“Freaks & Geeks” by Oliver Tree

Oliver Tree’s “Freaks & Geeks” seems to be a self-help / encouragement song, though taking somewhat of an unconventional approach to relaying that message.

Usually these pieces center on the vocalist, amidst various hardships, reminding himself of the potential lying inside of what have you. But instead, Oliver is indeed acknowledging he’s a “screw up” and “dumba-s”. Simply put, he is a person who never seems to get things right. Or put differently, the vocalist comes off as being a serial failure. He sees himself as a personification of bad luck who feels he was born this way and will probably die so.

But he has come to peace with this reality and furthermore has embraced it. Or viewed differently, the same people who “love you” one minute will “hate you” the next. So trying to live up to the world’s standards, in the grand scheme of things, comes off as a fool’s game. And likewise the vocalist is advising his fellow “freaks and geeks”, whom this song is dedicated to, to basically accept their lot.

So it can be said that this song is premised on the concept of some people being intrinsically different and due to such feeling ostracized or left out. 

Reading in between the lines, the vocalist is also advising such individuals that they should embrace their individuality, so to speak, as opposed to killing themselves trying to fit in.

When was “Freaks & Geeks” released?

It was released officially on 3 February 2022. It is the second track that Oliver Tree released from his album “Cowboy Tears”.

Thus far Oliver has only come out with one major-label album, 2020’s “Ugly Is Beautiful”. This project proved to be a critical and commercial success. It even reached the summit of Billboard’s Top Rock Albums chart. 

The label behind that effort, Atlantic, also backed the release of “Freaks & Geeks”.

Credits

Oliver, an artist from Santa Cruz, wrote and co-produced “Freaks and Geeks” with Whethan and established collaborator Casey Mattson.

The mutli-faceted Oliver also acted as the writer and director of this track’s music video.