Trench: An Introduction to Twenty One Pilots and Their Latest Project

By Sam Hwang

March 6 2019

Following the release of their 2015 album Blurryface, Ohio-based musical duo Twenty One Pilots (composed of drummer Josh Dun and pianist-frontman Tyler Joseph) found themselves propelled to the forefront of the world music scene, with the album being the first ever to have every song certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America in 2018 (Payne, 2018). Their fourth album since they started creating music, it seemed as though the band had finally had their big break. They had toured the globe, with loyal fans (affectionately referred to as “The Skeleton Clique,” or more often, simply “The Clique”) in every country. They had taken home a Grammy for having the best pop duo/group performance for their smash hit “Stressed Out” at the 59th Grammys award ceremony (“Twenty One Pilots,” 2016). It seems as though they had the world at their fingertips - then suddenly, everything went dark.

On July 6, 2017, the band’s social media accounts posted a mysterious series of images depicting an eye washed in their trademarked red and black, slowly closing. By the end of the day, the band’s profile pictures changed from their characteristic logo to a simple white hyphen on a black background. This was the beginning of the famed Hiatus, a complete and utter social media silence from the duo that would last for an entire year (Campbell, 2018).

Then, 365 days later and completely out-of-the-blue, Twenty One Pilots returned, just as mysteriously as they had left - by emailing an image of an opening eye to their fans, this time done over in yellow, with the message titled “ARE YOU STILL SLEEPING?” (Tornow, 2018). In the following months, they would drop four songs, all coming from their highly anticipated fifth album, Trench, which was released on October 5, 2018. Stylistically, the album is incredibly diverse, dabbling in several genres in true Twenty One Pilots fashion. However, its thematic elements mark a divergence from Blurryface, from covering a personal struggle with insecurities and mental illness - a recognition and analysis of inner demons, so to speak - to a more hopeful outlook based on learning to rely on others and realizing that you’re never truly alone.

The album begins with “Jumpsuit,” a rock anthem with a pulsing baseline and Tyler Joseph’s characteristic powerhouse vocals. In a clever touch, the outro of “Jumpsuit” is the intro to track two, “Levitate,” a two and a half minute long rap where Tyler describes and demonstrates his ability to “firebreathe.” Track four, “My Blood,” is a disco-inspired testament to the importance of family. The sixth track, “Smithereens,” is a playful ode to Tyler’s wife, Jenna, confessing that he would “step to a dude much bigger than [him]” and “get beat to smithereens” for her, a touching coupling of his love for his wife and his passive nature. This unique take on a love song is in a musical era so often filled with toxic masculinity and objectification. Following the jaunty melody of “Smithereens,” the listener enters “Neon Gravestones,” a harsh criticism of society’s glorification of suicide that is strikingly blunt. Of all of the songs on the album, this might be the most notable, and can even be considered one of Twenty One Pilots’ most important songs, based solely on lyrical content. In an interview, Tyler once confessed that he “was afraid of that song,” given its sensitive subject matter and the fact that the band used no characteristic metaphors or allegories to conceal its true meaning. With haunting lines like “promise me this / if I lose to myself / you won’t mourn a day / and you’ll move on to someone else,” Tyler Joseph seems to make a pact with himself, while making his loyal fans promise not to glorify him if he someday takes his own life, a chilling thought given the band members’ personal struggles with mental illness. Much to the listener’s relief, the album becomes less heavy from this point on, with other notable songs including the pulsing hype-track “Pet Cheetah,” which serves as a metaphor for the creative process, and “Legend,” a tear-jerking ukulele-led homage to Tyler Joseph’s grandfather, who suffered from dementia and passed away before the song was completed.

Throughout their musical history, Twenty One Pilots have always paid very close attention to the final songs on each album. In their third album, Vessel, the song “Truce” concluded the album with a gentle lullaby-like piano piece asking listeners to live in the moment, and to stay alive. Their fourth album, Blurryface, ended with “Goner,” a dynamic cliffhanger-climax to the conflict between Tyler Joseph and the personification of his inner demons. Even with these masterpieces to compete with, Trench’s final song, “Leave the City,” does not disappoint. It has quickly become a crowd favorite at concerts, with the chorus “in time I will leave the city / for now I will stay alive” resonating deeply with fans. Indeed, the song is a perfect example of Twenty One Pilots’ ability to weave figurative language with reality. Trench is so unique as an album because it contains its own lore - a storyline of sorts that was carefully created through a series of music videos and cryptic journal entries the band posted to the Internet, and that is also referenced directly in songs such as “Morph,” “Bandito,” and “Nico and the Niners.” In short, the album loosely follows a character’s attempts to escape from an authoritarian city referred to as Dema (which has been theorized to be an allegory for self-doubt and insecurity) into Trench, the great unknown beyond the walls where one can live freely, healthily and happily, with the help of a band of rebels referred to as the Banditos. With this in mind, “Leave the City” serves as the perfect outro to the album, as its message of hope and escape can be interpreted literally within the context of the storyline, or more abstractly, as a principle that can be applied to our own lives. Towards the end of the song, Tyler sings “In Trench I’m not alone,” a touching shout-out to Twenty One Pilots’ fan base and a gentle reminder that, even in the midst of dystopia, there will always be someone on your side.

One thing is for certain - Trench is not for everyone. While radio stations have eagerly eaten up some singles like “Jumpsuit,” “Chlorine,” and “My Blood,” Twenty One Pilots’ erratic genre-switching and their occasional use of mythos-linked lyrics geared directly towards their fans may turn some away. However, this may very well be intentional - in spite of their meteoric rise to fame, Twenty One Pilots have done an impressive job of remaining true to themselves as artists. They have often expressed their disgust with the music industry and the way it seemingly mass-produces meaningless hits that are here today and gone tomorrow. This belief certainly comes through in Trench - while it undoubtedly can be enjoyed by anyone, the album is bound to have far more meaning to those who know the band’s history and the hidden meaning behind terms like Trench, Dema, and the Banditos. Some songs may be confusing to an outsider, but for the Skeleton Clique? To quote the last line of “Leave the City,” Tyler Joseph is confident that “they know what [he] means.”

Bibliography

Campbell, Rachel. “11 Things Josh Dun Has Done during the Twenty One Pilots Hiatus.” Alternative Press, 10 July 2018, www.altpress.com/features/josh-dun-twenty-one-pilots-hiatus/.

Payne, Chris. “Twenty One Pilots' 'Blurryface' Becomes First Album With Every Song RIAA-Certified Gold.” Billboard, Billboard, 2 Mar. 2018, www.billboard.com/articles/columns/rock/8223671/twenty-one-pilots-blurryface-every-song-riaa-gold.

Ryan, Gary. “Twenty One Pilots Interview: ‘We Want to Be the Best & Keep Everyone Else at Bay.’” NME, NME, www.nme.com/twenty-one-pilots-interview-nme-big-read.

Tornow, Sam. “Twenty One Pilots Break Year-Long Silence With Cryptic Email to Fans.” Billboard, Billboard, 6 July 2018, www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/8464220/twenty-one-pilots-send-cryptic-email-to-fans.

“Twenty One Pilots.” GRAMMY.com, Recording Academy, 2016, www.grammy.com/grammys/artists/twenty-one-pilots.

Image Credit to Rolling Stone