Freak Like Me

## **Freak Like Me**Single by Sugababes

**Freak Like Me** is the first single and track of the Sugababes' sophomore album, Angels with Dirty Faces. A cover song of the 1995 hit originally sung by Adina Howard, the single was released on 15 March 2002. It was the first song that granted Sugababes and bootleg producer Richard X their first number 1 hit in UK. The song was the also first Sugababes single to feature Heidi Range, who joined after the departure of Siobhán Donaghy in August 2001.

## Background

Island Records heard underground bootleg producer Richard X's track, "We Don't Give a Damn About Our Friends", which was a mash-up of Adina Howard's "Freak Like Me" and Gary Numan/Tubeway Army's "Are 'Friends' Electric?", and requested that Sugababes record it. Richard X said he was "very keen to do it as long as it remained what it was. It was raw, it was against the grain and it was still pop music." Sugababes' version of the song, which kept the Adina Howard title of "Freak Like Me", was recorded in Richard X's flat in Tooting. He said, "there was a loop, some handclaps, the Sugababes and a semi-broken synthesiser."

### Reception and performance

The Guardian named "Freak like Me" as the best number-one single of 2002. NME complimented the track as "genius" and claimed, "if this gets to number one, we'll be grinning all summer. Yes, even the Critics." Billboard named the song number 45 on their list of 100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time. Numan considered the Sugababes version of "Freak like Me" to be better than "Are 'Friends' Electric?".

"Freak like Me" was released in the United Kingdom on April 22, 2002. The song became Sugababes' first number-one single when it debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart, remaining in the top 10 for four weeks. The British Phonographic Industry certified the song gold for selling and streaming over 400,000 units.

Outside of the United Kingdom, the song was also successful: it reached the top 10 in Flanders, Ireland, and Norway. In Australia, "Freak like Me" was released on June 17, 2002, and became the fourth single by Sugababes to make the singles chart, reaching number 44. It would be their lowest-charting single in Australia until the release of "Shape" in 2003.

## Track listing

CD Single
1. Freak Like Me (Radio Edit) - 3:14
2. Freak Like Me (We Don't Give A Damn Mix) - 3:39
3. Breathe Easy - 3:49
4. Freak Like Me (Video)

12 inch Single
1. Freak Like Me (Different Gear Mix) - 5:01
2. Freak Like Me (We Don't Give A Damn Mix) - 3:34
3. Freak Like Me (Capoeira Twins Mix) - 5:29
4. Freak Like Me (Jameson Mix) - 5:42

Cassette Single
1. Freak Like Me (Radio Edit)
2. Freak Like Me (We Don't Give A Damn Mix)
3. Freak Like Me (Jameson Mix)

## Personnel

* Vocals -Mutya Buena, Keisha Buchanan, Heidi Range
* Producer – Richard X
* Producer [Additional Production By], Mixed By – Jeremy Wheatley
* Programmed By – Yoad Nevo
* Written-By – William Collins, Eugene Hanes, George Clinton, Loren Hill, Marc Valentine
* Written-By ["Are Friends Electric?" Interpolation] – Gary Numan

## Music video

The music video was directed by Dawn Shadforth and Sophie Muller and was filmed in February 2002. in London. It uses the "We Don't Give a Damn Mix" of the song, which is more faithful to the original mash-up. Set in a strange nightclub, the video serves to introduce then-recently added member Heidi Range.

### Video plot

It begins outside the nightclub with a man tumbling down the stairs, with Keisha Buchanan in a long coat, seen only from below the knee, walking out of a door, over the man's body and up the stairs. Mutya Buena is seen standing on the stairs facing the direction where the man is lying. Inside, they spot Range dancing and flirting with many guys. They both quickly clash with her, and a fight between them ensues, which ends with Range falling to the floor unconscious. A man tries to help her up, but Buena grabs him by the neck and throws him away from her. Range wakes up again soon after, and stumbles out of the club with another man, where they begin to kiss, until she suddenly bites hard into his arm. Meanwhile, Buchanan takes a man outside, and she leads him into a dark alley, where they flirt briefly, before she scares him away. Buena then goes outside as well, and overpowers a man who towers over her. The music video ends with Buchanan and Buena accepting Range into the group, and dancing into the night. The demonstrations of supernatural strength shown throughout the video and Range biting the man on the arm are generally understood to imply that the women are, as the song suggests, vampire-like "freaks."

## Mixes and Remixes

In the 12 inch single, "Freak Like Me" has officially been remixed three times, from Different Gear, Capoeira Twins, and Jameson. The "We Don't Give a Damn Mix" was the version that was used for the official music video.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Freak Like Me. Discogs. https://www.discogs.com/release/231601-Sugababes-Freak-Like-Me
2. ↑ Richard X. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard\_X
3. ↑ 12" - Freak Like Me. Discogs. https://www.discogs.com/release/43724-Sugababes-Freak-Like-Me
4. ↑ Cassette - Freak Like Me. Discogs. https://www.discogs.com/release/5082302-Sugababes-Run-For-Cover

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