Video: The Aces, ‘Don’t Freak’

Kevin Bronson on May 18th, 2021

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The Aces’ new single is part funky jam and part PSA.

“Don’t Freak,” released in connection with Mental Health Awareness Month, is personal for Aces lead singer Cristal Ramirez, who speaks to her long battle with panic attacks when she sings: “Can’t sleep / ’Cause all my brain does is overthink.”

“I’ve struggled with severe anxiety for my entire life, and this year started having intense panic attacks,” Ramirez explains. “When you struggle with your mental health, you start to realize very quickly just how little space is held for you in society. You quickly feel like a burden to those around you and end up thinking, ‘Why can’t I just get my shit together,’ constantly. In a time where all you need is patience and understanding, you’re made to feel alienated and inadequate, which in turn makes your mental state so much worse. That’s how ‘Don’t Freak’ came to life. We wanted to put this very real story into our music. Mental health issues are something everyone goes through, and not only do we need to be talking more about it, but we need to be holding space for it.”

The single is the follow-up to the Aces’ second full-length, “Under My Influence,” an album that was released last summer but which the quartet — Ramirez and her sister Alisa, along with McKenna Petty and Katie Henderson — will only now get the chance to properly promote. The band this week announced the first 22 dates of their “Under My Influence” tour, which includes a Nov. 19 show at the Fonda.

The video for “Don’t Freak” was directed by Daniel Carberry.

||| Watch: The video for “Don’t Freak”