"Freaky Friday" is a song by American rapper Lil Dicky featuring American singer Chris Brown and uncredited vocals from Ed Sheeran, DJ Khaled, and Kendall Jenner. Written alongside Ammo and Nicholas Audino and produced by Mustard, Benny Blanco and Twice as Nice, it was released by Dirty Burd on March 15, 2018, alongside its music video.
The song became Lil Dicky's most successful single. "Freaky Friday" peaked at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100. Outside of the United States, "Freaky Friday" topped the charts in New Zealand and the United Kingdom,[1][2] and peaked within the top ten of the charts in Australia, Belgium (Wallonia), Canada, Denmark, Ireland, and the Netherlands.
Lil Dicky, not having released anything for three years before this single, wanted to prove himself to release the best song he could've done, and after that the concept of the song came to him, he decided to realize it with Chris Brown, being considered by him to be the best example of a superstar he would have liked to collaborate with, and the singer was welcomed to complete the song.[5]
Storyline
In the song the artists comically take up the concept of the novel that goes by the same name, swapping their bodies, namely that of a charismatic and controversial superstar (Chris Brown), and that of an emerging artist with a basic life (Lil Dicky).
In the song, Lil Dicky wakes up in Chris Brown's body and is elated to be Brown, revelling in his wealth, fame and talent. He facetimes Kanye West to tell him that he is his biggest fan, and then he realizes that he has a daughter. Meanwhile, Brown wakes up in Dicky's body, and although relieved by the lack of attention and Dicky's laid-back lifestyle, he realises that Dicky is in his body and worries about his life back home, and searches for Dicky. Dicky makes headlines for ecstatically proclaiming himself to be Brown and posting photos of Brown's penis. Brown enters a nightclub, sees Dicky in the VIP area and signals to him to let him in, but Dicky denies knowing him.
A frustrated Brown shatters a glass bottle on the bouncer's head, and runs up to Dicky and threatens him, but Dicky warns him that hurting him would only mean hurting himself. Brown calms down and contemplates that he loves himself, and find each other switching back their bodies after realising the key to be for each other to respect themselves.[6]
Music video
The music video parodies the 2003 remake of Freaky Friday and features cameos from Jimmy Tatro, Ed Sheeran, DJ Khaled and Kendall Jenner.[7] As of April 2021, the video has over 700 million views on YouTube.[8] The video shows Lil Dicky at a Chinese restaurant, similar to the 2003 film, Freaky Friday, where a character is at a Chinese restaurant and wishes she was somebody else. In the music video, Lil Dicky is approached by a fan, played by Jimmy Tatro, who mentions he is a fan of his work. He then says to his girlfriend who he is accompanied by that he is a comedic rapper, who is not that impressive of a rapper. Lil Dicky then says to himself he wishes he was somebody who could dance, and who had credibility. The camera then pans to Chris Brown on television, mentioning he wishes he was somebody else as well. The Chinese waiter takes note of it, and gives Lil Dicky a fortune cookie. The video then shows Lil Dicky, supposedly in the body of Chris, and vice versa. The song illustrates the two in each other's bodies. Towards the end, the two are about to fight, and they realize they should not kill each other, and instead love each other. They realize that this will set them back to their original form. The video then ends with cameos from Ed Sheeran, DJ Khaled and Kendall Jenner, where Lil Dicky is then in possession in all of their bodies.
Controversy
Shortly after the song's release, the Virginia Tech Hokies women's lacrosse team was heavily scrutinized after members of the team uploaded a video of themselves singing along to Chris Brown's verse, where he (supposedly as Lil Dicky in his body) starts saying "What up my nigga" to everyone he encounters. Virginia Tech coach John Sung later apologized on behalf of the team, saying it was a "teachable moment" for the players and that "no malice was involved... They just thought they were just singing along to a song".[9][10][11]
