Well, people, the time has come. Twenty One Pilots have returned! When I first sat down to write this review, I thought to myself, what kind of article do I want to write? Usually, we like to keep it quite neutral, non-personal at GEM – deliver nicely written reviews and texts to all our wonderful readers which don’t put the writer, but the music at the forefront. But then I looked to my left and had two pairs of paper eyes staring at me – one from the coolest drummer I know, Josh Dun, and the other from one of the most influential and inspirational people in my life, Tyler Joseph. Together, they make up Twenty One Pilots, my favourite band in this life and probably all the ones that will come after. So, I won’t even try to be neutral. Or unbiased. Welcome to the life of a clikkie (aka a fan of the Ohio duo). And welcome to the new era of Twenty One Pilots.
It all started with a leak. Well, actually, it began with a ten-hour-long remix of lo-fi versions of their songs titled ‘Ned’s Cozy Fireplace’, featuring the character Ned and a few curious things that happened during it all, but we’ll get to that in a bit. It was the leak, a drop of information into the hands of the Twenty One Pilots fanbase, that set off a wave of excitement and anticipation – new music was on the horizon (massive shoutout to “alt guy”, wherever they may be). Then came the Pearl Jam single release, which had been part of the leak and only further confirmed that it must be true, and from then on, it was merely a waiting game. Pretty soon, the red envelopes started reaching fans’ post boxes. Physical, real-life dma.org updates; letters addressed to the clikkies by The Bishops, containing another Clancy letter and a call for any information of his whereabouts. Suddenly, the secret, not-so-secret website which had once introduced the protagonist of Twenty One Pilots’ story of Dema, Trench & Co. had crossed the threshold into the real world. Not a single word mentioned the band or the release date of the single which would be dropping a few weeks later, so if you weren’t already aware of the lore, you probably thought you were being threatened by a cult (sorry to all parents and relatives who got rather worried about their kids for a slight moment). What the letters did contain, however, were hints – and this is where it pays off to have a fanbase that could easily compete with the FBI and CIA when it comes to finding clues and deciphering information. Because there it was, the release date, hidden in double-stamped letters in the lines of Clancy’s words – 2 / 2 / 9, aka, 29th of February.
Now, you might think that this was a major reveal, but this wouldn’t be a Twenty One Pilots comeback if it hadn’t been hinted at long before major stunts like mailing fans and changing album covers on streaming platforms came along. Now it’s time to come back to the previously mentioned remix video, because, as fans had spotted pretty much at an instant when it was first uploaded in November last year, the single’s release date had been staring everyone right in the face all this time – in the form of books on shelves. And, yes, this is part of what being a Twenty One Pilots fan is like – you watch a ten-hour-long remix video like a hawk in the hopes of any changes that could potentially mean something and count animated books on animated shelves (this is also how we found out about the upcoming album’s release date, it was hidden in there all along).
So, we had the leaks, the letters, the dates, the changed album covers with the red tape covering the eyes of all characters and the circle of the Bishop named Keons on the cover for the record ‘Blurryface’, who, as seen in the music video for the song ‘The Outside’, had been killed by the other Bishops. Then came the posters donning the new logo and featuring a red and yellow background, resembling a fire, as well as the name Clancy lined up to create a border. At this point, the fanbase had already come back to its full glory, scouring the internet for any further hints and waiting patiently for the Columbus-based duo to make their next step. And then it dropped, the teaser video. Four minutes of cuts of previous Twenty One Pilots videos, Tyler Joseph himself as Clancy recapping a story which, thus far, had been nine years in the making and woven itself through three of their past albums – ‘Blurryface’, ‘Trench’ and ‘Scaled and Icy’ – and a final few seconds of the new single. Naturally, it set the fandom ablaze. Never before had the band so openly spoken about the lore, a very drastic change from their usual secrecy and ambiguity about it all. But it was a necessary step, and a smart one on top, because, as Joseph had mentioned in an interview in 2023, their upcoming album was going to be the lore-heaviest and the record to end the story and tie up any loose ends. Suddenly, it weren’t just the deeply involved clikkies who knew about Clancy and his fight against The Bishops, but also the casual fans and interested listeners. The video got everyone on the same level and prepared for what was to come.
On February 29th, it all happened pretty quickly. First their new album, fittingly titled ‘Clancy’, was announced and then a few hours later, ‘Overcompensate’ was set free to roam the world and take over the minds and lives of clikkies all over the globe. Jumping in with mellow piano lines which quickly change into a racing synth, the four-minute-long track starts off with German and French readings of verses taken directly from Clancy’s letters, before it ties it all back to the band’s 2018 released hit album ‘Trench’ with the words “Welcome back to Trench” and an electrifying drum beat. And this is where the first surprise sets in, as listeners are welcomed not by new lyrics, but samples from the fan-favourite and wildly beloved ‘Bandito’, setting the tone for what is to come. Then there is a change in pace, everything slows down and rather perfectly, Joseph’s rapping hits us with a “Wait what, wait what” before we move into the first verse. The rhythmic flow is intoxicating, with Joseph flawlessly segueing between rapping and singing, while Dun’s drums carry the track forward. “I fly by the dangerous bend symbol / don’t hesitate to maybe overcompensate / And then by the time I catch in my peripheral / don’t hesitate to maybe overcompensate”, vocalist Joseph sings in the chorus, telling the story of Clancy, a character who has fought for so long, grown weak and finally arrived at a point where he is done running, ready to pounce and stand up against The Bishops. There is a special kind of swagger to the song, a twinkle in its eyes, that makes it clear that even beyond the story and lore, Twenty One Pilots are back in full force and ready to show the world what they’ve got. Staying true to their title as genre-hoppers, ‘Overcompensate’ seamlessly blends elements of alt-rock, hip-hop, and rap, tipping its hat to previous musical marvels ‘Jumpsuit’, ‘Levitate’ and ‘Heavydirtysoul’, while long-time collaborator and ‘Trench’ producer Paul Meany once more adds his sprinkles of magic to the track (as well as the complete upcoming record). A bombshell rap bridge of “Days feel like a perfect length / I don’t need them any longer, but for goodness’ sake / Do the years seem way too short for my soul, corazón / Way too short for my soul, corazón” and one more jump into the chorus and then it’s over, Twenty One Pilots’ comeback single. Filled with subtle text painting, sonic as well lyrical call-backs to their past and an open ending which leaves a definite urge for more, ‘Overcompensate’ stands as a rip-roaring first taste of the US group’s new era, and, for many fans (including myself), it is all they could have ever wished for.
But, of course, the excitement didn’t stop there, as a video accompanied the musical release and instantly brought the theory machine into a churn, with fans speculating about the relevance of the video’s characters and their locations as well as its consequences for the future of Clancy, The Bishops, Dema and its citizens. And while I naturally have my own ideas of what might be going on, here is what we know for sure – Clancy has returned to the continent of Trench together with The Torchbearer (seen as band member Josh Dun) and via the power of seizing, he is able to use vessels (citizens lost to vitalism) within Dema to communicate with the people living inside its walls and teach them how to fight against The Bishops. In the last seconds of the video, which was directed and co-written by long-time friend and collaborator Mark Eshleman, aka Reel Bear Media, we see Joseph and Dun arriving on Trench, whilst warm, rusty colours wash over their faces, hinting that campfires and The Banditos, the world’s group of rebels and escapees, may be greeting them.
With the release date of the upcoming record ‘Clancy’ already on the horizon – May 17th; not-so-coincidently the very same day their LP ‘Blurryface’ got released nine years earlier; nine years, nine Bishops, get it? – and the promise that this time, all still open questions will finally be answered, a story, whose opening lines were first penned so many years ago, will come to its close. What was once started as Joseph’s tale about mental health, loss, hope, the good, the bad and everything in-between, has over the years gained a life of its own and inspired and helped the two friends as much as their fanbase. And while ‘Clancy’ may be the end of this particular saga, for Twenty One Pilots and the clique, the adventure is far from over. The revolution has only just begun, are you ready to fight?
Twenty One Pilots’ new single ‘Overcompensate’ is out now everywhere via Fueled by Ramen and Elektra.
Follow the band on Instagram, Twitter and Spotify.
Written by Laura Weingrill // photography by Ashley Osborn, cover art by Brandon Rike
GEM Magazine 