[3] A reviewer from Music Week gave the song four out of five, writing, "A chart topper across Europe, this has similar appeal to Crystal Waters' "Gypsy Woman".

It peaked at number one in Belgium (in both Flanders and Wallonia) and France, and entered the top 10 also in Denmark (7), Iceland (9), Ireland (2), Italy (2), the Netherlands (5), Scotland (3), and the United Kingdom.

The accompanying music video for "Freed from Desire" was filmed in Hamburg at the Speicherstadt[8] under the direction of German director and photographer Nina Bittel.

[8] In 2016, Gala recorded an acoustic version of "Freed from Desire" at Les Studios Saint Germain in Paris, for the movie Un homme à la hauteur directed by Laurent Tirard with Jean Dujardin.

The song has had a significant usage in association football, where fans from countries such as England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy etc.

[63] It has been used as a football chant by fans of Bohemian FC in Dublin as far back as April 2011, where at a game away to Sligo Rovers it was sung with the lyrics amended to "The Bohs have got no money, we've got a bag of E's."

(Ecstasy) Reference was made to the chant in the Irish Independent at the time, who wrote "For 45 minutes the visiting fans – who clearly planned around dry Good Friday – roared out 1990s dance classic 'Freed From Desire' seemingly oblivious to their team being dismantled on the park"[64] and was recorded by Sligo Rovers fans in the opposite stand.

Following that, in early 2016, Newcastle United supporters adapted the song for their striker Aleksandar Mitrović, the refrain being: "Mitro's on fire, your defence is terrified", which has also been used by fans of Fulham FC after his transfer there.

during the 2023 FA Cup final, players gathered around and chant "Gundo's on fire" for İlkay Gündoğan, after he scored two volleys from outside the box.

A week later on the 2023 UEFA Champions League final against Inter Milan, the song was chanted again, this time round is for Rodri, who scored the only winning goal in the game.

[80] France, England, Switzerland and Poland's national football associations chose "Freed from Desire" to be played as their goal music at the 2022 FIFA World Cup,[81] while France, New Zealand, and Switzerland chose the song to be played as their goal music at the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup.

[83] During the 2022–23 Serie A, which the team would go on to win, SSC Napoli fans ironically reprised a version of the chorus with the lyrics "Vesuvio, erutta, tutta Napoli è distrutta" ("Vesuvius, erupt, all of Naples is destroyed"), previously used by rivals as hate speech against the city of Naples and its people.