Songfacts®:

• Surf Curse is an American surf-rock band from Reno, Nevada, formed by lead vocalist and guitarist Nick Rattigan and drummer Jacob Rubeck. "Freaks" is a track from their 2013 independently released debut album, Buds.
• Rattigan's dreams of his love interest provide a sanctuary where he can be with someone he deeply cares for without the fear of being rejected or ostracized as a freak. In this angsty song, he expresses a desire to remain in his dream state, as it allows him to escape from everyone except that special person.
• The song alludes to Charles Burns' comic book series Black Hole.
  
  My head is filled with parasites
  Black holes cover up my eyes
  I dream of you almost every night
  Hopefully
  
  In Burns' Black Hole, a sexually transmitted infection leads to teenagers undergoing grotesque mutations. They become outcasts, commonly referred to as "freaks," who the rest of society shuns.
• In 2020, "Freaks" started gaining popularity on TikTok. Users utilized the song's agitated lyrics, particularly "I am just a freak," for their videos. "I guess it's a pretty depressing song," Rubeck told American Songwriter, "but there are a lot of depressed people out there, and people who feel alienated."
• After Surf Curse signed to Atlantic Records, the label released "Freaks" as a single on May 15, 2021. It charted worldwide and went Platinum (over 1,000,000 units sold) in the US.
• Neither Rattigan or Rubeck are into TikTok and they feel the song going viral on the platform is totally random. Rattigan Rattigan told Inlander it would have been "pretty cool" if "Freaks" had gained traction for featuring on the soundtrack to the then-upcoming film Avatar: The Way of Water. "But instead, it was just like, 'Somebody's put your song over like a home gardening technique,'" he added laughing, "Or like, 'This 16-year-old kid has like 14 million followers, and he just sang your song online.'"
• Surf Curse shot a music video for the song they directed themselves. Released on August 6, 2021, they set the clip in Charles Burns' Black Hole world. Rattigan and Rubeck enlisted their friends to portray mutants who experience the same mutations that occur in the graphic novel.