“Prisoner” is about being captured and trapped by someone’s love. That feeling of passion that one craves. The long but intentional guitar solos in the song embodies that feeling. Carrying those notes long just like how much the singer is suffering: long and intensely.
Another interesting artist choice was the actual length of the song. In the age of songs that are now mostly less than 3 minutes, and listeners having such a short attention span, the band makes a choice to make this song at almost 5 minutes. This was a brave and strong choice but it works. The long duration of the song can be a representation of the overall message which is the feeling of helplessness and being trapped.
Lyrics such as “wrecking ball that broke my heart” and “I am shattered” emphasizes the feeling of pain. The torture and ache of feeling like there is no escape from the pain that love gives you. Further emphasizing the theme of helplessness is the line “I scream but there’s no voice”. This gives the listeners almost this uneasy feeling just how the singer feels. She is doing her best to get out of whatever this is yet she feels like a “prisoner” trapped in her sorrows. Towards the middle of the song, “I’m a prisoner” is repeated multiple times along with the guitar solo and big sounding drums to show the intensity of the situation. The intensity of the feeling of being trapped.
Listen here: https://soulspazm.ffm.to/prisoner
