Freed From Desire

Produced by DJ Molella and Phil Jay, "Freed From Desire" was released in 1996 as the first single from the Italian singer and songwriter Gala's debut album, Come into My Life, which followed in 1997. The Eurodance track turned into the singer's most successful single and a hit across much of Europe, topping the charts in France for 13 weeks and in Belgium, where it spent five weeks at number one in Flanders and ten in Wallonia. When it arrived in the UK in July 1997, it climbed to number two on the Singles Chart, holding a place in the top 10 for eight weeks and staying in the top 75 for fourteen. On the Eurochart Hot 100 it reached number four in December 1996.

The sales behind those chart runs were considerable. Gala earned a diamond certification in France, a double-platinum award in both Belgium and Italy, and a triple-platinum certification in the United Kingdom. The song also entered the top 10 in Denmark, Iceland, Ireland, Italy and the Netherlands, and was a top-20 hit in Austria, Finland, Germany and Switzerland. Further east, it spent two weeks at number one in Israel from 26 August 1997.

A music video was filmed in Hamburg at the Speicherstadt under the direction of the German director and photographer Nina Bittel. Shot in a sepia tone, it showed Gala being chased by several different men, with other scenes featuring her driving a 1962 Austin-Healey 3000. In 2016, she recorded an acoustic version at Les Studios Saint Germain in Paris for Laurent Tirard's film Un homme à la hauteur, starring Jean Dujardin.