The Theme of Insecurities Explored in the Blurryface by Twenty One Pilots

Music is an intrinsic part of culture and its importance has gained new recognition with one of the highest accolades being attributed to the musician Bob Dylan, a songwriter, who received the first Nobel Prize of Literature in 2016. Bob Dylan, at the age of seventy-five, accomplished this award for his literary genius, since his songs incorporated many poetic expressions that brought meaning into the world . This is an example, which illustrates the importance of music in our society and it is relevant that we analyze song lyrics as examples of modern literature that could even replace the more traditional sonnets, which were songs too.

When songwriters write lyrics, they connect it to personal themes or a universal concept, the same can be said to poetry. Often the difference encountered is that poets create personas and what they explore in their poems is not from a personal experience. Throughout Twenty One Pilots’ album, Blurryface, we are presented with the theme of insecurities.

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Insecurity is a topic to which everyone can relate, to some extent. This is one of the reasons I connect with Twenty One Pilots. They speak about normal occurrences that make me think about my personal life, and how I fight my own struggles. In this essay, I will be answering the research question: How is the theme of insecurities explored in the album Blurryface? To answer my question, I will be discussing different songs, including “Heavy Dirty Soul”, “The Judge”, and “Not Today” from the album Blurryface.

This is an important album because it conveys to the audience that everyone can fight against their insecurities.

It is about determination to live and be free from all the darkness your subconscious creates. Furthermore, in order to answer my question, I have researched the background of the artists, Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun. Their musical genre cannot be limited to a specific category as their work ranges from pop, rock and metal to slow ballads. When focusing on Tyler Joseph, he is described as a self-taught musician, who believes in his own work. Nevertheless, going back to the theme of insecurities we can see that throughout the album, he was insecure about his musical style and his own talent. Tyler was initially homeschooled and played basketball to obtain a scholarship to go to college, following his parents’ wishes. He was raised in a Catholic home, with many restrictions. In high school, he went to a state school and was considered to be a “jock”, who enjoyed playing the piano and singing in the choir. When he began high school, Tyler did not know his future wishes, or what he wanted to do in university. Through music, he found out what his passion was and what he wanted to pursue in his life. By understanding, and finding his love for music, he decided to create a band with his friends, Nick Thomas and Cris Salin. The name of the band was inspired by a play called “All my Sons,” by Arthur Miller, which brought a constant reminder for the bandmates to choose and make the right decision, even if it was a hard one to make. This concept is linked to the play because one wrong decision, influences different outcomes. Within the play, Steve Deever is in jail because he sent damage airplane parts to the military force, resulting in the death of twenty-one planes. However, Steve Deever wasn’t alone. His partner, Joe Keller got an appeal, as he lied that he did not receive a call from Deever that morning with him asking what to do and stating he was sick. This is found out to be a lie later in the play as it was one way to escape jail. This meant that he did cause the death of his own son, and others, as he wasn’t even sick for the last fifteen years. Notably, by naming their band “All my sons” there is a constant reminder to be honest, despite your insecurities for the outcome, if it’s good or bad. In 2011, the band broke apart, as Nick Thomas and Cris Salin stepped out. In the exact year, Josh Dun, a drummer stepped in, and formed a duo. Josh Dun has a similar background to Tyler Joseph’s; he is also known to be a self-taught musician on the drums and comes from a religious household.

Overall, the words in one lyric are one method that artists reach out to their audience. One common technique when analyzing a poem or song lyrics is that we often encounter repetition. Through repetition of phrases or words, or even anaphora’s, artists or authors have the power to create meaning behind their words, emphasizing a message, especially one as important as insecurities itself. One example is to be found in the song “Heavy Dirty Soul”, where anaphora is present in “can you save”, it allows readers to perceive a sensation of desperation to release themselves from the insecurities that shadows of them. In addition, through the presence of sound patterns, songwriters are able to ensure that the audience will remember the words and will be able to repeat them throughout the song, but also remember the message being carried out.