Wow, That Girl Really Loves Twenty One Pilots: Vessel Edition
If you’re like me, you have probably caught yourself contemplating moving from Tallahassee for the sole reason of finding a decent alternative radio station (is it really too much to ask? My ears cannot be satisfied by the haphazard playings of Mr. Brightside on the “everything” stations).
But, wait. Just as I go to turn to my Pandora, I hear it: the sweet, sweet voice of Tyler Joseph.
I love that I can hear Stressed Out or Ride on the radio now, and I’m pumped that Twenty One Pilots is getting some well-deserved recognition.
Go ahead. Get on the bandwagon. There’s no shame in it. The time for Twenty One Pilots is now.
Over the summer, I had the immense pleasure of possessing ground floor tickets to a Twenty One Pilots concert in St. Augustine, FL. I can hardly put into words the greatness that was this show. The energy that comes out of only two people on a stage is overwhelming.
And yet, despite all the distractions, the lights, the crowd, and the feeling that maybe I should have worn more comfortable shoes, I was still intensely aware of the depth of the words blaring through the crowd.
Of all the things I love about Twenty One Pilots, their lyrics may hold the number one spot. And so, I hereby present you with a mere glimpse into the lyrical genius of what I believe to be their best album (yet), Vessel.
Ode to Sleep
“Why won’t you let me go?
Do I threaten all your plans?
I’m insignificant.
Please tell them you have no plans for me.”
This song is way deeper than I initially picked up on. There are several biblical references within it, and a lot of it deals with the pressure that so many feel to do great things with life. The first two lines here, he speaks to the “demons” that torment him and essentially asks them why they continue to keep hold of him.
He cries to God to tell them that he is of no importance, so they will leave him alone. But, if there is greatness in you, you will face challenges. Sometimes it seems impossible to deal with, and the song is just that explicit frustration that comes from the struggles of this world.
Deep, right?
Holding On To You
“Lean with it, rock with it.
When we gonna stop with it?
Lyrics that mean nothing,
We were gifted with thought.
Is it time to move our feet
To an introspective beat
It ain’t the speakers that bump hard
It’s our hearts that make the beat.”
We find this little treasure in what is probably my favorite song from TOP. Tyler seems to write a lot about this “gift of thought,” probably because he looks around and sees so little proof that people make use of it. The beauty of the mind is part of what makes life worth living. Don’t waste it.
Migraine
“And I will say that we should take a day to break away
From all the pain our brain has made, the game is not played alone
And I will say that we should take a moment and hold it
And keep it frozen and know that life has a hopeful undertone.”
There will certainly be days in which you feel alone. No matter how much you are hurting or it seems like the world has just been thrown in the dirt, there is always a new day on the horizon, “a hopeful undertone.”
House of Gold
“I will make you queen of everything you see,
I’ll put you on the map,
I’ll cure you of disease.”
In this song, he speaks to his mother, telling her all the ways in which he will take care of her. It’s a beautiful reminder of how much we owe to our moms. However, it also hints at a darker side of things when he says that “life turns plans upon their head,” saying that, despite the best intentions, we can’t always make everything happen the way we want.
Go give your mom a hug, kids.
Car Radio
“I ponder of something terrifying
‘Cause this time there’s no sound to hide behind
I find over the course of our human existence
One thing consists of consistence
And it’s that we’re all battling fear…
There are things we can do
But from the things that work there are only two
And from the two that we choose to do
Peace will win
And fear will lose.”
This is one of the all-time greats from TOP. Inspired by the true story of someone legitimately stealing his car radio, he is forced to hear the sound of his own thoughts. No distractions. Imagine it: just you and your emotions. Scary, huh? Everyone tries to hide behind the white noise all around us, but maybe it’s not such a bad idea to say hi to your own mind every now and then.
Semi-Automatic
“The horrors of the night melt away
Under the warm glow of survival of the day
Then we move on, my shadow grows taller along with my fears
And my friends shrink smaller as night grows near…
I’m never what I like
I’m double-sided.”
I think of the night, in this instance, as a dark period in our lives, a time when maybe you just find you don’t really have any idea what to do. People may lean away from you when you’re not putting up a façade of a perfect person every day. Because, really, everyone is double-sided. We all have the side we show to the world and who we really are. And we’d probably all be a lot better off if we just all admitted that none of us have any idea what we are doing.
Screen
“I’m standing in front of you
I’m trying to be so cool
Everything together trying to be so cool.”
This song is all about how we always try to hide ourselves from everyone else, even those who care most. It has one of my favorite parts of any of their songs, a bridge that chants “We’re broken people.” If we could all just realize how broken we all are and, instead of letting that divide us, let our imperfections bring us closer together, would the world not be all the better for it?
The Run and Go
“Don’t wanna call you in the nighttime
Don’t wanna give you all my pieces
Don’t wanna hand you all my trouble
Don’t wanna give you all my demons.”
Carrying on from Screen, this deals with more of how we don’t want to burden others with what we feel to be our own problems to handle. We need other people in our lives, though. Life is not a solitary battle. Tyler seems to realize this because the song goes on to say “tonight, I need you to stay.”
Fake You Out
“Before you walk away, there’s one more thing I want to say
Our brains are sick but that’s okay.”
I never realize the overwhelming theme within TOP’s albums until I begin writing these articles. Over and over, they are literally screaming for us to realize that we have to accept our imperfections and come together as a people. No one is perfect, but we must refuse to let that reduce us to savages, to a population that can’t support one another.
Guns for Hands
“But there’s hope out the window
So that’s where we’ll go
Let’s go outside and all join hands
But until then you’ll never understand.”
TOGETHERNESS, GUYS. LEARN IT, LIVE IT, LOVE IT.
Trees
“I want to know you
I want to see
I want to say
Hello.”
For me, this song is a direct correlation to the tale of Adam and Eve from the Bible, and, given TOP’s Christian background, this theory is probably pretty accurate. While the image of the couple hiding behind the trees might seem a bit outdated, we do the same thing. We hide from God behind a mask of our individual design. But it doesn’t have to be that way. We can open up and say hello.
Truce
“Stay alive, stay alive for me
You will die, but now your life is free
Take pride in what is sure to die.”
Knowing that we will all die someday can be one of the most inspiring things in the world. We have only this one life to make something, to make a legacy, to make the world a better place. Take pride in your life because it is yours and it is short and precious and free.
This album is such a beautiful thing. It brings a deeper meaning to beats that I love, and I’m slowly learning the lyrics to everything within my power. (Car Radio: check. Ode to Sleep: getting there.) I strongly urge you to check out this album and Twenty One Pilots in general. They have truly changed how I listen to music and given me a deeper appreciation for the meaning that lyrics can have.
And I just can’t leave you without spreading this tidbit of trivia: anyone ever wonder where they got the name from? I know I sure did, and I can’t tell you my joy when I realized it was from a book.
The Arthur Miller play All My Sons tells the story of a war contractor who sends out airplane parts to Europe in World War I because he was afraid that he might lose money if he owned up to the fact that he had messed up. This eventually led to the death of a certain number of pilots. In a Rolling Stones interview from January of this year, Tyler Joseph said he “could relate to the fact that making the right decision in life sometimes takes more work. It takes more time, and it can feel like you’re going backward.”
That article really is quite good, and I would recommend it if you’re interested in more of the band’s backstory. You can find it here.