Currently Listening To...

I didn't realise until earlier that today could be a Currently Listening To post! I haven't made one on so long and it's been really hard holding in all these thoughts about all the songs I've been listening to. And by all these songs I mean all these twenty one pilots songs.
It's hard to just casually listen to twenty one pilots, their songs are so powerful and Tyler's writing ability is incredible. Whereas most songs are about things -situations, stories, people.. Tyler writes a lot about thoughts, and feelings, he takes us inside his mind.
Writing songs about insecurities etc is a big thing at the moment and artists will sing about these things and try to make you feel better. But Tyler and Josh come along and sing about the same thing and their visionary is so good, they speak about what your insecurities look like, and how they behave which -at least no one else I've heard, can convey in the same way.
They don't write songs about insecurities, they write songs that are insecurities. That's the best way I can describe it.
The reason I can't get enough of them is because I have the exact same mind and thought process as Tyler, he is almost a male version of myself. And being able to hear someone piece together their thoughts much like I would, or sing about their battles, it just resonates with me! (And makes me feel a lot less crazy)
Anyway, my favourite songs...

Kitchen Sink, this song, and everything it stands for is amazing I will never, ever get enough of it. It's about creating something that means something important to you, making it a solid thing and sharing it with others -be it, artwork, a piece of writing, or music (etc), but you can't tell anyone the story behind it because that's your 'purpose'. You have to live because you have something out there that no one gets without your input. Tyler explains it so much better. I think the idea is amazing and I think it's a cool thing for anyone to do.
The song itself is such a special song because Tyler introduces his brother and his brother does a little rap before the massive climax. The fact it's such a meaningful song is emotional enough, but they have to throw in Tyler's brother to make it more personal and even more emotional. My favourite, favourite bit is that throughout the whole song Tyler is saying "go away" and "leave me alone" which depending on my mood I can see it in two ways. Either "go away" means he's talking to his dark thoughts and he's trying to fight them. Or, it means he's pushing people away because he wants to be alone.
I prefer the second theory because then the climax of the song comes where Tyler cries out "leave me alone" but then cries out even louder "don't leave me alone" where his voice cracks and breaks down in so much emotion it actually hurts and the rest of the song is Tyler singing "ooone" which carries on from the "don't leave me alone" like it's all one big scream and he's just catching his breath and crying it out over and over again.
The reason I think the "go away" was aimed at pushing people away is because when he screams "don't leave me alone" it's like he's calling back for people's help because in truth he doesn't want to be left alone with his thoughts because he's scared  as to where they'll take him.
That was a long explanation for a song. I've held that in all throughout Blogmas. It may be my favourite song ever just because it means so much, and there's references in there that hint at my childhood and personal memories and it gives me nostalgia.

Screen, this is probably my second favourite top song because it has such a happy beat but portrays a really personal message to me. It's about hiding yourself in front of someone who already knows everything about you. There are songs about people knocking down your walls, and this song is 2.0. It's about, even when your walls are down, you're still so guarded that you still protect and hide yourself in front of the person who knocked your walls down. And it's about that confusion of feelings you have because they know you and you shouldn't keep hiding, and that insecurity you have that everything is out in the open, there's nothing you can hide from them anymore but you still feel the need to hide.. It's the confusion of wanting to hide behind your walls, but not being able to. And I think it relates to me a lot.

The Run And Go, I feel like this song is the one that comes before Screen. It's about having that mind frame of I don't need your help in defeating my demons, they're my demons, not yours, leave me to deal with them alone. It's about having your walls up and pushing away people's help.
But the song tells the story of this one particular night, where the demons are fighting hard and you're struggling and you're weak. And you end up calling for help because you need the comfort of someone by your side. The story turns from pushing people away to begging a particular person to stay with you.
It reminds me of a mother's love. Like you can push everyone away, but as soon as you get a graised knee the first person you run to is your mum because a mother's comfort is something you can never really run away from.
I don't think this song is about their mum's though. (Though it could be if you think about it..)

Johnny Boy, a lot of people say this is about a man who married a woman but is actually gay and doesn't want to come out because he's scared. To me, I see the song as having a "picture perfect" life. "Johnny" has a wife and a job and that's what everyone sees, but his mind filled with things no one sees pr chooses to see, and he's overwhelmed with having no one to speak to because everyone in his life is living this "picture perfect" life. It feels like his thoughts are getting too much for his small self to handle, then this person (Tyler singing) is telling him to get up and move on and that it's okay and that he has to keep fighting.
 And because Tyler has said he talks about faith a lot in his songs (whether that be God himself or just a faith you have in something) I feel like this song is *Someone* telling Johnny they're looking over him, that they know what his mind is doing, and that he's not alone.
I love the stories you can piece together from their songs. My favourite musical part of this song is that the climax is like a dramatic, deep string piece and it sounds amazing, it's so emotional and powerful, and it reminds me of something though but I can't think what..

Drown, this song is musically beautiful! And lyrically too, but the lyrics are sad. Somehow I really feel like Tyler sounds like eminem during the rap (that's not rap) parts. The song is about questioning your faith and struggling with it (from what I can gather). This song I can't resonate with because I don't believe in anything to struggle with, it's just a really beautiful song that has a lot of emotion in. A lot of artists can sing with emotion but you can really feel the emotion with twenty one pilots because their songs are all real, and they're making music about and for themselves, so they're pouring every ounce of emotion they have into these songs because it helps them as much as it helps us.

The Judge, this was one of the first songs I listened to by twenty one pilots, I'm not sure if I already spoke about it in a previous post, but I know I haven't already said what I'm about to. This song is probably my favourite off of Blurryface because (actually no, Goner is my actual favourite) it's so human. He straight up says in the song that he doesn't know what version of himself he's singing to, but it's about asking for freedom and feeling trapped with insecurities. It's a cheery sounding song until the "I don't know if this song..." bit where it gets really dark and heavy, before getting back to it's light cheeriness, another reason this song feels human is because of the "Josh Dun" at 4:24 which should have been edited out, but because it gave the song a sense or realness and humility it was kept in, and now it's everyone's favourite part.

We Don't Believe What's On TV, ooh I love this one! It's so catchy and jumpy, though it makes no sense, for example the line: "we'll make money selling your hair but I don't care what's in your hair I just wanna know what's on your mind"... The song is about being reckless -kinda. I think it's about Tyler, his worries that music won't work out, but if it doesn't it's okay because he has Jenna (though a lot of people would argue it's about Josh. I'm such  a fan of Jenna and Tyler that I look for her in all their songs from Blurryface) and that Jenna has made him want to live longer because he wants to spend all his days with her, and it doesn't matter if music doesn't work because he has her. That's where the sense of recklessness comes in -it's a good, healthy kind of reckless, the song is so happy and upbeat you just have to smile for Tyler.
Also the "alright, second verse" gives the song that sense of humanity again, which there seems to be a lot of in Blurryface.

Goner, this is the last song I'm talking about because it's getting such a long post! This is my favourite because I think it sums the album up in one song really well. The whole Blurryface album is about the character Blurryface that Tyler has created to convey his emotions on insecurities better. And this Blurryface is the source of all of Tyler's dark scary thoughts. Tyler constantly fights against his dark thoughts, and in this song he loses. He tells us that sometimes our demons win, and they swallow us whole, and you can get so stuck and surrounded and caught up that there's no way out. The way they describe this 'swallowed up feeling' in this song is perfect. But the most important bit about this song is the end, when, essentially  Tyler is gone and Blurryface has beat him. But Tyler has this sudden burst of energy right at the last minute and the song gets really loud, where it appears like Tyler and Blurryface are at war with each other in one last battle. Then it all quiets down and Tyler finishes the song with "..you" which let's us know he's won. And the message of the song is that even when it's too late and you're so far gone, you can still come back with a lot of force and beat your demons.. and I love that concept so much.


Shaan x

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