"Free Me" is a song by English singer-songwriter
Joss Stone
Joscelyn Eve Stoker (born 11 April 1987), known professionally as Joss Stone, is an English singer, songwriter and actress. She rose to prominence in late 2003 with her multi-platinum debut album, '' The Soul Sessions'', which made the 2004 Mer ...
. It was written by Stone, Jonathan Shorten, Eric Baker, and
Conner Reeves
Conner Reeves (born 8 April 1972) is an English singer and songwriter. He is best known for his 1997 album ''Earthbound'' which was released on Colin Lester's and Ian McAndrew's Wildstar label.
Reeves scored five Top 40 singles in the UK Sin ...
for her fourth studio album, ''
Colour Me Free!
''Colour Me Free!'' is the fourth studio album by English singer and songwriter Joss Stone, released on 20 October 2009 by Virgin Records. The album was originally scheduled to be released in April 2009. However, Stone's record label, EMI, del ...
'' (2009).
The song embodies portions of "Do the Dirt" by
The Meters. Due to the inclusion of the sample, Leo Nocentelli is also credited as a songwriter. "Free Me" was released as the album's first and only single on 8 November 2009.
Background
Stone wrote the song as a protest song against her label,
EMI
EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 2012, ...
. In the song, Stone sings that she cannot be told what to do. In the outro, she even sings "Free me, free me, EMI". It was reported that Stone wanted to leave EMI, but EMI didn't want to end the four-album contract Stone signed in 2006. Before ''Colour Me Free'', she had only released one out of the four albums that were in her contract.
EMI/Virgin retained the rights to her previously released songs and released the compilation album ''
The Best of Joss Stone 2003–2009
''The Best of Joss Stone 2003–2009'' is the first greatest hits album by English singer and songwriter Joss Stone, released on 23 September 2011 by Virgin Records. Initially announced under the title ''Super Duper Hits: The Best of Joss Stone'' ...
'' which included the song "Free Me". In 2010, the song was featured in the trailer for the film, ''
Morning Glory
Morning glory (also written as morning-glory) is the common name for over 1,000 species of flowering plants in the family Convolvulaceae, whose current taxonomy and systematics are in flux. Morning glory species belong to many genus, genera, ...
''.
Track listing
Sample credits
* "Free Me" embodies portions of "Do the Dirt" by
The Meters.
Charts
References
2009 singles
Joss Stone songs
Songs written by Joss Stone
2009 songs
Virgin Records singles
Songs written by Conner Reeves
Songs written by Jonathan Shorten
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