“Are you searching for purpose?”
Art, in general, is an anchor. It’s what keeps us grounded during our darkest times, when we think we might just fly away. It gives us hope. It gives us meaning. Music especially gives us comfort, and convinces us that maybe we aren’t the only ones struggling. It may sound frightening to have your inner-demons voiced, your fear personified. But the truth is that, somehow, this verbal outpour of depression and anxiety and anguish keeps us going. We listen to a song and hear our own stories being told back to us. There is something beautiful in that.
Meet Twenty One Pilots, the indie duo who do this better than anyone else. Comprised of singer Tyler Joseph and drummer Josh Dun, the Ohio natives fuse mental torment with upbeat electronics to produce something everyone can enjoy, whether they understand the underlying messages or not.
The first Twenty One Pilots song I ever heard was Oh Ms Believer, a relatively plain piano ballad off of the band’s first ever album. There aren’t a lot of a lyrics, and the song sort of drags on at times, but there was a reason I didn’t cut my listening short. There was something about the lyrics, the emotion behind them. The song told a story, and it wasn’t one to be taken lightly. This song tells of one’s personal battle with something great, and I easily connected the lyrics to my own life, and my own battles. This is what Twenty One Pilots do: they take heavy stories and pin them against a colorful backdrop to appeal to both individuals and radio.
For example, take Stressed Out, the band’s most popular single. While it certainly has a beat everyone can bop their heads to, the lyrics are what make people stay. “I was told when I get older all my fears would shrink,” Tyler sings. “But now I’m insecure, and I care what people think.” The song is well-produced and curated for radio play, but the lyrics hold something we all can relate to: fear of growing up, and longing for our youth, for simplicity.
As a culture, we often don’t speak so openly about our issues. We fear we’ll be labeled as crazy. We fear rejection. And, perhaps most of all, we fear there won’t be any hope for us.
Twenty One Pilots are breaking this stigma.
Tyler Joseph openly sings, and sometimes screams, about his pain. He writes about depression, anxiety, and even death. With his lyrics, and Josh Dun’s drumming, Twenty One Pilots shelter those who are struggling. Each concert is filled with fans who know what it is like to stay awake all night contemplating life. The band’s music provides fans with a sense of belonging.
They aren’t the only ones doing this, but they are surely the most prominent. Twenty One Pilots are breaking the stigma surrounding mental illness by making it their staple. Tyler writes music not only for himself, but for those who are drowning as well.
As sung in Guns For Hands, Tyler encourages, “Let’s take this a second at a time. Let’s take this one song, this one rhyme. Together, let’s breathe. Together, to the beat.”
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