The first time you hear Freak by Lana Del Rey, you probably just assume the song is about sex. That’s because on the surface level, the song is very sexual, explicit, and horny.

But the reality is that the song actually goes much deeper than that.

While I do believe it’s definitely one of Lana’s sexiest songs of all time, I also consider a love song that is extremely romantic, idealistic, and dreamy.

This on a song is in my top three favorite Lana songs from her entire discography because I see the depths of these lyrics and the way they go beyond the surface-level belief that the song is simply about having sex.

Because yes, the song describes her passionate desire to be ravaged in the bedroom or on the beachside with her lover, but if that’s all you take away from the song, you’re missing the point and you’re definitely missing out.

Lana is my favorite musical artist of all time and I’ve been a diehard fan of her since about 2012. Right now I really want to dig into the intimate intricacies of Freak.

Starting with the lines where Lana sings, “Baby if you wanna leave / Come to California, be a freak like me, too / Screw your anonymity / Loving me is all you need to feel / Like I do.”

The reason this part stands out to me so much is because Lana is inviting her love her to join her in California in a way that comes across as the opposite of pleading or begging.

She’s literally laying it all out on the line for him so he understands how much better his life will be if he pulls the trigger and actually joins her in California.

She explains that his anonymous lifestyle is nothing in comparison to how good it will feel to be in California with her experiencing how good it feels to love her and be a freak with her. And in this context btw, she’s talking about being a sexual freak.

These lines stood out to me a lot because they reminded me of lyrics from her song West Coast, where she sings, “I can see my baby swinging / His Parliament’s on fire and his hands are up / On the balcony and I’m singing / Ooh baby, ooh baby. I’m in love / I can see my sweet boy swaying / He’s crazy yu Cubano como yo, la la / On the balcony and I’m saying / Move baby, move baby, I’m in love.”

And I heard someone do a lyrical analysis of that song on TikTok stating that when Lana was singing move baby move baby, she was asking her lover to move to California to be with her.

West Coast as an entire song is a love letter to california. Lana’s love for the West Coast and California in particular have been on display in many of her songs.

But in West Coast specifically, she sings, “Move baby, move, baby, I’m in love” as a direct request to her lover to come meet her down on the West Coast, where they got “their icons, their silver starlets, their queens of Saigons.”

That’s up for interpretation, and I was exposed to that concept in someone else’s lyrical analysis. But I do feel it blends along with my thoughts regarding the lyrics of Freak where Lana is specifically asking her lover to come meet her in California. 

In the next part of this song, Lana sings, “We could slow dance to rock music / Kiss while we do it / Talk till we both turn blue / Baby, if you wanna leave / Come to California, be a freak like me, too.”

Which offers another layer of romance that doesn’t inherently just revolve around the bedroom. When two people are slow dancing and talking until they both turn blue, it means they’re sharing intimacy that goes beyond having sex.

Talking until you turn blue is symbolic of sharing conversation with your chosen life partner until you pass away. That means you are continually opening up to each other, sharing your thoughts, and expressing your desires to each other forever until the moment you die. And that is extremely romantic at its core, if you ask me.

After that, she sings, “Leather black and eyes of blue / Sun reflecting in your eyes, like an easy rider / Life makes sense when I’m with you / Looking back, my past / It all seems stranger than a stranger.”

I love these lyrics because they remind me of my husband who has beautiful blue eyes. Lana describes the black leather jacket her lover wears in contrast to his beautiful blue eyes as she admires the way, the sun reflects off of them. And then she says, “Life makes sense when I’m with you.”

And that reminded me of Moulin Rouge in the song, Come What May.

The lyrics say, “Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place / Suddenly it moves with such a perfect grace / Suddenly my life doesn’t seem such a waste / It all revolves around you.”

That verse in Come What May always stood out to me because it describes the inner peace you have once you finally meet your life person.

Suddenly, the world becomes a perfect place that moves with a perfect grace. Suddenly life doesn’t seem like such a waste anymore because it all revolves around that one person who you love.

So when Lana sings, “Life makes sense when I’m with you,” that’s exactly where my brain goes. The concept of life no longer feeling like a waste anymore. The concept of life finally making sense because you got to do life with your chosen life partner.

Then Lana says, “Looking back my past it all seems stranger than a stranger.” And that reminded me of my own life whenever I try to think back on what life was like before I met my husband. Looking back on my past before meeting him definitely feels stranger than a stranger. It’s like I don’t even recognize some of those memories.

I was completely different person when I chose to be in the toxic relationships. I was in during my early 20s. So when Lana says, looking back at her past feel stranger than a stranger, I really resonate with that because I find it so incredibly strange that my life was so different including the people I dated, the way I saw myself, my level of self-love or lack thereof, and my entire world view on being alive across the board.

Then Lana sings, “So let’s dance in slow motion / And let’s dance by the ocean.”

Which again, I believe can be taken in two different ways. The sexual perspective where dancing symbolizes sleeping together in slow motion, which would be making love, even together by the ocean somewhere. But it can also be taking literally where she’s referring to herself, dancing in slow motion by the ocean with her lover, which is a description of a moment of non-sexual intimacy that is purely romantic, dreamy, and ethereal.

In the climax of the song, Lana sings, “You’re cold as ice, baby / But when you’re nice, baby / It’s so amazing in every way / You’re cold as ice, baby / I don’t wanna fight, baby / It’s like I told you / If you stay, I’ll stay.”

When I analyze these lyrics, it sounds like she’s describing the way her lover is possibly a bit emotionally avoidant, but in times when he’s actually open and vulnerable with her, it’s the best most amazing feeling in every way.

Or she’s possibly describing a man who is cold as ice to everyone else in the world, yet gentle, kind, and soft when he interacts with her. He’s cool with the world, but warm with her. And she tells him she doesn’t want to fight. It’s as simple as them coming to an agreement about staying in California together.

She tells him if he’s willing to stay, she’ll stay with him. But based on the rest of the song, she’s still inviting him to meet her down in California in the first place. He hasn’t come yet, but she’s giving him an open invitation that’s riddled with passion, intense, flirtation, and romance. Honestly, he would be dumb, not to take her up on the offer. You would be dumb, not to accept this imitation.

And I want to circle back to the opening lines of the songs since I kind of skipped over them when I first started this video. The very first opening words of the song are, “Flames so hot that they turn blue / Palms reflecting in your eyes, like an endless summer / That’s the way I feel for you / If time stood still I’d take this moment / Make it last forever.”

She’s describing how hot the flames of her love are for him. Also, how hot the flame of her sexual desire is for him. So hot that they’re turning blue, which means there can be nothing hotter. But then she describes seeing palm trees reflected in his eyes, which reminds her of an endless summer.

So she bounces from sexual desire to the admiration of his beautiful eyes that remind her of an endless summer. The summer season, symbolizes, freedom, warmth, adventure, and escapism. She looks at him and sees an escape from everything bad in the world. 

She tells him, “That’s the way I feel for you / If time stood still I’d take this moment, make it last forever.”

Which again, is very clear and obvious romantic lyricism. She wants to live in the moment forever with her lover, and make it last forever. She wants to save her the moment they’re sharing of youth, love, and infatuation.

Then she says, “Your halo’s full of fire /I’m risin’ up, risin up / My heart loves, full of fire / Love’s full of fire, love.”

In this section, she’s describing her lover as an angel with a halo of fire. In other words, she sees him as flawless and perfect as an angel, but she also acknowledges how much fiery passion he brings to her existence. It makes her rise up with her heart, full of love and fire, just looking at him or thinking of him. 

When she called him an angel, it reminded me of her song Gods and Monsters in which she sings, “In the land of Gods and Monsters / I was an angel looking to get fucked hard.”

She describes herself as an angel there, who’s looking to be ravaged, which means she likely also sees herself as an angel with a halo of fire, who can bring just as much intense beauty, power, and passion into a romantic connection. She can deliver just as much intimate devotion and sexual enthusiasm as she’s expecting her lover to bring as soon as they get a moment alone together.

Another separate take I have about the overall song is that it’s a love letter Lana wrote to herself directly rather than to a man. I know the music video showcases her and Father John Misty together, indicating that the song was written with a special man in mind, but if you listen to it again coming from a more unconventional point of view, you might hear the song differently.

She’s describing the freedom and liberation of deeply connecting with herself, her own desires, her personal needs, and the dreams she’s always wanted to fulfill for herself by living on the west coast by the beach. 

By emotionally meeting herself internally where she is in California, she’s abandoning a life of fear, self-doubt, and hesitation. She’s turning her back on boredom and monotony. She’s opening her heart and soul to exhilaratation in a lively new atmosphere where it feels good pursue pleasure and adventure.

She dances with this new version of herself in slow motion by the ocean. She says screw it to her anonymity and realizes loving herself is all she needs to do to be fulfilled. The concept of truly locking in with self-love.

She describes herself as cold as ice, knowing that she can be hot and cold at times, but regardless of her ever-changing mind, she knows she’s sooo amazing. 

And she settles on an internal commitment to stay as this version of herself, the free-spirited, uninhibited, liberated freak who gets to live her best life in California. 

And if this is true, and the song is really meant to be a self-love anthem aimed at herself, then the line about the halo full of fire truly does coincide with her line about being an angel in Gods and Monsters.

So like… would I have consciously added this song to my wedding day playlist? Probably not. I’d prefer Lana songs like Young and Beautiful, Margaret, and Let the Light in for a wedding playlist instead.

But that doesn’t mean I don’t see the beauty, bliss, and pure romance offered in freak — even if other people who listen to this song, choose to take it at face value, and only acknowledge the surface level themes of sexuality.