"Freedom at 21" is a song by American musician

Jack White John Anthony White (; born July 9, 1975), commonly known as Jack White, is an American musician, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the duo the White Stripes. White has enjoyed consistent critical and popular success and is widely c ...

from his debut solo album ''

Blunderbuss The blunderbuss is a firearm with a short, large caliber barrel which is flared at the muzzle and frequently throughout the entire bore, and used with shot and other projectiles of relevant quantity or caliber. The blunderbuss is commonly consid ...

'' (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 phonograph record made of a thin, flexible vinyl sheet with a molded-in spiral stylus groove, and is designed to be playable on a normal phonograph turntabl ...

copies of the track. It was released for digital download and as a

7-inch vinyl In music, a single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record or an album. One can be released for sale to the public in a variety of formats. In most cases, a single is a song that is released separate ...

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

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

and starring Brittany Colombo was uploaded to White's

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

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 on the initiative of the Belgian Entertainment Association (BEA), the Belgian member organization ...

'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 advertise ...

Alternative Songs Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played ...

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. E ...

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, Tennessee, Detroit, Michigan, and Soho, London—with ...

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 digital download 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. 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 or ...

on a drum beat played by

Carla Azar Carla Azar 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 '' Boarding Hous ...

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. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 173,51 ...

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 has a population of 107,337. The city was named after David Burbank, w ...

. 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 QOTSA) is an American rock band formed in 1996 in Palm Desert, California. The band was founded by vocalist and guitarist Josh Homme, who has been the only constant member throughout multiple line- ...

frontman

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

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 Olivia Jean Markel White (born February 23, 1990) is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. She is known as the lead singer and guitarist of the all-female " garage goth" rock band the Black Belles. Early life Jean was ra ...

– 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