"Free" is a song by American recording artist Ultra Naté, released on March 31, 1997, through record label Strictly Rhythm. It was co-written by Naté, Lem Springsteen and John Ciafone, while production was held by both Springsteen and Ciafone. "Free" was served as the lead single from her third studio album, Situation: Critical (1997). Musically, the song is a house-influenced song that incorporates strong 1990s soul, dance-pop, garage and disco.
"Free" received positive reviews from contemporary music critics, who commended her vocal ability and production, and has received several accolades since its release; it has been noted as one of the best dance anthems during the 1990s decade. It became Naté's most successful single to date, charting in many countries around the world. "Free" reached number-one in Italy, and peaked inside the top ten in Canada, France, Iceland, Ireland, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. It also charted on the US Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 75, but reached number-one on the Billboard Dance Club Play chart.
Ultra Naté performed the song in various TV-shows, like the British music chart television programme Top of the Pops, where she performed several times.
"Free" was awarded the prize for Best Dance Track at the 1998 Capital Radio Awards in April 1998. Same year, DJ Magazine ranked the song number five in their list of the "Top 100 Club Tunes". MTV Dance placed "Free" at number 31 in their list of "The 100 Biggest 90's Dance Anthems of All Time" in November 2011. In "The Top 10 Dance Tunes of the '90s" for Attitude in June 2016, the song was ranked at number one. The song was voted the top track of 1997 by UK electronic dance music magazine Mixmag. The magazine later included the song on their list of the "30 Best Vocal House Anthems Ever" in 2018, writing, "The opening bars are delicate, but soon enough the bumping production kicks in, underpinning a vocal that burns with the potency of the sun's surface, encouraging dancers to live by Ultra Naté's words and be free." In 2019, "Free" was also included in their list of "The 20 Best Diva House Tracks". Dave Fawbert from ShortList stated that the song "remains, forever, an eternal banger" in 2017.
Ultra Naté Wyche (born March 20, 1968) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, DJ and promoter who has achieved success on the pop charts with songs such as "Free", "If You Could Read My Mind" (as part of Stars on 54), and "Automatic".
Naté displayed her singing talent at an early age. She sang in church and studied medicine at the university in Baltimore. At weekends she went to clubs, where she met house music production team The Basement Boys. They started writing songs together, and released the 1991 album Blue Notes in the Basement. After she was dropped from the label, she signed Strictly Rhythm in New York. They wanted to release a new album with Naté, and she teamed up with producers and songwriters John Clafone and Lem Springsteen in Mood II Swing.
Virtually all of her singles have reached the Top 10 of the US Hot Dance Club Play chart. Such singles include "Show Me", "Free", "Desire", "Get It Up (the Feeling)", "Love's the Only Drug", and her number-one hits "Automatic", "Give it All You Got" featuring Chris Willis, "Waiting On You" and "Everybody Loves the Night". In December 2016, Billboard magazine ranked her as the 12th most successful dance artist of all-time.
6 окт 2024
