Unless you've been living under a rock the past couple of months, you've probably heard of the band with no genre, Twenty One Pilots. Not to be the annoying hipster, but I first started listening to Twenty One Pilots in 2013 when their album Vessel was released. However, they did not become popular until Blurryface was released in May 2015.
Behind the ski masks and face paint, Twenty One Pilots is made up of two natives of Columbus, Ohio: lead vocalist/bassist/composer/lyricist/piano & ukulele player Tyler Joseph and drummer Joshua Dun. Although the band originated as Tyler and two friends, the others left to pursue other ventures and Josh joined later as the drummer and only other band member.
You may be thinking that with their sudden rise to fame that they're new to the music scene, but that is far from the truth. What is it about Blurryface that caused the outpour of attention to their music?
Being the sole lyricist for the band, Tyler always writes about things that matter to him which is important to a lot of people because most of the hits in mainstream pop culture music focus on partying and wasting money and things that most "normal" people can't relate to. Tyler writes from his perspective on things like depression, anxiety, existentialism, doubts, fear, etc because he and Josh have both dealt with those things and still do to this day. For many, especially millennials, that's what matters because we're all dealing with those subjects or at least know someone who is. But what's even better than just having music to bring light to this subjects is having music that celebrates overcoming those obstacles and celebrating life no matter how messy and messed up it can become.
So again I ask, if their music has always been around the same subjects, what is it about Blurryface that drew people in? It's simple. Blurryface is a person. Not a tangible person, but it's who Tyler created as a representation of his thoughts, his fears, his doubts, his anxieties, the voice inside his head that tell him he's not good enough. Blurryface isn't just for Tyler. He created it because everyone has a Blurryface. The reason why people are so captivated by this is because it puts a name to the things we can't explain. We can't explain why we doubt ourselves. We can't explain why we become depressed. We can't explain why our brains sometime decide to turn against us and tell us lies. But by giving it a name it's as if we can understand ourselves and others better. Blurryface lets us know we're not alone in our struggles and that it will be ok.
In the final song on the Blurryface record, there's a verse that says "I've got two faces/Blurry's the one I'm not/I need your help to take him out." That one verse encompasses the entire message of not only the album, but also the band: We all may have insecurities and struggles, but those aren't who you really are. You are how you cope with the situation. You are how you deal with your struggles. You are how you overcome your insecurities, doubts, fears, or whatever it may be. If that isn't something to sing and celebrate about, I honestly don't know what is.
