Take Me Away: The Music of Freaky and Freakier Friday

Many millennials are rejoicing today as Freakier Friday has officially hit theatres and unlike most legacy sequels in recent years, this one doesn’t disappoint on multiple levels, from the storyline, the character arcs and most important of all… the music. 

When Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis’s 2003 adaptation hit theatres, it was following a long trend of Disney films getting updated from their classic predecessors. The original movie from the 70s (starring Jodie Foster and Barbara Harris) isn’t as music-driven and is more of a direct adaptation from the 1972 novel of the same name. In 2003, the character of Anna Coleman got a new edge: she was a rock star in the making. Naturally, a rock star character must have some kick-ass music to go with it – and whether it was intentional or not, with songs like “Take Me Away” and “Ultimate”, the music in the 2003 version would go on to become the heart and soul of the entire franchise and the soundtrack even got certified gold in the USA for sales of over 500,000 copies. 

Whether it’s Lindsay’s character Anna and her group Pink Slip, or the use of some classic throwback tunes re-imagined, the music of the film had a big impact on millennials and Gen Z, and that generational intersection is heavily represented in Freakier Friday. 

Here are the 5 most significant musical moments that connect both of Lindsay and Jamie’s Freaky Friday films into one big musical universe from 2003 to today in 2025. As Lindsay said in the 2003 DVD bonus feature, “rock n roll is so much fun”.

5. THE OPENING CREDITS 

“Happy Together” – Simple Plan (2003), “HOT TO GO!” – Chappell Roan (2025)

Both films’ opening credits follow the start of what seems like a normal day for the Coleman family and that is Mom’s struggle to get her teenage daughter up and ready for school. Each sequence helps to capture the generational pulse of their respective eras. Simple Plan’s 2003 cover of The Turtles’ 1967 hit “Happy Together” that is used in Freaky Friday is a pop-rock song that matches the teenage angst of Lindsay Lohan’s character Anna Coleman, especially as she struggles to get out of bed for school and Jamie Lee Curtis’s now iconic attempt to forcibly remove her from the bed. The song establishes Anna’s angsty, rebellious energy that becomes her signature in the film once the famous switch takes place. Also, you give me something more 2003 than a Simple Plan song, I’ll wait. 

 

2025’s use of “HOT TO GO!” in Freakier Friday on the other hand takes on teenage angst in a different way, focusing more on the fact that Harper (Anna’s daughter) is still very much just as angsty as her mom once was, except she just is up and about doing her own thing every morning – whereas Anna just wanted to sleep lol. The song was used both in the official trailer along with the opening credits, making it the unofficial theme song to the film. Chappell’s bold and theatrical pop helps to bring a fresh tone to the story, channeling a new kind of teenage expression that may be different in some ways but is every bit just as angsty as all teens will continue to be for generations to come. 

4. MOTHER AND DAUGHTER

“Baby” – Lindsay Lohan, Julia Butters (2025)

The mother-daughter relationship storyline is the focus of the entire Freaky Friday universe through any decade the story is being told in, and the most recent iteration uses music and songwriting to showcase just how strong that bond truly is. Without giving too much of the movie away, Lindsay (as Anna) and Julia Butters (as Harper) share a heartwarming moment on stage performing this original song together and give off the same warm feeling that the first film gave during the House of Blues performance scene. The song’s emotional lyrics can apply to any core relationship, whether it be family or romantic, and makes for a highlight in the film. The song is also featured three different times in the movie as an acoustic track and a mid-tempo during the beach scene. We may not be getting a new Lindsay Lohan full-length album any time soon, but this does the trick for now because we’re getting both a theatrical and musical comeback from her – what more can we ask for?

 

3. BRITNEY B*TCH 

 “…Baby One More Time” – Bowling for Soup / Chad Michael Murray (2003), Britney Spears (2025)

If you watched the 2003 film even once, then I don’t need to explain to you the significance of this song in the movie. Bowling for Soup, the band that gave us 2000s pop-rock hits like “1985” did their own cover of the song that serves as the foundation for Tess (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Jake (Chad Michael Murray) forming a bond when she was actually Anna (yes I know that’s a lot of names but it’s a body switch franchise, sh*t gets confusing sometimes). 

It’s also worth noting that Bowling for Soup made one of their first mainstream appearances as the band playing at the school dance in Britney’s 2002 film Crossroads. I know a full circle moment when I see one. Back in 2003, there was no pop star more famous than Britney Spears but in that time, there was an unspoken rule that if you were a fan of pop then you were not a respected music lover. I rebuke that perspective, hard, and I’d like to believe that as we’ve progressed as a society it’s become less taboo to appreciate pop music and more accepted to see the art and beauty behind it. Back then though? The ONLY way for you to listen to a Britney song and still be considered cool was by listening to a rock band cover, I guess. It’s Chad’s outdoor serenade of the song to win Tess over on the night of her rehearsal dinner that takes the cake for most iconic. Chad Michael Murray singing Britney Spears acapella? Brilliant.

 

It’s this very scene that makes the character of Jake being re-introduced in Freakier Friday even more deliciously nostalgic as the music used in the background is none other than the original “…Baby One More Time”. Take a little glance of the scene below, you may notice another Britney easter egg in there. 

 

2. LINDSAY’S MUSIC CAREER LAUNCH

“Ultimate” – Lindsay Lohan (2003), The Beaches (2025)

When Freaky Friday hit theatres, it was raining teen actresses. Remember that Vanity Fair shoot? Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Amanda Bynes, Mandy Moore, Hilary Duff, Evan Rachel Wood, Raven Symone, Alexis Bledel and all the way in the back corner was Lindsay Lohan. At the time of the shoot, Freaky Friday was just about to be released, so Lindsay was still mostly remembered as the young girl from The Parent Trap, five years prior. This movie and her being a triple-threat was going to be the thing that put her in the front of the class – and thus “Ultimate” was born. The song plays at the end of the film and is performed by Lindsay and the Pink Slip band members, but I mostly remember it for its constant rotation on Radio Disney, otherwise known as the holy grail of music discovery for 90s and early 2000s babies. 

 

This song was the beginning of the Lindsay that would go on to release “Rumors” and “Confessions of a Broken Heart”, some pop golden gems if I do say so myself. Going back to that Vanity Fair piece, if you were to look at all these ladies today it would be no question that Lindsay surged to the front and center – and to many of us Lindsay fans, it’s this song and movie combo that really kicked it all into high gear. Keeping up with the nostalgia fest of the sequel, Canadian band The Beaches perform a cover of the song that plays over the ending credits and bring the entire story to a full circle close. 

 

1. PINK SLIP

“Take Me Away” – Pink Slip (2003, 2025)

Originally performed by Australian punk rock band Lash, “Take Me Away” became an Australian Top 40 hit reaching #33 in the Spring of 2001. When the soundtrack was being put together, producers gave the song to Christina Vidal to sing as the song Pink Slip would audition with in the movie, and so began its second life. The song was introduced in the film during the fictional band’s garage rehearsals, before the Wango Tango audition at the House of Blues shows where Lindsay and Jamie Lee rock out in their own respective ways. The catchy hook and relatable lyrics make for the perfect karaoke screamer – which I may have actually done a few times. 

 

For the 2025 re-release we get new vocals from Christina Vidal and a re-invented guitar solo which was Anna’s magnum opus in the original film. Vidal recently told Billboard that she “immediately remembered everything” when going into the booth, and the magic was very much still there.

 

It’s always nerve-wracking when movie studios decide to do a legacy sequel, but the satisfaction I felt as a fan watching this one is as satisfying as I could have hoped for. 

You can listen to all the songs featured in both Freaky Friday and Freakier Friday in this playlist.