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"Certain people were like, 'You can't say Blurryface in a pop song - it doesn't make any sense!' They told me that every word you say within a Top 40 pop format has to be clear, understood and to the point, but I was adamant. I was like, 'You have to trust me - the whole record is about this guy.'"
-Tyler Joseph, quoted in The Only Band In The World
rock sound march 2015 issue
"When Josh and I stand on top of the crowd, will people know what to do, or will they drop us? The surge towards the stage is getting bigger and stronger every night. Will people continue to look out for each other? Can I keep them safe? I'm thinking about those things every night."
-Tyler Joseph, The Only Band In The World
He also tells me of the beautiful relationship he shares with his wife, Jenna, and the role she played in helping him to unlock the words and sounds that would slowly begin to form the basis of this new chapter.
He speaks of the times when he would hand her the phone while behind the wheel of his car, to enable her to record him humming melodies or reciting poems. These voice notes became ideas that he would chase and in some cases catch, slowly but surely using them to build entire songs over the hours and weeks that followed.
It was in this way that virtually every last detail of the album was crafted, a task that not only required him to provide lyrics and vocals, but also sounds and beats.
-Ryan Bird, The Only Band In The World
"I got rid of all the social media apps on my phone," Tyler adds. "It was part of slowing down, readjusting, and taking away that access. Social media is not all bad - we love having a platform where we can interact with people and see what they're saying - but to remove that ability to run to it was really important. "Music is the thing I want to run to when I feel inspired. Whether it's frustration, anger, compassion or whatever it is that I want to express, I want it to live somewhere new. I didn't want a single drop of any meaningful expression to live anywhere else."
-Tyler Joseph, quoted in The Only Band In The World
As people frantically moved lights and canvases into position ahead of the shoot, Tyler placed his hands on the keys and began to play a series of random and seemingly meaningless chords. They were solemn; sad but not fearful. Accepting, almost.
As he played--as oblivious to the people around him as they were to the sounds escaping his fingertips I opened the notes application on my phone containing the provisional track listing for the tribute album that would go on to be Rock Sound Presents: The Black Parade.
Where previously there had been a blank space next to 'Cancer', I quickly typed the words: Twenty One Pilots?'
-Ryan Bird, The Only Band In The World
"If we ever allowed ourselves to feel like we had made it and that this thing will just fly itself, it would probably never fly as high as it could."
-Tyler Joseph, The Only Band In The World
