3 things Lana Del Rey promised prior to the released of her latest music video “Freak”: California, Father John Misty (real name: Josh Tillman), and the girls from her “Music to Watch Boys To” clip.
Taken from her “Honeymoon” album, the 11-minute long video sees Del Rey and her costar Misty playing lovers who are having a romantic day off at the countryside. “Baby if you want to leave/ Come to California/ Be a freak like me too/ Screw your anonymity/ Loving me is all you need to feel,” she sings on the cut.
In the first couple of minutes, the musicians are seen relaxing near a cliff while making out. Del Rey then drugs Misty by placing a square cellophane on his freaky tongue while she drinks the Kool-Aid. As the chorus drops, Misty finds himself in the midst of his sexual fantasies, basking in the company of beautiful women.
The elemental visual then fades into French composer Claude Debussy’s 1905 piece “Clair de Lune” as Del Rey and the same girls from her “Music to Watch Boys To” music clip are submerged underwater. Father John Misty also joins them as the girls reprise their slow-mo underwater dancing roles.
We’re not sure what to make of this fantasy sequence but it seems Misty is given a baptism of sorts. The Muse called this “the most salient articulation of Del Rey’s mythology” where the topic on death and drugs are part of her broad stroke iconography trade. No one croaks from poison, Julianne Escobedo Shepherd says, the myth continues unto eternity.
During a screening in Los Angeles, Del Rey revealed that “Freak” was inspired by Father John Misty’s Tillman. “I had so much fun making this video inspired by his acid trip that he took in Topanga. Well that’s his story,” said the singer.
“I took acid at a Taylor Swift concert,” Tillman responded. Turns out, Del Rey’s “Freak” music video was the byproduct of Tillman taking acid while attending Tay Tay’s concert down under.
Watch the music video below:
Sources: Stereo Gum, Rolling Stone.
