The alternative duo, Josh Dun and Tyler Joseph, known as Twenty One Pilots have returned to topping the charts, with singles released off their fifth album “Trench.” The full album is set to release early this October.
The pair’s last hits were off their fourth studio album “Blurryface” released in 2015. The album was and has continued to be a big hit for Dun and Joseph, but the pair decided it was time to release new music.
Besides the single “Heathens” written in 2016 for the movie “Suicide Squad,” Twenty One Pilots haven’t released much in the three years since “Blurryface.”
So far four singles have been released off the new album, the lead single “Jumpsuit” was released first on July 11, 2018 along with another single from “Trench” titles “Nico and the Niners.”
Within two weeks of release “Jumpsuit” climbed to the top of the alternative songs chart.
On Aug. 8, 2018 the third single “Levitate” was released, and a few weeks later “My Blood” was released on Aug. 27.
So far these four have been the only full songs to be released, however, there have been suspected leaks of a few songs off the album such as “Chlorine” and “Morph.”
All four released singles have accompanying music videos, except for “My Blood,” which appears to only be audio release at this time.
In April of 2018 the duo had been on a nearly year long hiatus, when fans discovered a hidden URL on the band’s website. The URL led to journal articles written by a fictional character, one such journal entry released on July 6 promised by morning things would change.
Soon after, fans subscribed to the bands mailing list received a GIF of a half open yellow eye. On July 9 the band returned from their hiatus, posting a video of the yellow eye again, this time it was opened wider.
Within a day of this the band’s redesigned logo was posted around the world, and the next day a video of the eye fully open was released, with the muffled intro of “Jumpsuit” playing in the background. The full song was released soon after.
The theme of the yellow eye featured in these short clips didn’t stop once the band began releasing singles. The color yellow, along with a few other things, is a recurring visual theme throughout the three music videos currently released off “Trench.”
Throughout all three videos, “Jumpsuit,” “Levitate” and “Nico and the Niners,” the main characters and sightings wear rebel-esque clothing with yellow strips of duct tape across the clothes. This bright color seems to contrast vividly against the almost muted backdrop this the rest of the colors featured through the videos.
Another recurring feature are several large, almost cult like figures, wearing red cloaks and shrouding their faces in a thin white mesh cloth. The large bird featured on the album’s new cover, which has a yellow background, also appears in parts of the videos.
The duo hail from Columbus and formed the group in 2009 with two other members, Nick Thomas and Chris Salih. Those two left in 2011 and Joseph and Dun released their second album “Regional at Best” shortly after.
In 2013 their major label debut “Vessel” came out, and the band’s underground following grew. They then blew up in 2015 with the release of “Blurryface” and successful singles “Stressed Out,” “Tear in my Heart” and “Ride.”
Following “Blurryface” the band went on a world tour from 2015-2017 before going on a short hiatus.
With the extravagant way the band returned from their hiatus and hinted to the release of “Jumpsuit” and “Nico and the Niners,” it begs the question of what Dun and Joseph have in store for the release of “Trench” in full. And will these recurring themes continue?
Cerridwyn Kuykendall
Managing Editor