Twenty One Pilots celebrated the tenth birthday of their fourth studio album, Blurryface. With radio hits like “Stressed Out” and “Ride,” the album is one of the band’s most successful works to date. Those who are a part of the “Skeleton Clique” (or the bands fanbase) can attest to this album’s wonderful sound and storytelling.
Blurryface is an album of firsts for Twenty One Pilots. It catapulted the band to mainstream radio, and sold over 1.5 million copies. It debuted at #1 on the Billboard top 200, all while receiving amazing reviews.
Because Blurryface brought exposure to the band, Twenty One Pilots has thousands of fans. For many, Blurryface serves as an album that represents their adolescence, making it nostalgia fueled album. For example, it defined Tumblr at its peak, with fans dressing as Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun, all while creating art depicting their love for the band. Many fans still see Blurryface as a sense of comfort.
The album also represents an emotional side of Joseph and Dun’s journey. For example, Joseph was vocal about dealing with depression, religion, as well as other struggles that effected him. Through his music, fans are able to find a safe space in Twenty One Pilots. The albums character, Blurryface, is meant to be a physical representation of depression, and the record shows his journey in overcoming his mental health struggles.
Joseph has used his character, Blurryface, as a personification of his inner struggles, self-doubts and anxieties. Often he is characterized as the antagonist of Joseph’s songs. In music vides, Blurryface appears as Joseph, but with his neck and arms covered in black paint and red eyes. Often, he is accompanied with a deep, distorted voice. His character is present in songs like “Fairly Local“, “Stressed Out”, and “Heavydirtysoul“.
Now, the Blurryface journey is put on hold with the band touring their newest album Clancy. However, with the tour ending, and the anniversary of Blurryface coming up, fans were anticipating some big news.
Essentially, Joseph ignoring the “Torchbearer” (or Josh Dun’s character), and not taking he jacket, the band is continuing the development of Blurryface’s character. However, because the band is in a new era, Blurryface is now represented by Clancy, who is an evolution of the previous character.
Rock Sound was first to acknowledge 10 years of Blurryface by posting a cryptic announcement posted below. Twenty One Pilots followed suit by changing their profile picture to the red eye logo seen on the announcement. They posted tweets, deleted then, and desaturated the color on their website and Twitter. This was reminiscent of the announcement of the Trench era which was first signaled at with a yellow eye opening and the words “ARE YOU STILL SLEEPING?”.
Rock Sound, a magazine line, is working with Twenty One Pilots to release a tribute album to Blurryface. This lead to speculations as to who they would be collaborating with. However, it has been confirmed that they will be working with As It Is, Noah Finch, and Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, as well as 11 other artists. The album will not be released until later, but fans are still excited to hear new renditions of their favorite tracks.
Now, the eye appearing on their social media is shut. Fans remain expectant for any sign of movement, and hope that their favorite band will be making more music.
I am a photographer, musician, and cosplayer, based in Austin! I spend a lot of time traveling around for events, and am constantly creating things, listening to music, playing bass guitar, or finding new hobbies to indulge in. I love being surrounded by music, and you can almost always catch me listening to some emo or pop-punk music.
