Photo courtesy of SPIN

Acclaimed alternative pop duo Twenty One Pilots resurfaced with some big announcements on Wednesday, April 7. The band released their new single, “Shy Away,” and announced that their new album, “Scaled and Icy,” will be released on May 21. 

Their chart-topping albums of the past have featured catchy beats, bizarre lyrics and ever-evolving aesthetics. The group is not afraid to experiment in genre. Their past songs have ranged from ukulele ballads to rapid-fire rap. “Shy Away” is another new sound for the band, featuring a retro pop beat. However, there is more to this new choice of sound than simply the band wanting to experiment. 

Throughout their career, Twenty One Pilots has created an original mythology with their music. Their lyrics, music videos, album art and even social media posts all contribute to the fantasy universe that they’ve created to symbolize insecurity and mental health battles. The band has created a world that is so abstract, their lyrics can appear meaningless unless put in the context of their lore. 

With their 2015 album “Blurryface,” the group began to create their mysterious world. Blurry Face was a character the band created to represent insecurity. The group wore ski masks during live performances to represent facelessness and painted the skin of their neck and hands with black paint.  

The duo expanded their symbolism with their 2018 album, “Trench.” They traded the black and red aesthetic of their last album for a bright yellow and army-green one. They created another antagonist for “Trench” through cryptic lyrics and cinematic music videos. The haunting music videos depicted a group of nine bishops called Dema capturing the members of the band. These mysterious characters are said to represent depression and the lack of escapism. The band also created a series of letters posted online written by a mysterious messenger character named Clancy, said to have escaped from Dema.  

Already, Twenty One Pilots’ new release hints to more clues of their symbolic world. In an interview with BBC Radio 1, the band’s lead singer, Tyler Joseph, said he wrote the song as a tutorial to his brother on songwriting. But fans of the duo knew to look closer. This is only the song’s story in our reality. “Shy Away” had to connect to the intricate story of Dema and the “Trench” album somehow.          

Fans quickly realized that “Scaled and Icy” is an anagram for “Clancy is Dead.” Fans now question what it means that the messenger character of “Trench” is gone. The artistry of the “Scaled and Icy” promotion is pastel-pink and baby blue. There is a vibrant, nostalgic quality to the marketing that is atypical for the band. This caused fans to speculate that this album takes place in a fantasy where the band has been captured by Dema and forced to put out a stereotypical pop album. In a Christmas song the band put out last year, fans noticed a message hidden in the background of the record’s cover art that read “SAI is propaganda.” 

Although the band’s new single is a vibrant song, in the context of Twenty One Pilots’ lore, it is untrustworthy. Fans don’t just listen to the band on a surface-level. Twenty One Pilots’ music always involves a puzzle. While it can be distracting to look for deeper meaning rather than just enjoying the song for the sake of enjoying it, one cannot deny their masterful world building. 

The duo knows how to keep fans on the edges of their seats, proving that artistry involves more than just catchy songs. Fans of the group are more than just people who enjoy their music; they are a community solving a common puzzle. The mysteries that fans have been following for years only continue to grow with this new single and album announcement.