Diksha Sundriyal
Prime Video’s ‘Shelter’ is set in a small town where a teenager falls down a rabbit hole of mysteries that connect to his father’s death. Mickey Bolitar comes to Kasselton to live with his aunt while dealing with the loss of his father, Brad, and missing his mother, who is unable to take care of him. Mickey feels a flicker of something exciting when he meets Ashley, who is also new to town. After spending the first day of school together, they decide to meet in a diner in the evening. However, Ashley doesn’t show up, and the next day, she is missing from school as well.
Mickey and his friends, Spoon and Ema, help him solve the mystery of Ashley’s disappearance, while he also discovers that all of this might be related to his father’s death. Several things connect Brad’s death to the secrets in Kasselton. One of these things is a song that repeats throughout the show. What is the song, and where can you listen to it? Let’s find out.
Shelter’ Uncovered: Butch Walker’s Track, Not 34 and Out
The song that repeatedly features in the Prime Video is titled ‘Shelter.’ It is a single from a band called 34 and Out. In reality, the song in the show is ‘Gridlock’ by Butch Walker. (You can listen to the song here.) It is the second track on Walker’s 2020 album, ‘American Love Story.’
34 and Out is not a real band but a fictional one created to serve the story’s plot. It is not confirmed why the show’s creators renamed the song and the singer, giving them a fictitious identity. It might have something to do with the song becoming a thread that leads Mickey to other revelations. The writers might have wanted something that could feel relevant to him because the car accident is such a pivotal scene in Mickey’s life.
Renaming the song and band puts more focus on the mystery behind them, pulling into the show’s fictional world. This move also allowed the show’s creators to create unique artwork for the song and use it to connect to other parts of the mystery. The blue butterfly on its cover is seen repeatedly throughout the show. It is in Lizzy Sobek’s story of rescuing children from concentration camps; it is tattooed on the back of various characters.
With the song, the show’s creators wanted to present a thread that Mickey and the audience could follow to get to the heart of the mystery. Instead of making the song seem like a random choice, they wanted it to feel relevant and something that would immediately catch the attention of a curious mind. This is why, perhaps, they changed the song’s name and its artist. This isn’t the first time a song has been connected to ‘Shelter.’ David Berkeley’s song ‘Shelter’ from his album, ‘The Fire in My Head’ is said to have been inspired by Coben’s book and was used in the book’s trailer.
Read More: Harlan Coben’s Shelter: Is Kasselton a Real Town?
