"Freedom at 21" is a song by American musician

Jack White John Anthony White (; born July 9, 1975) is an American musician who achieved international fame as the guitarist and lead singer of the rock duo the White Stripes. As the White Stripes disbanded, he sought success with his solo career, subse ...

from his debut solo album ''

Blunderbuss The blunderbuss is a 17th- to mid-19th-century firearm with a short, large caliber Gun barrel, barrel. It is commonly flared at the muzzle (firearms), muzzle to help aid in the loading of Lead shot, shot and other projectiles of relevant quantity ...

'' (2012). Third Man Records distributed the single on April 1, 2012 by releasing 1000 helium balloons attached to

flexi-disc The flexi disc (also known as a phonosheet, Sonosheet or Soundsheet, a trademark) is a Gramophone record, phonograph record made of a thin, flexible Polyvinyl chloride, vinyl sheet with a molded-in spiral Phonograph pickup, stylus groove, and is ...

copies of the track. It was released for

digital download Digital download may refer to: *Downloading, the processing of copying data to a computer from an external source *Digital distribution, a method of downloading software or audio-visual media as opposed to buying it at a traditional point of sale * ...

and as a

7-inch vinyl In music, a single is a type of release of a song recording of fewer tracks than an album ( LP), typically one or two tracks. A single can be released for sale to the public in a variety of physical or digital formats. Singles may be standal ...

single on June 9 and June 11, respectively, with the B-side "Inaccessible Mystery". A music video directed by

Hype Williams Harold "Hype" Williams (born August 1, 1970) is an American music video and film director, film producer, and screenwriter. Early life Williams was born in Queens. He is of mixed African-American and Honduran descent. He attended Adelphi Univ ...

and starring Brittany Colombo was uploaded to White's

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel on July 16, 2012. "Freedom at 21" peaked at 77 on

Ultratop Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium. Ultratop is a non-profit organization, created in 1995 on the initiative of the Belgian Entertainment Association (BEA), the Belgian member organiz ...

's Ultratip Bubbling Under charts in the Flanders region of Belgium, and it reached ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Alternative Songs Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks between 1988 and 2009, and Alternative Songs between 2009 and 2020) is a music chart published in the American magazine ''Billboard'' since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-play ...

and

Hot Rock Songs Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (formerly known as Rock Songs and Hot Rock Songs) is a record chart published by ''Billboard'' magazine. From its debut on June 20, 2009, through October 13, 2012, the chart ranked the airplay of songs across alternati ...

charts, peaking at 22 and 35, respectively. It was nominated for

Best Rock Song The Grammy Award for Best Rock Song is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality songs in the rock music genre. Honors in several ...

at the

55th Annual Grammy Awards The 55th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 10, 2013, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2011 through September 30, 2012. The show was broadcast on CBS at 8 p.m. ...

Release

"Freedom at 21" was released as a single on April 1, 2012. To distribute the single,

Third Man Records Third Man Records is an eclectic, vinyl-focused independent record label founded and owned by Jack White, Ben Blackwell, and Ben Swank. The company operates out of three locations—Nashville, Detroit, and Soho in London—with multiple entitie ...

released 1000 helium balloons attached to

copies of the song. In addition, the balloons were attached to postcards with directions on how to inform Third Man Records of the discovery. The single was later released via

on June 9 and as a 7-inch single on June 11 with the B-side "Inaccessible Mystery".

Composition

"Freedom at 21" contains elements of

hip hop music Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music Music genre, genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African Americans, African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide r ...

. Its "clattering drum pattern" was created by placing a

tape echo Delay is an audio signal processing technique that records an input signal to a storage medium and then plays it back after a period of time. When the delayed playback is mixed with the live audio, it creates an echo-like effect, whereby the o ...

on a drum beat played by

Carla Azar Carla Azar (June 15, 1972) is an American drummer from Huntsville, Alabama and member of the band Autolux. She also plays guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, and sings. Azar played drums on Jack White's albums ''Blunderbuss'', ''Lazaretto'', and ' ...

Reception

"Freedom at 21" was nominated for

at the

Music video

The music video for "Freedom at 21" was directed by

and stars Brittany Colombo as a police officer. It was filmed in June 2012 over a five-day period. Filming sessions for the desert scenes occurred in

Lancaster, California Lancaster is a charter city in northern Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, in the Antelope Valley of the western Mojave Desert in Southern California, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the popul ...

and lasted between four and five hours per day. The remainder of the video was filmed at a studio in

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank had a Census-estimated population of 102,755 as of 2023. The city was ...

. During production, police officers taught Colombo various maneuvers, such as placing handcuffs on a person. A

stunt double In filmmaking, a double is a person who substitutes for another actor such that the person's face is not shown. There are various terms associated with a double based on the specific body part or ability they serve as a double for, such as stunt ...

was used for shots in which the police officer rides a motorcycle. The video was uploaded to White's

channel on July 16, 2012. A "blue tint" is present in the video. In the video, White is stopped by a police officer while driving; he is then arrested and placed in jail. The video shows footage of White lip-synching to the song's lyrics in his cell interspersed with shots of a "scantily clad inmate". She "starts to grind on" White, during which footage of White playing an electric guitar is shown. White eventually escapes his cell, resulting in a car chase in which he is stopped by a barricade created by a group of police officers and their cars.

Queens Of The Stone Age Queens of the Stone Age (commonly abbreviated as QOTSA or QotSA) is an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1996. The band was founded by vocalist and guitarist Josh Homme shortly before he returned to his native Palm Desert, California. ...

frontman

Josh Homme Joshua Michael Homme ( ; born May 17, 1973) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He is best known as the founder and only continuous member of the rock band Queens of the Stone Age, which he for ...

makes a cameo as one of the officers. As of September 2022, the music video for "Freedom at 21" has over 15 million views.

Track listing

;Digital download and 7-inch vinyl #"Freedom at 21" #"Inaccessible Mystery"

Personnel

Adapted from "Freedom at 21" vinyl single liner notes. ;"Freedom at 21" *Jack White – lead vocals, electric guitar solo, writer (music and lyrics), producer, mixing * Olivia Jean – electric guitar *Bryn Davies – upright bass *Carla Azar – drums *Vance Powell – recording, mixing *Joshua V. Smith – assistant in recording and mixing *Mindy Watts – assistant in recording and mixing ;"Inaccessible Mystery" *Jack White – lead vocals, acoustic guitar, vibrachime, writer (music and lyrics), producer *Johnny Walker – electric guitar *Jake Orral – amplified acoustic guitar *Jack Lawrence – bass *Daru Jones – drums *Vance Powell – recording, mixing *Joshua V. Smith – recording, assistant in mixing

Charts

References

{{authority control 2012 singles Songs written by Jack White Jack White songs Third Man Records singles 2012 songs Music videos directed by Hype Williams