I’m going to try to restrain myself here. Twenty One Pilots is my favorite, favorite band and I could (and have been known to) talk about them and their music for hours. They could literally release an album that was just Tibetian throat singing and I would buy it instantly. I wanted to mention this so you know I’m going into this post with a slight bias.
So anyways, “Stressed Out” is the third single from the band’s upcoming album Blurryface. More or less, the song is Tyler Joseph talking about how he misses his childhood and how he wishes he could trade in the worries and anxieties he has now for simpler times.
It’s a little weird that I’m such a huge fan of this song since I’m usually so anti-nostalgia, but then again, he’s not really being nostalgic here. He’s not saying “oh, my childhood was so much better than my life is now, everything was better in the 90s;” he’s saying “I wish I didn’t worry about what people think of me, I wish I didn’t have all this pressure coming at me from all sides and I could be free like a child again.”
The music video is fairly straightforward with its message; Tyler and bandmate/best friend Josh Dun are at their childhood homes (no for real - Josh’s actual house and Tyler’s actual bedroom and their actual families are in the video) kind of recreating what they’ve lost, but you can tell it’s ringing hollow.
The song also gives us a little more info on Blurryface, a character introduced in the album’s first single “Fairly Local” and its music video. Blurryface isn’t exactly Tyler’s alter-ego; he’s more like an embodiment of all of Tyler’s fears, worries, anxieties, you get the drift. In the videos, he’s out when Tyler’s eyes turn red; in the songs, his arrival’s signaled by the abrupt drop in Tyler’s voice. Blurryface is typically unexpected and tends to leave a sense of uneasiness when he disappears. He’s also on Twitter (and only Twitter, he’ll have you know) at @blurryface and it’s just as chaotic as you’d expect.
With “Fairly Local,” you get an inkling of what this character’s about. Obviously, just from his posture, mannerisms and the sound of his voice, he’s not pleasant to be around. In “Stressed Out,” you get to see another side of him. Because “Stressed Out” is the second song on the album, this could be Blurryface’s ‘official’ introduction; we won’t know for sure until we can hear the first song, “HeavyDirtySoul.”
The first you hear from Blurryface isn’t in his normal, super-deep voice, though. It’s in Tyler’s voice. Immediately after the line “I was told when I get older all my fears would shrink/But now I’m insecure, and I care what people think,” he says “My name’s Blurryface and I care what you think.” It’s important that Blurryface’s first appearance is in Tyler’s voice because the two of them could not possibly sound any more different. 90% of the time in his music (and even in his interviews), Tyler Joseph is very soft-spoken; he’s confident in what he’s saying, but, with exceptions like “Car Radio” and the ending of “Trees,” he’s quiet about it. Blurryface, in contrast, has a much deeper voice and is bolder with what he says; he’s brash and almost spits it at you disdainfully.
But the first time Blurryface appears on the album, he’s not. The first time he appears, he’s using Tyler’s voice.
Now, you could take this a couple different ways. Initially, I heard it as Tyler admitting that he is Blurryface, that Blurryface is a part of him and he’s acknowledging it. He’s reluctant and he doesn’t want to admit that he cares so much about what you think of him, but he’s owning it. If you go with this idea, when Blurryface shows up in full force later in the song, it’s those traits coming to the forefront of Tyler’s personality, like he can’t stop stressing out over what people think of him and what he’s going to do and how he’s going to survive.
Or, and I like this interpretation better (thanks, /r/twentyonepilots!), you could hear it as Blurryface talking to Tyler, almost like an imaginary friend: “Hey, I see you, you’re upset, you’re worried; well, my name’s Blurryface and I care what you think, so tell me all about it.” If you go with this way of looking at the song, Blurryface shows up and comes across completely innocuously at first. He seems like someone you can trust, right? But when he comes back later, you see his true colors and realize you were so, so wrong.
In short, “Stressed Out” is about wishing things were easy again like they were when you were younger, realizing you can’t go back and dealing with pressure from all sources, even your family, to “grow up,” “get a real job,” “quit being so impractical,” the like. It’s about growing up and having to fight off these personal demons you’ve managed to acquire through the years.
According to the band, Blurryface isn’t a concept album, despite what it might sound like from what I’ve written. It has a central theme, but it’s not on the level of albums like My Chemical Romance’s Danger Days or Muse’s The Resistance. Blurryface is a recurring character, but it’s not an album about him. He supposedly appears in a few more songs and I can’t wait to hear them.
So anyways, “Stressed Out” is the third single from the band’s upcoming album Blurryface. More or less, the song is Tyler Joseph talking about how he misses his childhood and how he wishes he could trade in the worries and anxieties he has now for simpler times.
The music video is fairly straightforward with its message; Tyler and bandmate/best friend Josh Dun are at their childhood homes (no for real - Josh’s actual house and Tyler’s actual bedroom and their actual families are in the video) kind of recreating what they’ve lost, but you can tell it’s ringing hollow.
The song also gives us a little more info on Blurryface, a character introduced in the album’s first single “Fairly Local” and its music video. Blurryface isn’t exactly Tyler’s alter-ego; he’s more like an embodiment of all of Tyler’s fears, worries, anxieties, you get the drift. In the videos, he’s out when Tyler’s eyes turn red; in the songs, his arrival’s signaled by the abrupt drop in Tyler’s voice. Blurryface is typically unexpected and tends to leave a sense of uneasiness when he disappears. He’s also on Twitter (and only Twitter, he’ll have you know) at @blurryface and it’s just as chaotic as you’d expect.
The first you hear from Blurryface isn’t in his normal, super-deep voice, though. It’s in Tyler’s voice. Immediately after the line “I was told when I get older all my fears would shrink/But now I’m insecure, and I care what people think,” he says “My name’s Blurryface and I care what you think.” It’s important that Blurryface’s first appearance is in Tyler’s voice because the two of them could not possibly sound any more different. 90% of the time in his music (and even in his interviews), Tyler Joseph is very soft-spoken; he’s confident in what he’s saying, but, with exceptions like “Car Radio” and the ending of “Trees,” he’s quiet about it. Blurryface, in contrast, has a much deeper voice and is bolder with what he says; he’s brash and almost spits it at you disdainfully.
But the first time Blurryface appears on the album, he’s not. The first time he appears, he’s using Tyler’s voice.
Now, you could take this a couple different ways. Initially, I heard it as Tyler admitting that he is Blurryface, that Blurryface is a part of him and he’s acknowledging it. He’s reluctant and he doesn’t want to admit that he cares so much about what you think of him, but he’s owning it. If you go with this idea, when Blurryface shows up in full force later in the song, it’s those traits coming to the forefront of Tyler’s personality, like he can’t stop stressing out over what people think of him and what he’s going to do and how he’s going to survive.
Or, and I like this interpretation better (thanks, /r/twentyonepilots!), you could hear it as Blurryface talking to Tyler, almost like an imaginary friend: “Hey, I see you, you’re upset, you’re worried; well, my name’s Blurryface and I care what you think, so tell me all about it.” If you go with this way of looking at the song, Blurryface shows up and comes across completely innocuously at first. He seems like someone you can trust, right? But when he comes back later, you see his true colors and realize you were so, so wrong.
In short, “Stressed Out” is about wishing things were easy again like they were when you were younger, realizing you can’t go back and dealing with pressure from all sources, even your family, to “grow up,” “get a real job,” “quit being so impractical,” the like. It’s about growing up and having to fight off these personal demons you’ve managed to acquire through the years.
According to the band, Blurryface isn’t a concept album, despite what it might sound like from what I’ve written. It has a central theme, but it’s not on the level of albums like My Chemical Romance’s Danger Days or Muse’s The Resistance. Blurryface is a recurring character, but it’s not an album about him. He supposedly appears in a few more songs and I can’t wait to hear them.
