"Freak" is the first single from the Smashing Pumpkins's eighth album, Teargarden by Kaleidyscope

Teargarden by Kaleidyscope

Teargarden by Kaleidyscope is the eighth album by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. A series of 44 individual songs, it is being released one track at a time through free MP3 downloads over the course of several years...

, and the first song released for the second accompanying EP

Extended play

An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

 The Solstice Bare. Like all other songs on the album, "Freak" was released as a free download on their official website. The song was first played live on July 24, 2009, at the first Spirits in the Sky

Spirits in the Sky

Spirits in the Sky is a casual supergroup led by Billy Corgan, frontman of The Smashing Pumpkins. The band convened, initially, in July 2009 to perform at a memorial concert for the late Sky Saxon of The Seeds. The band played three songs - a Seeds cover, a cover of "Spirit in the Sky", and a new...

 show in memoriam of Sky Saxon

Sky Saxon

Sky "Sunlight" Saxon was an American rock and roll musician who was best known as the leader and singer of the 1960s Los Angeles psychedelic garage rock band The Seeds.-Biography:...

. It has since become a staple of Smashing Pumpkins concerts.

Critial reception

Spin

Spin (magazine)

Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...

 praised the song, noting that "the catchy chorus of bright guitars and cheerful na na na na nas recall his short-lived pop-rock side-project Zwan

Zwan

Zwan was an American alternative rock band that was formed by members of The Smashing Pumpkins, Slint, Tortoise, Chavez, and A Perfect Circle. Zwan was started in late 2001 by Billy Corgan, lead singer and guitarist of The Smashing Pumpkins, after the Pumpkins disbanded in December 2000. The band...

; the heavy, distorted bass lines revisit the goth-rock moments of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is the third album by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins, released October 24, 1995 on Virgin Records. Produced by frontman Billy Corgan with Flood and Alan Moulder, the twenty-eight-track album was released as a two-disc CD and triple LP...

; and his lyrics are all early-Pumpkins." PopMatters

PopMatters

PopMatters is an international webzine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater,...

's reviewed that it "Freak" "largely explores and builds on the Smashing Pumpkins’ earlier, mid-1990s sound while also very subtly hinting at the newly pointed and cultish, lysergic musical atmosphere."

Chart performance

"Freak" was the Smashing Pumpkins' first song since "G.L.O.W" in 2008 to chart on Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

, peaking in its original run at No. 27 on the alternative chart and No. 34 on the rock chart.

Charts

Chart (2010)	Peak position
US Rock Songs Rock Songs Rock Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks the airplay of songs on alternative, mainstream rock and triple A radio stations. The first chart was published in the issue dated June 20, 2009. "Know Your Enemy" by Green Day was the first number-one song. The Rock Songs...  (Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis... )	34
US Alternative Songs (Billboard)	27