Twenty One Pilot’s BLURRYFACE Review

The first time I listened to Twenty One Pilots, it was the song “Car Radio” from their third album Vessel. When lyrics of not being able to stay sane because the noise in the narrator’s car was still filled my ears, I could relate and fell for them at precisely that moment. Their music type is classified as alternative, but fans and even the band defaults to calling them “schizophrenic pop”.  Established in 2009, lead singer Tyler Joseph stated the band with Chris Salih and Nick Thomas. After they left due to busy schedules in 2011, Joshua Dun replaced them and left his job to pursue music with Tyler. The dynamic duo thus began.

Their latest album, BLURRYFACE, released May 15, 2015, is about overcoming the struggled to find one’s self presented in previous albums such as Vessel and Regional at Best.  As seen in the song “Heavydirtysoul”, “Just another attempt to make the voices stop, rapping to prove nothing, just writing to say something, 'cause I wasn't the only one who wasn't rushing to sayin' nothing, this doesn't mean I lost my dream, it's just right now I got a really crazy mind to clean,”

The lyrics demonstrate that the narrator will go crazy if he cannot state his mind. What is different about this album that is so different from the others is that their styles branch out from their usual hip-hop/alternative/indie routes and spilled into soul and folk territory, even pulling some of the beloved punk ukulele from “House of Gold” (Vessel).

            I loved the new album tremendously; it was so unlike from their other albums. Vessel, Twenty One Pilots, and Regional at Best were filled with slower songs such as “Truce”, “Forest”, and “Lovely”; while this album is full of rap and is pumped up with faster and even more intricate beats. Tyler again raps and does a fantastic job, but also has a beautiful voice displayed in the choruses of songs such as “Judge”, “Stressed Out”, and “Tear In My Heart”. I have never heard anything like Twenty One Pilot’s BLURRYFACE and enjoyed it the second I heard it.

            Overall, their new album surprises fans with their wide cross section of styles and resonant lyrics. Twenty One Pilots is breath of fresh air from the pop world where every song is about sex, drugs, and/or money. BLURRYFACE is for anyone who enjoys music that makes them not only think, but believe in something again.