Blurryface-Twenty one pilots overview and personal thoughts
Blurryface, actually the 4th studio album by the band Twenty One Pilots. After the first album, that wasn't the most popular but definitely built a fan base. The second album was similar, it also built the fan base even more, and had a couple songs that while they never charted on the BH100, they were super popular among the fans. Then the third album, just like the last two, none of the songs charted, but here is where the band began to get into the mainstream, with songs like Car radio, Ode to sleep, and Holding on to you. (Yes I know I need to finish the album overview for Vessel beyond the first two songs) With all the hype in the band, with both the fans and the mainstream alike, does this album live up to the hype?
The album starts with the song Heavydirtysoul. The song starts off with the second (or third if you count the one later in the song) fastest rap section in Twenty One Pilots songs (I don't know about kitchen sink, I didn't calculate it yet). The rap sections, and really the chorus and bridge are all about Tyler's demons, what he struggles with, and how he deals with them. While these rap sections are some of the best I've ever heard, the chorus and bridge is awfully weak. Maybe I just don't understand the simplicity of it, but it's honestly not deep, it could be considered catchy, (I find it a little annoying) and it seems to me like it was too tailored into what is popular, which is not what Twenty One Pilots is. That being said, while I don't especially like this song, I do think it's a very impressive song, and I do still enjoy it.
The second song on the album, Stressed out, is probably the most popular song on the album. I highly doubt you haven't heard this song before, it was all over the radio, and to this day still plays a lot. Nothing in particular makes this song amazing, it's fairly standard with standardish rapping with some melody/harmonizing mixed in. What I really like about this song is the lyrics, the line in the first verse "I wish I didn't have to rhyme every time I sang", which ironically, (or unironically) doesn't rhyme with the line before. Also the line "Out of student loans and tree house homes we would always take the ladder." Which is a play on words, he's sort of saying he "would take the latter" which is a way of saying he would take the second option. Overall, while it is not my favorite song on the album by a long shot, it's still a great song (after all it's hard to pick a favorite). Some of the best songwriting on the album as well, it did a good job of achieving 2nd on the BH100.
Third song, but who's counting? Ride, arguably the most popular song on the album. While it only topped out at 5 on the BH100, it seems to have slightly better staying power than the former track, maybe it's the simpler lyrics, maybe it's the top notch rap section contained in between verses, but this is the song that got me into this band. Ride also is a mix of simple lyrics and deep lyrics, the verses aren't all that amazing, but the rap section is full of gold, with lines like: "I'd live for you, and that's hard to do, even harder to say if you know it's not true." and "I'd die for you, that's easy to say, we have a list of people that we would take a bullet for them, a bullet for you". Going back to their roots a little with more christian lyrics to their music, this song is a good example of how you don't need amazing lyrics to make a hit, and you don't need to "follow the rules" to be popular. Great song, and when two of the first three songs on the album chart, and when all three songs so far achieve platinum certification pretty quickly, we have quite an album so far.
Fourth song, most ironic song on this list, Fairly local. If you've heard this song before, you might remember that this song has the line "Yo, this song will never be on the radio" which is a super ironic line because this song was the first song that charted on the BH100. While this song isn't my favorite song on this album by a long shot, this song demonstrates the theme of blurryface really well, with the deep voice singing, which seems to have a deeper meaning to this album. Also, that YEeeeeeeAH.
An-nyŏng-ha-se-yo! This next song starts off with some south Korean. Tear in my heart, the 5th song on this album, and probably the happiest song on the album. It's a little off the theme of what we've heard so far, this on is a full blown love song. The singer sings about how his now-wife is "The tear in my heart" presumably because of how he loves her but is afraid to in a sense, also with this song it's one of the songs without the "blurryface" singing, which makes me think that she keeps him from "being blurryface". Love this song, sometimes this song makes me tear up a little just because how much I relate to the lyrics, and how heartfelt the singing is, even if it's not your usual love song.
6th song on the album, Lane boy. While it seems that this is one of most Twenty one pilot fans favorite song, I personally don't like it quite as much. I still like it quite a lot, (Spoiler, I like all the songs on the album) I think this is the most talented song on this album. Lots of really fast rapping in this song, lots of awesome drumming, and I think that it has a really good tune to it, but then again that's my opinion, subjective to your taste. Lines in this that I think are great are "Don't trust a perfect person and don't trust a song that's flawless." and "If you get in between someone I love and me, you're going to feel the heat of my cavalry." While the first verse is more of a complaint about the record company, the second is more of a verse dedicated to his family and people he loves. Yet another song that made more fans, and I think while it's not my favorite, I think it's one of the best songs on the album.
The 7th song, and my personal favorite, The Judge. Ok wait, let me explain, this may not seem like it would be my favorite song on the album, let me explain the reason why. The song starts off silently, with a little whooshing in there, then it progresses into some ukulele, then some stripped down singing in comparison to some of the other songs. "When the leader of the bad guys sang, something soft and soaked in pain. I heard the echoes from his secret hideaway. He must have forgotten to close his door, as he cranked out those dismal chords, and his four walls declared his insane." For me, I read the lyrics on that like how even the tough guys can have a soft side, but if they show it, it make people think of them as "insane". Then later in the song, Tyler sings/raps a section. For me, this is one of my favorite parts of the album. This section is great. It's sort of like how Imagine dragons singer sings fast, but doesn't really rap, and while I like that, I like this a lot more, partially because I like this band better, partially because this has really deep lyrics. Also, for you fans of the singer and the drummer, at 4:25 in the song, you can hear Tyler yell "Josh Dun!" which also is a cool small thing you can listen for next time you hear this song. This is a great song that shows the diversity of this band, and how good they are at being creative with their music.
The 8th song on the album, Doubt, and probably the most overlooked song on the album. Not especially catchy or captivating, and really just depressing sounding song, that probably accounts for why it gets overlooked a lot. Though the lines "Fear might be the death of me, fear leads to anxiety" and "Even when I doubt you, I'm no good without you" are good lines from this song that I like and can relate to a little, this song has never been my favorite song on the album, nor close to my top half of the songs I like by this band. I still think this song is an integral part of the album, though hasn't been the most popular song and never will be, though it tells the blurry face story really well.
The 9th song, Polarize. A more electrically charged song on the album, both this and the next song on this album are a little different sounding to me, not necessarily in a bad way. The lyrics are pretty standard of Twenty One Pilots though, lines like "My friends and I we got a lot of problems" "Help me down those stairs is where I be hiding all my problems" and "I don't know where you are, you'll have to come and find me" really the song is saying "Help me see my problems, I don't know how to find them", which is the reason I like this song. I also think this song is very well placed, right before We don't believe what's on TV, and after Doubt, I think it's the perfect bridge between the two, had this song not been here it would've transitioned badly in this spot.
The 10th song of this album, We don't believe what's on TV. Originally the song that got me into the album, and still one of my favorites to this day. This song of any (if any of the songs could be) would be considered the black sheep of the album, it's a lot of hard ukulele strumming throughout the whole song. The lyrics as well aren't exactly what were in the other songs, perhaps most similar to Tear in my heart or House of Gold. My favorite lines on this song would be "If you stick around, I'll sing you pretty sounds, and We'll make money selling your hair" and "But I don't care what's in your hair, I just wanna know what's on your mind, I used to say, "I wanna die before I'm old," But because of you I might think twice." It really is a love song, (aren't we all suckers for love songs) but this one is way different than any usual love song, not that Twenty One Pilots is your usual band. He's saying with the first line 'if you stay with me, I'll sing to you, and we will be famous.' Why that line could possibly equate to that might be confusing, but "We'll make money selling your hair" refers to how celebrities sell their personal belongings, (for example their hair) for money. For quite a lot in fact. The second line he is more/less saying that she had given him more of a reason to live, which like most of their songs, it sounds happy, but is actually pretty sad. A fun fact: This song doesn't have the most commonly used English word, the word 'The'.
The 11th song on the album, Message man. For the rest of the songs on the album, starting here, I start to think the songs get a little less lyrically complex, where all the songs are pretty face value, with a possible exception of the next song. This song is a pretty decent example of that, the lyrics are pretty easy to interpret, not to say there isn't lines to like. Message Man is a lot more about himself and his relation to his fans than anything. The lines "You don't know my brain the way you know my name, You don't know my heart the way you know my face" and "People, they rhyme like this, We're all impressed by this, They rip it, flip it, But these are just triplets" he's lost likely saying how people are impressed with parts about him, that he doesn't find so honorable, whereas people don't see what's actually going on in his life. To be fair to the song, there's a lot more to this song than that, but more on other parts of this song another day. To backtrack a bit, this song isn't the most creative song on the album, it's a little dry except for the rap section which is the longest rap section on the album. (Not the fastest, the second part of ride is the fastest). There also seems to be a small gimmick of this album that appears at the start of the rap section, that's a very small clip of him deep voice singing for the lack of a better term.
The 12th song on the album, Hometown, and probably the least favorite of the fans from this album, although no less a good song. Very interesting lyrics, one of the most intriguing lines is "You can bring the fire, I can bring the bones" there's a couple of ways to interpret this I think, the more logical approach is he is trying to leave behind his past, (after all this song is called Hometown) he's trying to "set the bones on fire" or more simply, "burn what is old". The other way one might interpret it, is "You bring the inspiration, I'll bring myself." This is what I always thought it meant, but it's a lot more ambiguous way of a interpreting it, in other words, it's really doesn't mean much other than that if that's what it is supposed to mean.
The 13th song on the album, Not today. Perhaps the most deceiving song on the album, it sounds very happy but is in fact the most depressing song on the album, maybe the most depressing song out of all their songs. "I don't know why, I just feel I'm better off, Staying in the same room I was born in, I look outside, and see a whole world better off, Without me in it trying to transform it." This line is pretty straightforward, it is what is says, he feels the world is better off without him trying to make it better. Or the line "Just because I play the piano, doesn't mean I'm not willing to take you down, I'm sorry." This line plays off of the common stereotype that most people think piano players are calm and collected, and he apologizes when he says "I'm sorry", basically saying "I didn't mean to break" or maybe even saying "I'm sorry, I don't deserve to be angry with you" which is sort of confusing, but that line of thinking goes along with the first line.
The closing song to the album, song number 14, Goner. Like the last song, this song has very straightforward lyrics, there isn't a lot to explain. My favorite lines though would be "I've got two faces, blurry's the one I'm not" and "The ghost of you is close to me" It is quite interesting, because the lead singer has said that Blurryface is what he sees as his biggest insecurities, so to say he isn't blurryface, what does he mean? My interpretation is that he is saying that Blurryface isn't what defines him, while the insecurities are a part of him, Blurryface isn't him. The line "The ghost of you is close to me" could be about someone who was close to him that died, but I think he means that the ghost of you is the person who he is distancing himself from and they are getting harder to talk to, though they are still close to him. The reason I think of it this way is because while death ties itself to a ghost much better, none of this album refers to death in the slightest, and the album is too concise to change the subject like that.
Overall, I don't think there is a bad song on this album. Some songs are better than others, and I certainly have my favorites and least favorites, I don't think a single song on this album is a misfire. This band in general has been great at making consistently good music, there hasn't been a single song by them that I heard all or most of the fans disliked. Not to prove my point, but to maybe show how consistently good this album is, I would point out that this album is the first album to get Gold or better status on every single song on the album, (some songs getting multiple platinum ratings). I would definitely say the album isn't perfect, but this album is awfully close to it though it isn't. Personally, I think the opener could be better and while I think Goner closes the album pretty well, I don't like goner that much. Overall, I'd give this album a 9.6/10
Personal rankings for the songs on this album:
1. The Judge
2. Ride
3. Stressed out
4. We don't believe what's on TV
5. Tear in my heart
6. Lane boy
7. Polarize
8. Not today
9. Message man
10. Doubt
11. Fairly Local
12. Hometown
13. Goner
14. Heavydirtysoul
The second song on the album, Stressed out, is probably the most popular song on the album. I highly doubt you haven't heard this song before, it was all over the radio, and to this day still plays a lot. Nothing in particular makes this song amazing, it's fairly standard with standardish rapping with some melody/harmonizing mixed in. What I really like about this song is the lyrics, the line in the first verse "I wish I didn't have to rhyme every time I sang", which ironically, (or unironically) doesn't rhyme with the line before. Also the line "Out of student loans and tree house homes we would always take the ladder." Which is a play on words, he's sort of saying he "would take the latter" which is a way of saying he would take the second option. Overall, while it is not my favorite song on the album by a long shot, it's still a great song (after all it's hard to pick a favorite). Some of the best songwriting on the album as well, it did a good job of achieving 2nd on the BH100.
Third song, but who's counting? Ride, arguably the most popular song on the album. While it only topped out at 5 on the BH100, it seems to have slightly better staying power than the former track, maybe it's the simpler lyrics, maybe it's the top notch rap section contained in between verses, but this is the song that got me into this band. Ride also is a mix of simple lyrics and deep lyrics, the verses aren't all that amazing, but the rap section is full of gold, with lines like: "I'd live for you, and that's hard to do, even harder to say if you know it's not true." and "I'd die for you, that's easy to say, we have a list of people that we would take a bullet for them, a bullet for you". Going back to their roots a little with more christian lyrics to their music, this song is a good example of how you don't need amazing lyrics to make a hit, and you don't need to "follow the rules" to be popular. Great song, and when two of the first three songs on the album chart, and when all three songs so far achieve platinum certification pretty quickly, we have quite an album so far.
Fourth song, most ironic song on this list, Fairly local. If you've heard this song before, you might remember that this song has the line "Yo, this song will never be on the radio" which is a super ironic line because this song was the first song that charted on the BH100. While this song isn't my favorite song on this album by a long shot, this song demonstrates the theme of blurryface really well, with the deep voice singing, which seems to have a deeper meaning to this album. Also, that YEeeeeeeAH.
An-nyŏng-ha-se-yo! This next song starts off with some south Korean. Tear in my heart, the 5th song on this album, and probably the happiest song on the album. It's a little off the theme of what we've heard so far, this on is a full blown love song. The singer sings about how his now-wife is "The tear in my heart" presumably because of how he loves her but is afraid to in a sense, also with this song it's one of the songs without the "blurryface" singing, which makes me think that she keeps him from "being blurryface". Love this song, sometimes this song makes me tear up a little just because how much I relate to the lyrics, and how heartfelt the singing is, even if it's not your usual love song.
6th song on the album, Lane boy. While it seems that this is one of most Twenty one pilot fans favorite song, I personally don't like it quite as much. I still like it quite a lot, (Spoiler, I like all the songs on the album) I think this is the most talented song on this album. Lots of really fast rapping in this song, lots of awesome drumming, and I think that it has a really good tune to it, but then again that's my opinion, subjective to your taste. Lines in this that I think are great are "Don't trust a perfect person and don't trust a song that's flawless." and "If you get in between someone I love and me, you're going to feel the heat of my cavalry." While the first verse is more of a complaint about the record company, the second is more of a verse dedicated to his family and people he loves. Yet another song that made more fans, and I think while it's not my favorite, I think it's one of the best songs on the album.
The 7th song, and my personal favorite, The Judge. Ok wait, let me explain, this may not seem like it would be my favorite song on the album, let me explain the reason why. The song starts off silently, with a little whooshing in there, then it progresses into some ukulele, then some stripped down singing in comparison to some of the other songs. "When the leader of the bad guys sang, something soft and soaked in pain. I heard the echoes from his secret hideaway. He must have forgotten to close his door, as he cranked out those dismal chords, and his four walls declared his insane." For me, I read the lyrics on that like how even the tough guys can have a soft side, but if they show it, it make people think of them as "insane". Then later in the song, Tyler sings/raps a section. For me, this is one of my favorite parts of the album. This section is great. It's sort of like how Imagine dragons singer sings fast, but doesn't really rap, and while I like that, I like this a lot more, partially because I like this band better, partially because this has really deep lyrics. Also, for you fans of the singer and the drummer, at 4:25 in the song, you can hear Tyler yell "Josh Dun!" which also is a cool small thing you can listen for next time you hear this song. This is a great song that shows the diversity of this band, and how good they are at being creative with their music.
The 8th song on the album, Doubt, and probably the most overlooked song on the album. Not especially catchy or captivating, and really just depressing sounding song, that probably accounts for why it gets overlooked a lot. Though the lines "Fear might be the death of me, fear leads to anxiety" and "Even when I doubt you, I'm no good without you" are good lines from this song that I like and can relate to a little, this song has never been my favorite song on the album, nor close to my top half of the songs I like by this band. I still think this song is an integral part of the album, though hasn't been the most popular song and never will be, though it tells the blurry face story really well.
The 9th song, Polarize. A more electrically charged song on the album, both this and the next song on this album are a little different sounding to me, not necessarily in a bad way. The lyrics are pretty standard of Twenty One Pilots though, lines like "My friends and I we got a lot of problems" "Help me down those stairs is where I be hiding all my problems" and "I don't know where you are, you'll have to come and find me" really the song is saying "Help me see my problems, I don't know how to find them", which is the reason I like this song. I also think this song is very well placed, right before We don't believe what's on TV, and after Doubt, I think it's the perfect bridge between the two, had this song not been here it would've transitioned badly in this spot.
The 10th song of this album, We don't believe what's on TV. Originally the song that got me into the album, and still one of my favorites to this day. This song of any (if any of the songs could be) would be considered the black sheep of the album, it's a lot of hard ukulele strumming throughout the whole song. The lyrics as well aren't exactly what were in the other songs, perhaps most similar to Tear in my heart or House of Gold. My favorite lines on this song would be "If you stick around, I'll sing you pretty sounds, and We'll make money selling your hair" and "But I don't care what's in your hair, I just wanna know what's on your mind, I used to say, "I wanna die before I'm old," But because of you I might think twice." It really is a love song, (aren't we all suckers for love songs) but this one is way different than any usual love song, not that Twenty One Pilots is your usual band. He's saying with the first line 'if you stay with me, I'll sing to you, and we will be famous.' Why that line could possibly equate to that might be confusing, but "We'll make money selling your hair" refers to how celebrities sell their personal belongings, (for example their hair) for money. For quite a lot in fact. The second line he is more/less saying that she had given him more of a reason to live, which like most of their songs, it sounds happy, but is actually pretty sad. A fun fact: This song doesn't have the most commonly used English word, the word 'The'.
The 11th song on the album, Message man. For the rest of the songs on the album, starting here, I start to think the songs get a little less lyrically complex, where all the songs are pretty face value, with a possible exception of the next song. This song is a pretty decent example of that, the lyrics are pretty easy to interpret, not to say there isn't lines to like. Message Man is a lot more about himself and his relation to his fans than anything. The lines "You don't know my brain the way you know my name, You don't know my heart the way you know my face" and "People, they rhyme like this, We're all impressed by this, They rip it, flip it, But these are just triplets" he's lost likely saying how people are impressed with parts about him, that he doesn't find so honorable, whereas people don't see what's actually going on in his life. To be fair to the song, there's a lot more to this song than that, but more on other parts of this song another day. To backtrack a bit, this song isn't the most creative song on the album, it's a little dry except for the rap section which is the longest rap section on the album. (Not the fastest, the second part of ride is the fastest). There also seems to be a small gimmick of this album that appears at the start of the rap section, that's a very small clip of him deep voice singing for the lack of a better term.
The 12th song on the album, Hometown, and probably the least favorite of the fans from this album, although no less a good song. Very interesting lyrics, one of the most intriguing lines is "You can bring the fire, I can bring the bones" there's a couple of ways to interpret this I think, the more logical approach is he is trying to leave behind his past, (after all this song is called Hometown) he's trying to "set the bones on fire" or more simply, "burn what is old". The other way one might interpret it, is "You bring the inspiration, I'll bring myself." This is what I always thought it meant, but it's a lot more ambiguous way of a interpreting it, in other words, it's really doesn't mean much other than that if that's what it is supposed to mean.
The 13th song on the album, Not today. Perhaps the most deceiving song on the album, it sounds very happy but is in fact the most depressing song on the album, maybe the most depressing song out of all their songs. "I don't know why, I just feel I'm better off, Staying in the same room I was born in, I look outside, and see a whole world better off, Without me in it trying to transform it." This line is pretty straightforward, it is what is says, he feels the world is better off without him trying to make it better. Or the line "Just because I play the piano, doesn't mean I'm not willing to take you down, I'm sorry." This line plays off of the common stereotype that most people think piano players are calm and collected, and he apologizes when he says "I'm sorry", basically saying "I didn't mean to break" or maybe even saying "I'm sorry, I don't deserve to be angry with you" which is sort of confusing, but that line of thinking goes along with the first line.
The closing song to the album, song number 14, Goner. Like the last song, this song has very straightforward lyrics, there isn't a lot to explain. My favorite lines though would be "I've got two faces, blurry's the one I'm not" and "The ghost of you is close to me" It is quite interesting, because the lead singer has said that Blurryface is what he sees as his biggest insecurities, so to say he isn't blurryface, what does he mean? My interpretation is that he is saying that Blurryface isn't what defines him, while the insecurities are a part of him, Blurryface isn't him. The line "The ghost of you is close to me" could be about someone who was close to him that died, but I think he means that the ghost of you is the person who he is distancing himself from and they are getting harder to talk to, though they are still close to him. The reason I think of it this way is because while death ties itself to a ghost much better, none of this album refers to death in the slightest, and the album is too concise to change the subject like that.
Overall, I don't think there is a bad song on this album. Some songs are better than others, and I certainly have my favorites and least favorites, I don't think a single song on this album is a misfire. This band in general has been great at making consistently good music, there hasn't been a single song by them that I heard all or most of the fans disliked. Not to prove my point, but to maybe show how consistently good this album is, I would point out that this album is the first album to get Gold or better status on every single song on the album, (some songs getting multiple platinum ratings). I would definitely say the album isn't perfect, but this album is awfully close to it though it isn't. Personally, I think the opener could be better and while I think Goner closes the album pretty well, I don't like goner that much. Overall, I'd give this album a 9.6/10
Personal rankings for the songs on this album:
1. The Judge
2. Ride
3. Stressed out
4. We don't believe what's on TV
5. Tear in my heart
6. Lane boy
7. Polarize
8. Not today
9. Message man
10. Doubt
11. Fairly Local
12. Hometown
13. Goner
14. Heavydirtysoul
I WAS SO EXCITED TO SEE THIS IN MY FEED xD
ReplyDeleteGREAT album review! Your interpretations are neat and I like your one about Blurryface... interesting!!!
Have you heard Trench yet?
I've heard it, haven't quite come to any conclusion on it yet like the other two albums by the band. I will eventually get around to reviewing it, I just have a few other fun albums I'd like to review first. Spoiler alert, I like trench. A lot.
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