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Get Free (Lana Del Rey song)

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"Get Free"
Song by Lana Del Rey
from the album Lust for Life
ReleasedJuly 21, 2017
RecordedMarch 10, 2017
GenreDream pop
Length5:34
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
  • Grant
  • Nowels
  • Menzies
  • Dean Reid
Audio
"Get Free" on YouTube

"Get Free" is a song by American singer and songwriter Lana Del Rey from her fifth studio album, Lust for Life (2017). The song was written by Del Rey, Rick Nowels, and Kieron Menzies, all of whom produced the song with Dean Reid. Del Rey performed the song various times, most notably on her LA to the Moon Tour in 2018.

In January 2018, Del Rey confirmed speculation that Radiohead had filed a copyright lawsuit against her and her team for alleged similarities between "Get Free" and their hit song, "Creep".[1]

Background

[edit]

According to Del Rey, the song was originally recorded under the title "Malibu" and was completely different in the original recording, being far more revealing about Del Rey and her life over the past 6 years.[2] Evidently, Del Rey scrapped that version of the song and decided to make a lighter record out of the original instrumental.[3] During a 2018 interview for World Cafe, Del Rey shared the sentiment behind the song: "It's about people who don't get to reach their full potential because they let controlling people stop them from being free."[4]

Radiohead lawsuit

[edit]

In January 2018, Del Rey said on Twitter that the band Radiohead was taking legal action against her for allegedly plagiarising their 1992 song "Creep" on "Get Free". According to Del Rey, Radiohead asked for 100% of publishing royalties instead of Del Rey's offer of 40%. She denied that "Creep" had inspired "Get Free".[5]

Radiohead's publisher, Warner/Chappell Music, confirmed it was seeking songwriting credit for "all writers" of "Creep", but denied that a lawsuit had been brought or that Radiohead had demanded 100% of royalties.[6] In March, Del Rey told an audience that "my lawsuit's over, I guess I can sing that song any time I want".[7] The writing credits for "Get Free" were not updated on the database of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers.[7]

In an analysis, The Guardian found that the chords used in "Creep" were rare in pop music and that the melodies bore an "uncanny resemblance".[8] Publications compared it to the dispute of similarities between TLC's "No Scrubs" and Ed Sheeran's "Shape of You" and the Marvin Gaye estate's lawsuit with Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke over similarities between "Blurred Lines" and Gaye's "Got to Give It Up".[9][10] In the 1990s, Radiohead were sued over "Creep"'s similarity to the 1972 song "The Air That I Breathe", written by Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood; Hammond and Hazlewood received cowriting credits and a percentage of the royalties.[11]

Credits and personnel

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Credits adapted from the liner notes of Lust for Life.

Performance
Instruments
  • Lana Del Rey – production
  • Rick Nowels – bass, keyboards, synth pads, organs
  • Kieron Menzies – tape loops, percussion, synthesizer
  • Dean Reid – electric guitar, synth bass
  • Zac Rae – synthesizer, organ, Mellotron, guitar
  • Mighty Mike – drums, percussion
  • David Levita – electric guitar
  • Trevor Yasuda – keyboards
  • Aaron Sterling – live drums, percussion
Engineering
  • Kieron Menzies – production, engineering, mixing
  • Dean Reid – production, engineering, mixing
  • Trevor Yasuda – engineering
  • Chris Garcia – engineering
  • Adam Ayan – mastering

Charts

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Chart (2017) Peak
position
US Hot Rock Songs (Billboard)[12] 20

References

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  1. ^ Bartleet, Larry (January 15, 2018). "Radiohead vs Lana Del Rey: a timeline of the Creep/Get Free 'lawsuit'". NME.
  2. ^ "Lana Del Rey On "Lust for Life," Avoiding Cultural Appropriation, and Politics | Complex Cover". 26 July 2017 – via www.youtube.com.
  3. ^ Savage, Mark (July 26, 2017). "Lana Del Rey's rude awakening". BBC News.
  4. ^ "Lana Del Rey On Accountability And The Art Of Self-Editing". NPR.org.
  5. ^ Kim, Michelle (7 January 2018). "Lana Del Rey Says Radiohead Suing Her for Copying "Creep"". Pitchfork. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  6. ^ "Radiohead Publisher Issues Statement Refuting Lana Del Rey Lawsuit". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2018-01-10.
  7. ^ a b Savage, Mark (2018-03-26). "Lana Del Rey and Radiohead 'settle dispute'". Retrieved 2020-01-11.
  8. ^ Kommenda, Niko. "Did Lana Del Rey plagiarise Radiohead? A note-by-note analysis" – via www.theguardian.com.
  9. ^ "Is Radiohead Really Suing Lana Del Rey For Copyright Infringement? [UPDATE]". January 7, 2018.
  10. ^ "Radioheads Copyright Dispute with Lana Del Rey Explained". 11 January 2018. Archived from the original on 2018-10-16. Retrieved 2019-08-26.
  11. ^ Petrusich, Amanda (January 10, 2018). "Lana Del Rey, Radiohead, and the Difficulty of Making Original Music". The New Yorker – via www.newyorker.com.
  12. ^ "Lana Del Rey Chart History". Billboard.
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