Now then, it is no secret at all, I LOVE TWENTY ONE PILOTS!
Seriously! Their music is out of this world to me and a great source of happiness, fascination and inspiration. I love all of their albums, SERIOUSLY ALL OF THEIR SONGS TOO! BLURRYFACE is a masterpiece of an album for me.
Vessel recently hit 10 years old so what better time to do this list.
This will be a tough task, BUT I am shocked that I have not already made a 21P list before,
SO HERE WE GO!
Twenty One Pilots are an American musical duo from Columbus, Ohio. Initially a band, the group was formed in 2009 by lead vocalist Tyler Joseph along with Nick Thomas and Chris Salih, who both left in 2011. Since their departure, the line-up has consisted of Joseph and drummer Josh Dun.
#10 - Chlorine
Already at number 10 on my list, I am struggling to pick songs. Chlorine I am placing here because it's a strong catchy song with very memorable flow and instrumentals. This one is very much Tyler speaking out on his battles with mental health and with anxiety/depression/ocd.
#9 - The Outside
OK we are on Scaled & Icy album now and man that album has some underrated bangers that need to be widely discussed more and this is one of them. This is pretty much a catchy chill but dance kinda vibe to it. The lyrics talk about being tired and taping one's eyes on a long drive because they don't want to sleep while driving. Maybe it's about the party lifestyle since when it breaks down into the rap part of the song maybe that's the trip happening and obviously this song sings about people nodding their heads and moving up and down and taking hits to join the club because you want to be part of the gang and not on The Outside as it were. Also not long after the rap part it seems like the lyrics no longer care because the person in question is happy vibin' on their own and nothing can stop them.
#8 - Legend
Back to Trench with this absolute beautiful song dedicated to Tyler's grandad. I resonate strongly with the lyrics, this does and has made me cry as I think about my grandparents and basically putting myself in Tyler's shoes. It's a sad one but has a Cherie undertones because Tyler has accepted the grief and just know he will meet his Grandad in the future at the pearly gates.
#7 - Guns For Hands
It's time to go to Vessel with Guns For Hands, beautiful and catchy and damn powerful. On the commentary for this track Tyler had this to say; "Guns for Hands is talking about I want to tell you that I know you have the ability to hurt yourself. You do. You have that ability. I feel like a lot of the older generation when they hear about someone struggling with it, their first reaction is like, “No, you’re not, you’re not struggling with that. Don’t think about that, you know, think about something else, you know, you’re just trying to get attention.” But this song was really trying to say like; “Listen, I know you have the ability to hurt yourself. I recognize that, but let’s take that energy and let’s point it at something else, let’s divert that, lets kind of shift that momentum and look at something like art, or something like this music specifically, or even point it at me, you know, just point it anywhere, but don’t point it at yourself.” And so that’s what that song’s saying and that song will always be important to me. And I’m not a professional when it comes to this topic, but I write songs, and I feel like someone should say something about it."
#6 - Fake You Out
Another Vessel track with this synth poppy sound with quiet gentle piano played in because this is Fake You Out. Again it's a great catchy song, and you can't help yourself join in with the "fake,fake,fake,fake" parts haha. Tyler said this about the track; "I was really excited about this one when I first started writing it. I think that the melody inside the verses is one of my favourite melodies where it goes to falsetto. I think that a lot of times I feel like writers slack on verses when it comes to melody. I feel like it’s like “these are my verses, this is kind of the part where people wait for the chorus.” And I’ve always felt like why not have the verses—the melody of the verses be just as infectious as the chorus? So I’m proud of this song in that way. Also, you know, it does the whole, you know, mash-up genre thing that everyone is freaking out about. Truly, I just didn’t know that there were rules to songwriting and, you know, so I just worked on transitioning from one genre to the next. I wanted to hear a song that did that. I’ve never heard a song do that before, I want to hear that, so I made that."
#5 - Shy Away
Fun fact this was my ringtone for the majority of 2021 haha. This was the first single released from SAI, and it delivered a new laid-back like sound to us fans which we were not really expecting after Trench but hey WE ATE IT UP AND LOVED IT AND DEMANDED MORE! The song was written by Tyler Joseph and mainly produced on his home studio as a form of tutorial for his younger brother, Jay Joseph, on how to operate all stages of a song during the recording process (writing, composing, producing). Tyler also explored elements of the electric guitar for the song, which was a barely used instrument by him, previously first used on "Level of Concern". When Tyler was first working on the voice memo of the song, his one-year daughter, Rosie Joseph, made a cooing noise in the background, which Joseph decided to keep in the very beginning of the track, for loving her being a part of the creative process in some way. The song was created while communicating virtually as the COVID-19 pandemic limited interaction between the band members. Specifically, this was the first time Josh Dun recorded his drums takes all on his own, with no sound engineers to help him or any studio assistance.
#4 - Mulberry Street
Ah-ah-ah yeah! Here we go with a chill laid back and catchy song which I adore. I always enjoy a sing and dance to this one. Tyler said this about the song; "There was a street in New York City where Little Italy is, and the first time that I ever kind of left Ohio. My manager, at the time, we had some meetings with like, record labels and stuff, and it was just a classic kid going to the big city moment. I took Josh and I, and a couple of friends to Little Italy, and we had this, you know, it was just like this, ‘I've never felt more out of place in my life being in New York City.’ Eat at some, you know, like we're going to go get some pizza. ‘This isn't the pizza I’m used to.’ You know, just something that simple, kind of really reminding you that you're not home any more. And so, this song to me was like, very, I wanted to imagine that feeling again."
#3 - Lane Boy
Alright top 3 time bay-bay and so my top 3 are from the same album *SPOILER ALERT* hehe. I cannot help myself this album is a masterpiece, I own 3 copies of the album because I have played 2 cd's to hell and they are so scratched up it is insane! Alright Blurryface so which one will take number 3? Well don't trust a perfect person and don't trust a song that's flawless. LANE BOY! Tyler is having none of it if you think 21P are going to stay in the same lane. Tyler & Josh attempt to explain a musical style that seems to change with every Blurryface single. The songs are intense and interesting, and this one, musically especially, is supercharged, a good match for the aggressive lyrics. The song describes the band's break from the direction of the music industry as well as a commitment to an entrepreneurship that doesn't focus on money. As you can hear, "Lane Boy" is unique among Twenty-One Pilots songs. The drums are still intense and, at times, a driving, reggae-style off-beat continues to come out strong. But otherwise, the BPM is faster than most of their songs, the vocal effects are fairly new, and the lyrics are some of the most pointed and aggressive they've written. The music in "Lane Boy" is unique, and so is the message.
#2 - Ride
Alright so I cannot state enough on how TOUGH this is for me to make but taking my 2nd place is Ride. The theme with this one even though it is pretty upbeat is that this about that time in your life where you feel down and out and like nothing matters, you have suicidal thoughts and anxiety and depression riddles your mind that is why the lines of "I've been thinking too much (help me)" repeats. I have been there. This song also about taking your time on this ride we call life.
#1 - Stressed Out
My name's Blurryface and I care what you think. Of course, I am going to put what is possibly my most listened to song of 21P as my number 1. The lyrics hit and connect strongly with me and I love the instrumentals, it's a chill song but has nostalgia sprinkled in along with a feeling of longing of that sadness of how far away we have come from being children and having that vast imagination and just knowing how good those old days were compared to adult life.
Alright and that's my list, it was incredibly difficult to put together given how much I freaking love 21P BUT hey what can I say? Right now these blurryface'd tunes are my current top 10 BUT this list will no doubt always revolve and change as we get new songs from the lads.
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Stay Blurry!
