Caroline Rose - Freak Like Me

March 6, 2020 - New West Records

I think humor is funny because it’s rooted in truth, and the funniest standup comedians are the ones who take their acts one step (or two steps) further than is considered “socially appropriate” in the present company. They are thinking what we are all thinking. But unlike us, they are not afraid to say it out loud. It’s sincere, and that’s what makes it funny. It’s an act of affirmation, and we in the audience can’t get enough of it because we are addicted to belonging. 

Humor in music is received a bit differently. Generally, except maybe in a live setting, we sing along with it to belong more than we laugh at it to belong. Since we sing the words (digesting the lyrics silently counts), we take on the persona of the speaker, opening up more space for reflection on the truths the jokes point to. (Reflection is exacerbated by the fact we’re often experiencing the music in such vulnerable private spaces as our showers, bedrooms and cars). Those truths are sincere, and they are our truths. Life is funny because it involves suffering. 

‘Freak Like Me’ is a catchy single from singer-songwriter Caroline Rose that’s part of her bigger 2020 album release Superstar. The album is a concept, a satirical rock opera with a narrative story from start to finish, following a moment in the life of an American pop-star caricature on their quest for more fame and fortune. It’s one long joke on us with fearless revelation of darkness. What is fame and fortune, and what’s telling us that seeking it like addicts will make us better? What does that voice talking at us get out of the deal? 

‘Freak Like Me’ kicks right into your head with a dreamy elevator muzak sample as the hook, with a potpourri of synthetic vocals “ooh”-ing from left to right ear. It’s a soft, velvety backdrop for Rose’s prominent vocals. She sings softly and casually, up close to the microphone, and you can hear the sounds her mouth makes in between the words. This track was engineered for you to hear the lyrics. Her enunciation is crisp most of the time, though it does break down once or twice into a mumbled word mush. She sings this song like a really great whisperer playing a game of sexy telephone. The poetry tells of the nature of true love using kinky erotic imagery and vices. It’s liberated in its exaggerated and unabashed expression of these things as appropriate descriptions of love for the singer. Love is never a Disney fairy tale, though we dream it is. It’s messy and real and requires people to honestly share the good, the bad and all the impulses society labels as “dark” in its mainstream face. 

I’m not going to unpack the whole Superstar album for you here. Caroline Rose is a modern satirical poet and musician with an excellent grasp of how both of those interact to become great songwriting. She’s among the many wonderful examples of artists grabbing the baton from Weird Al Yankovich who started the relay of music that mocks the sincerity of music itself. This narrative is about what music and being a musician even is anymore in this late-stage capitalist world. And Rose is somewhere between Yankovich and Lana Del Rey, with a crooning, casual voice. I encourage you to discover her perspective yourself. ☔