Song of the Week: Freedom in a Padded Cell

If you've been following the Skinner Brothers for at least the last year or so, you've probably had the same experience the rest of us did around mid-December of 2024— You were standing there, minding your own business, when all of a sudden this massive freight train of a song came barreling out of nowhere, and flattened you like Wile E. Coyote before you even realized you were standing on the tracks. Maybe you didn't catch its name while you were busy being pulverized by the wheels, but that train was called Freedom in a Padded Cell.

Don't get me wrong, it's no secret that I love all of the Skinner Brothers music to a potentially diagnosable degree, but Freedom in a Padded Cell was one of their strongest releases to date. There's no room for debate when I say that everything about it was top shelf material. From the haunting guitar intro to the belting chorus, this song has layers of intensity and emotion the likes of which come along about as frequently as Halley's comet.

This is the type of release that splits an artist's career into two distinctly separate timelines: Before “Freedom in a Padded Cell” was released, and after. It's no wonder that the video for it shot up to a million views so quickly, and is continuing to climb steadily to this day.

Not only was this song the Skinner Brothers first American collaboration, but the geographical distance between the two artists posed its own set of challenges as well. With the Skinner Brothers representing the UK and Love Ghost hailing all the way from California (USA), the distance meant that they never had a chance to meet in person while working on this project. They both had to lean into their abundant creativity while attempting to film a cohesive video spanning two separate countries, yet despite these obstacles it still feels as though they are right there in the same room together when you watch it. That doesn't happen by way of dumb luck— it takes surgical precision, and calculated execution on behalf of both artists to bring a project like this to fruition.

On the topic of execution, the sets in both countries also had to be similar enough to seem as though they fit together somehow in order for this project to work. This put Love Ghost in a very industrial looking room comprised of cement walls, old rusty pipes, and a singular wooden chair sat alone in the corner. The interior designer in me would describe the décor as “serial killer chic,” and not just because he's signing about tying a noose for himself and a friend and then threatening to kick out their chairs. Doesn't anyone ever get together to play Scrabble anymore? Or watch a movie? Jesus, that's dark (and that's precisely why I love it!)

And then there's the Skinner Brothers—I don't think they're actually playing inside of a shipping container, but apart from the windows in the back it certainly looks like one. These are the types of places you end up when you accept car rides from strangers, not where many people would think to shoot a music video. And yet, it works! I suppose it makes more sense with the context of the song centering around the dysphoria one feels when they don't quite fit in with the rest of society. As someone rather society-adjacent myself, I can relate.

I feel like they don't wanna know me, everywhere I go I'm so lonely

It's difficult to know how far to read into lyrics from the Skinner Brothers, as Zac has said on many occasions that he is not usually a lyrics-first songwriter. It seems as though he'll occasionally have a line or two that he likes enough to chuck in, but for the most part it's just whatever sounds good around the melody. He's not shy about admitting that the melody is his actual baby in this whole process, either.

I'm not sure in what ways (if any) that process is changed while working on a collaboration with another artist— especially in the case of someone like Love Ghost, who is renowned for his deep and meaningful lyrics. Is there actually a parallel between lines like “Upgrade my design, I want to know why I don't work...” and some of the stories Zac has shared about trying different angles to break through in the music scene? Or is that just a massive coincidence?

On a semi-related note, I also love Freedom in a Padded Cell because it was my first introduction to Love Ghost, and I was completely blown away by how well his voice compliments the Skinner Brothers on this track. I have since checked out more of Love Ghost's back catalog, including my personal favorites Fade Away and No Debia, and have found their Facebook community La Familia to be every bit as welcoming as the Skinner Brothers Family group has been.

But despite Love Ghost having multiple songs with over a million views each, there's just something special about Freedom in a Padded Cell that sets it apart from the rest. It seems to be a deviation in style for both artists equally, and the results were nothing short of explosive!

Love Ghost's hook about 'remembering his youth in institutions' latches onto you like a cobra, and then when the Skinner Brothers step in, the chorus just SOARS! Seriously, if you haven't belted this song out at least once while driving, I don't know what to tell you. But you're doing it wrong. Like, the whole thing... from birth to present.

Honestly, you would never guess how much I love this song if you actually knew how infrequently I listen to it. That is not by choice, mind you— I am merely a victim of my music player's “shuffle” function, and how it will do literally everything EXCEPT shuffle my playlist. It plays the same songs I skip every day, over and over, and the ones I love hardly ever come on. I guess I had better shuffle my expectations instead.

On a final note, I was also thoroughly impressed with the number of references that were peppered throughout this song. There were the obvious ones, like Mowgli from the Jungle Book, and Slipknot's Wait and Bleed, but there were also some more subtle ones that may or may not have even been intentional. Like R.E.M still losing their religion after all these years, for instance. But my favorite one (which was certainly not intentional, and in fact I just barely noticed it while writing this) has to be Gladiator:

No? Just me? Well, now you've seen it too, so good luck getting that out of your head next time you watch the video. What? Are you not entertained?!

☘️🖤

Lyrics courtesy of Bandcamp:

Graceful steps that's up and down,
See your life come crashing down,
Come of age that's just a trend,
Like urban myths or your best friend,

I feel like they don't wanna know me,
Everywhere I go I'm so lonely,
Come from the jungle like Mowgli,
Trapped in a box ain't holy,

Losing my religion,
Outcast by decision,
Man, I'm on hooks I ain't a minion,
Upgrade my design, I wanna know why,

I don’t work,
I don’t work,

I find freedom in a padded cell,
Wish the world away,
Taxis on its way,
When I see them,
I just wait and bleed,
Nothing more to say,
Nothing more to say,

I'm breaking free,
From my own hell,
They don’t want to know me,
Can't you tell,
Escape the universe in a taxi ride,
A mile per heartbeat, a bumpy ride,
The driver stares but he can't see,
The ghost of a man that isn't free,
I’ve screamed so loud,
But you don’t seem to care,
I’ll tie us both a noose,
And then I’ll kick our chairs,
I’ll grind my teeth until they're dust,
I’m dropping bodies until dusk,
Take to Bateman like an American Psycho,
In the street think I'm losing control,
I remember my youth in institutions,
Overmedicated, I get wasted