The Mother, The Daughter, The Spirit, The Freak
Image by Nikola Lamburov
With her new single Freak, Yseult opens the next chapter of her already uncompromising pop universe. The single arrives through her own label, I HAVE NO FUCKING IDEA (honestly, same girl) — which also doubles as her management, publicity and touring machine. It’s peak Yseult: radically independent, instinct-driven, and largely uninterested in pop’s traditional machinery.
What she is interested in, though, is pop’s rich lineage. Yseult knows her references (an honourable shout to Grace Jones on The Freak Late Night Show) and folds them into something distinctly her own, transforming that heritage into a forward-facing pop iconography. Sonically, Freak channels the exuberance of 80s pop, driven by punchy live drums from Jonathan Muffett, whose résumé stretches from Madonna to Michael Jackson. The result is a glossy, stadium-sized backbone for a track that still wears its ballroom influences openly on its sleeve. Sleek, pulsing verses bounce, dissolve into a moment of sensual whisper (“in the name of the spirit // in the name of the freak”, the lyrics roll…), and then detonate again in full-scale pop explosion.
If Freak sets the tone for what’s coming next, one thing is clear: Yseult is pushing pop toward astronomical levels of freak — and few will be able to match it.
Words by Evita Shrestha
Image by Image by Nikola Lamburov
