“Skeletons” by Brothers Osborne
The full titular phrase this song is based on, as revealed in the chorus, is a term that reads “skeletons in your closet”, which is a metaphor you likely heard before. Claiming that someone has ‘skeletons in their closet’, as the vocalist is doing to the addressee, is another way of saying that they are keeping secrets which, if revealed, would blow their whole spot up.
In this case, what’s being implied especially in the first verse is that said addressee, most simply put, is cheating on the vocalist yet is such that she will never admit to doing so. But as these types of songs tend to go, where one lover is accusing another of being unfaithful, the former, in his mind, feels that he has ample proof to back up his claim. For instance, the addressee has been ‘talking in her sleep’ – an act which, in a romantic context, would mean that while she’s sleeping and in a lower state of consciousness, she’s calling out the name of her illicit lover.
Also when pressed about what she’s doing on the low, homegirl ‘can’t keep her story straight’, as in always getting her ‘lies’ mixed up.
But all of that noted, it’s also obvious that the vocalist doesn’t have any hard evidence, i.e. having ever caught her red-handed. So conclusively, it would appear that more than anything, what he desires is the addressee to come clean – for some closure, so to speak. And that’s because for now, it’s as if knowing that she is being unfaithful but deceptive can mean, for instance, that she has done things even worse than what he’s suspecting.
Brothers Osborne
The Brothers Osborne are a sibling country-music act made up of John Osbourne (guitarist) and his younger brother, T.J. Osborne (vocalist), who hails from small-town Maryland.
“Skeletons”, a song that was officially released on 21 August 2020, is the title track of their third-studio album, a project that was put out by EMI Nashville, whom the brothers have been down with since 2012.
Credits for “Skeletons”
Besides for John and T. J., the other writers of this song are Adam DeRoberts and Andrew DeRoberts, with its producer being Jay Joyce.
“Skeletons” (the album) most notably peaked at number 4 on Billboard’s US Top Country Albums chart. And the project proved successful enough to warrant a deluxe edition being issued in 2022.
