'I have these thoughts, so often I ought
To replace that slot with what I once bought
'Cause somebody stole my car radio
And now I just sit in silence'
~ Car Radio by Twenty One Pilots
These words may seem inconsequential to you right now, but these are the same words that got me hooked to this band named 'Twenty-One Pilots'. The song Car Radio by this band was the first I ever heard of them.
I think it was around 2013 when I first heard them, it was from a YouTube recommendation of all things and if I'm being honest, I did not know how much I would come to love this band from that one little recommendation. I felt like I could connect with the message they were trying to give out, I felt like I was heard, especially during a time where I did not know if I even needed someone to hear me.
To give you more of an understanding, this song speaks about mental health struggles and how someone who is undergoing such struggles can feel in their day-to-day life. The idea of sitting in a car alone, without any sounds since your 'radio' has been stolen paints that very image in a beautiful way.
The funny thing is, this song was just the beginning... The more I started listening to their work, the more I started understanding the kind of message they wanted to create with their music, from talking about mental health to talking about how things around us have an effect on us and the way we think, they turned out to be a band that spoke about various issues and problems that people face.
They spoke about grief, they spoke about media, they spoke about anxiety but most of all, they spoke about me... to me.
Tyler Joseph and Joshua Dun are two amazing artists and the way they craft their albums, from creating characters around them, creating connecting storylines throughout their songs and albums, visualizing these thoughts through their videos, and giving each aspect of this process a good amount of thought, that's what makes this band special.
The reason why I call this article 'The Storytelling Behind Twenty One Pilots' is because I feel they aren't just singers, musicians, or artists, rather that they are storytellers... Just telling us stories about themselves... About you... About me... All we have to do is listen.
I would love to explain in detail what each album entails and the storylines behind them, but then that would take the fun away from you all discovering these things for yourself, and personally, I want to see you all experience their work the way I was able to.
I hope this article will get you interested in checking their work out, I definitely would recommend that you do so and with that, I, Ayushman Jain (1000Minus7), will be signing out!
Until next time :D
PS - Link to artwork by motzaburger