[3][4][5] Beyoncé performed the song live as part of the set list of The Formation World Tour (2016), and at the 2016 BET Awards with Lamar.

The song contains samples of "Let Me Try" (1969) by Kaleidoscope, as well as "Collection Speech/Unidentified Lining Hymn" (1959) and "Stewball" (1947), performed by Prisoner "22" at Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman.

On February 7, 2016, Beyoncé performed at the Super Bowl halftime show with Coldplay, Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson.

[6] The spoken voice audio at the end of the song which starts with, "I had my ups and down..." is from Hattie White, Jay-Z's grandmother, at her 90th birthday party.

[8] Arrow Benjamin, who collaborated with Beyoncé on "Runnin' (Lose It All)" by musician Naughty Boy in 2015, served as the song's backing vocalist.

Bathed in psychedelic, synthetic organs and a propulsive drum beat, the track cuts straight, providing an alternative narrative of personal redemption.

[12] Brittany Spanos and Sarah Grant of Rolling Stone called the song "one of the most striking political statements of [Beyoncé's] career".

[14][3][4] In 2024, Beyoncé gave Vice President Kamala Harris permission to use "Freedom" as the official song for her 2024 presidential campaign.

"Freedom" was part of the set list of The Formation World Tour, with the first performance taking place in Miami at the Marlins Park on April 27, 2016.

[46] On the July 7, 2016 show in Glasgow, Scotland, Beyoncé held a moment of silence for Black people in America who had been killed by police brutality.

[47] Pitchfork's Liz Tracy noted that though the choreography's tone was "serious and powerful given the song's strong Civil Rights message", the way the dancers "splashed as they marched and stomped was also playful—and just incredible to watch, visually".

[52] Time writer Nash Jankins noted the "intense, thoroughly choreographed" performance of the song, with the King snippet, furthered Beyoncé becoming more politically involved in her music.

[49] Similarly, August Brown of Los Angeles Times deemed the rendition "powerful, politically and aesthetically charged," and felt that it was evocative of concepts found on Lemonade with its "Hurricane Katrina floods, imagery of the African diaspora, and the relationships between personal and national traumas".

[53] The Daily Beast's Marlow Stern called "Freedom" the show's "shock opener" with its themes of slavery and the Black Lives Matter movement, and noted how seeing the duo perform together was "truly a sight to behold".

[54] Beyoncé later performed "Freedom" during her 2018 Coachella performance, which according to Mikael Wood from the Los Angeles Times "rode a heavy groove played on sousaphones"; the song then transitioned into "Lift Every Voice and Sing", commonly known as the Black National Anthem, whose lyrics "depict the trials and triumphs of Black people in the United States from the Middle Passage to now".