), known professionally as Calvin Harris (and sometimes under the stage name Love Regenerator), is a Scottish DJ, record producer, singer, and songwriter. His debut studio album, ''I Created Disco'' (2007 ...

and English singer

Ellie Goulding Elena Jane Goulding ( ; born 30 December 1986) is an English singer, songwriter, and activist. Born in Hereford and raised in Lyonshall, Goulding began writing songs at the age of 15. She released her debut single " Under the Sheets" through ...

, from Harris' first

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

, '' 96 Months'' (2024). "Free" marks the fourth collaboration between Harris and Goulding, and the duo's first collaboration since 2023's

trance Trance is a state of semi-consciousness in which a person is not self-aware and is either altogether unresponsive to external stimuli (but nevertheless capable of pursuing and realizing an aim) or is selectively responsive in following the dir ...

song "

Miracle A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divi ...

", which saw massive critical and commercial success. "Free" was released as the lead single from ''96 Months'' on 26 July 2024 under

Sony Music UK Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

to widespread critical acclaim from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...

who praised the duo's longtime creative partnership.

Composition

"Free" is a

dance-pop Dance-pop is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit ra ...

track, which is built around a piano

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...

refrain. Robin Murray from '' Clash'' magazine described the production as it "leans back on Millennial pop touchstones, while also overhauling them". As well noticing elements that "touches on

production, while also nodding to

hyper-pop Hyperpop (sometimes called bubblegum bass) is a loosely defined electronic music movement and microgenre that predominantly originated during the early 2010s in the United Kingdom. It is characterised by an exaggerated or maximalist take on pop ...

". Andrew Wescott from '' Dork'' said that the "heartfelt" lyrics "echoes the euphoric, singalong vibe that characterizes their past hits". "Free" marks the first song from the duo that doesn't feature writing credits from Goulding.

Critical reception

"Free" was met with critical acclaim upon its release. Robin Murray from '' Clash'' magazine praised both Harris and Goulding's contributions to the track, highlighting Goulding's emotional vocal performance and Harris production style, calling it pleasingly "the way the duo re-interpolate these 00s tropes, while retaining a wonderful pop song at its core". Tom Skinner from ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' dubbed the song as "The rousing summer anthem". ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' included "Free" on their "Songs You Need to Know" which highlight the best new tracks of the week. Jason Heffler from ''EDM.com'' praised Harris and Goulding stating that their "latest anthem "Free" reinforces the fact that some artistic partnerships are simply destined for greatness". ''ThatGrapeJuice'' called "Free" an "electrifying anthem", and praised the blending of Goulding's ethereals vocals with Harris production "making it an instant hit for the summer".

Commercial performance

"Free" entered at number thirty-six on the UK Singles Chart, marking the duos fourth consecutive top-40 hit single. Eventually it peaked at number thirty-five on its third week. On October 12, "Free" topped the US

Dance/Mix Show Airplay Dance/Mix Show Airplay (formerly Hot Dance Airplay) is a monitored electronic dance music radio chart that is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The chart came about as a result of the small but influential impact of electronic dance musi ...

, making Harris the artist with most number ones singles on the chart, with sixteen, breaking a tie with

David Guetta Pierre David Guetta (; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and record producer. He has sold over 10 million albums and 65 million singles globally, with more than 30 billion streams on Spotify. Guetta was voted the number one DJ in the DJ Mag ...

. Meanwhile, Goulding tied with

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...

as the fifth artist, and the second among female acts with most number ones, with seven. Overall, the song achieved moderate commercial success, in contrast of their previous efforts.

Live performance

Harris' unveiled the track for the first time during his DJ set at Ushuaïa Ibiza, he shared a preview to his

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

account with the caption: "Trying out the new one @ushuaiaibiza!". On July 20, Goulding made a surprise appearance at Harris' Ushuaïa set to perform "Free" live for the first time.

Music video

A lyric video was released the same day the song dropped on Harris,

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel. As August 18, a music video for the song has not been released or teased, making "Free" Harris and Goulding first collaboration to not feature a proper music video, instead a recording of Harris and Goulding's first-time live performance of "Free" at Usuahia Ibiza served as an official visualizer.

Track listing

* Digital download / streaming # "Free" – 3:32 * Digital download / streaming – Sunset Mix # "Free" (Sunset Mix) – 3:14 * Digital download / streaming – Joel Corry Remix # "Free" (

Joel Corry Joel Corry (born 10 June 1989) is an English DJ, producer and television personality. He came to prominence in 2019 with the release of his single " Sorry", featuring vocals from Hayley May, which reached number six in the UK Singles Chart. In ...

Remix) – 3:03 * Digital download / streaming – Arielle Free Remix # "Free" (

Arielle Free Arielle Free-Pritchard (Arielle Free) (born 29 March 1988) is a Scottish DJ and broadcaster. She is known for presenting on BBC Radio 1. Free also hosts the official podcast '' Love Island: The Morning After''. Early life Free was born in Pais ...

Remix) – 4:02 * Digital download / streaming – Nicky Romero Remix # "Free" (

Nicky Romero Nick Rotteveel (; born 6 January 1989), professionally known as Nicky Romero or Monocule, is a Dutch DJ, record producer and remixer from Amerongen, Utrecht Province. He has worked with, and received support from DJs, such as Tiësto, Fedde l ...

Remix) – 3:44 * Digital download / streaming – Remixes # "Free" (

Remix) – 3:03 # "Free" (

Mathame Matteo and Amedeo Giovanelli, born in Bergamo (Italy), are Italian brothers known professionally as the DJ and production duo Mathame, artists within the cinematic techno genre. Career Both brothers were trained in classical music, with Amedeo ...

Remix) – 3:58 # "Free" (

Remix) – 3:44 # "Free" (Major League Djz Remix) – 6:50 # "Free" (Effy Remix) – 3:02 # "Free" (

Remix) – 4:02 # "Free" (sQUIRE Remix) – 3:34

Credits and personnel

– songwriter, producer, mixing engineer, vocal producer *

– vocals *

Theo Hutchcraft Theo David Hutchcraft (born 30 August 1986) is an English singer and songwriter. He is best known as the lead singer of the synthpop duo Hurts. Early life Theo David Hutchcraft was born on 30 August 1986 in Richmond, North Yorkshire. He attend ...

– songwriter * Chenai Zinyuku – songwriter * Duncan Fuller – vocal recording engineer * Mike Marsh – mastering engineer

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

References

{{Ellie Goulding 2024 songs 2024 singles Calvin Harris songs Ellie Goulding songs Song recordings produced by Calvin Harris Songs written by Calvin Harris Songs written by Theo Hutchcraft Sony Music UK singles