- The sun will rise, and we will try again
Twenty One Pilots is a relatively new comer to the main stream music world. Although tøp has been around for quite some time it wasn’t until their song "Stressed Out" from their second studio album, Blurryface, did many actually hear of them. When I first heard Stressed Out come blaring out of my car speakers, as a local radio station back in Los Angeles began to play them, did I realize just how big my favorite band had become.
Twenty One Pilots music is unique in the simple fact that you can’t quite place them. With a combination of pop, rap, and ukulele; the band and the fans have come to describe it as schizophrenic pop making it unique to them. Add the unique voice of Tyler Joseph, lead vocalist, to the mix and each song is indescribable. Tyler and Josh Dunn are the duo who make up Twenty One Pilots and who have saved countless of lives with their music.
It is said that music touches a part of you in a way that only music can and this cliche is spot on with top. From Twenty One Pilots to Regional At Best to Vessel to Blurryface, each one of their albums speaks about the struggles that one goes through. Tyler Joseph’s lyrics speak to the inner struggle that he has to fight and yet conveys a message that no one in this world is alone, we are all struggling in life. For me in particular, tøp lyrics have given me hope. If you know anything about them you will understand what I am talking about.
The first song I ever heard from them was Car Radio. Their first studio album, Vessel, had just been released and I had stumbled across the song on Tumblr, of course. There was two particular lyric that stuck with me, “Sometimes quiet is violent” and “it’s that we’re all battling with fear”, it was as if a train had hit me in the face. For each individual the song has its own meaning but I believe that one thing is clear, there are times in this world that we all have to face this ‘silence’ head one and once we do it is as if the pain that we have been hiding come at full force and we think of the unthinkable but there is hope because we are not alone and above all peace will win and fear will lose. Car Radio is not the only song on the bands Vessel album that is raw and honest as Car Radio. Migraine, has a more upbeat tone compared to Car Radio and yet it speak to the same part of you that peace will win and fear will lose does.
“Am I the only one I know/Waging my wars behind my face and above my throat/Shadows will scream that I’m alone”. These lyrics hit you hard as the song kicks off to an up-beat drumming, it did with me. tøp knows exactly how to hit you in a way that both speak the truth and reliefs you of your own shadows. It speaks of a taboo, depression and suicide. Going head on to the simple fact that many of us are “not as fine as [we] seem” how many times migraines are our fight against our depression. How we are constantly fighting the wars behind our faces, that “sometimes death seems better than the migraine in [our] heads. However, the song ends with a hopeful undertone. Tyler reminds us that we have made it this far, kid.
Now, Car Radio and Migraine are not the only successful songs that these guys have under their belt. Many of the clique will tell you that one of their favorite songs will be Kitchen Sink form Regional At Best. Kitchen Sink is one of the first times we see how talented Tyler is. Kitchen Sink comes in to remind us that no one will see things the same way as you because “a kitchen sink to you is not a kitchen sink to me” and that we have to keep trying because one day all that we do that seemed worthless will finally begin to have a purpose; one day you and only you will begin to defeat your demons. Kitchen sink can come to mean many things but is unique meaning is for each person to determine just like tøp meant it to be.
Stressed Out is one of their latest successful songs charting at number 2 in Billboard Hot 100 and number 1 in Hot Rock Songs and Mainstream 40. Stressed Out is what shot them to main street fame. It is a song that anyone who has ever felt overwhelmed, scared, and stressed out can relate too. It's all about how we wish we could turn back time to the good old days of our childhood, one where being an adult was not necessary and we could just dream about building rocket ships and flying away instead of having to pay our student loans. Stressed Out is upbeat much like the rest of their Blurryface album but the lyrics are from happy pop songs. They are raw and real. That's who Twenty One Pilots are they are real individuals who care about their music and their fans.
The Few
The Prøud
The Emøtional
