The Columbus duo are back at it again, ladies and gents. After there being some murmurings for a while about a potential return for Twenty One Pilots - from a tiny mention in the Vessel anniversary live stream to now a tirade of online and real world teasing, what does a new Twenty One Pilots era mean for us almost two years post their last release? Let's have a look at what's going on now, and what I think it means going forward.
From the screenshot you can see above, all the album covers from their previous records have had this red tape added to them - notably over the eyes of whatever is on them. In the case of Vessel, it's their grandparents, for Trench and Scaled and Icy it's the animal on the cover, the vulture and dragon respectively. For Blurryface it's not confirmed it's over an eye - but people believe that the circle represents the track Heavydirtysoul and has a lore relation in terms of the Dema storyline, which we'll touch on in a second.
In terms of the tape however, during the Trench era, tape was a visual used throughout. Most notably, the yellow tape that adorned characters costumes was a symbol of resistance against the seemingly anti-music/expression 'Bishops' of Dema - so the colour switch is interesting. Colour again is a big thing in the Trench narrative, with red directly connecting to the 'Bishops', and having a negative connotation in their universe. It also relates to some lyrics in past tracks - 'I've got a long drive, I'll tape my eyes, So I don't fall asleep again' from The Outside is one that fans are currently suspecting it has a direct parallel to, which makes sense - with quite literally the taping of all the eyes of their album covers it's a natural connection. Others point to colour references in the track Chlorine and the 'rebel red carnation'. Some claim this is a full circle moment going all the way back to the music video for Guns for Hands where drummer Josh Dunn covers his head with red tape. Quite honestly, I don't think we'll get a solid answer to this question until new music drops, but it's fun drawing some small parallels and speculating before any official releases.
Talking about official things - let's talk the letters some people have been getting in the mail. These, again, RED envelopes hold some new Dema lore for us to sink our teeth into. What it seems to be is some sore of court order/lawsuit type of thing against Clancy bought about by Dema and the Bishops. It notes that Clancy is being bought to justice due to his violations of the principles of 'Vialisim' which is apparently their religion. On the other side is a map, that has a new section labelled as the Paladin Strait, which leads to Voldsoy, some form of city or settlement. It's being said this is where the video for The Outside ended, on this Paladin Strait and whatever media following up from this will likely start here or close by.
There's also a letter attached form Clancy himself, which I'll attach below for you to read. It looks like it's written directly after the events of the music video, and seemingly connotes this new record tying up some loose ends.
On my deep dive, I had a stare at the official Reddit and found a super helpful mega thread with some more information I didn't know concerning the teasing of this new record. It has some really useful information concerning what the record will be like stylistically - claiming in a 2022 interview Tyler Joseph claimed Redecorate was a stepping off point meant to indicate a change in direction stylistically - more like Trench and less like the divisive Scaled and Icy. Furthermore, it noted a potential return of character Blurryface - with apparently hints in their live shows with Joseph's costume referencing him on their South America leg. It also hints to something new before the end of this month, most notably the 29th, so that's definitely exciting news - shout out to u/InternationalBit5551 for this insane thread.
Plus, new posters have been found around Europe with the bands new logo for this new era - a thicker version of their original line, hyphen and forward slash. Surrounded by code, these posters hide the word 'Clancy' in the bottom left corner. The colours are a mix of yellow and red, seemingly connoting the change in eras and colour palette. Have a look at this one down below - it looks pretty sweet.
I think it's really exciting that we're getting new music from these guys. I've loved their records since Vessel, even if I had an odd relationship with Scaled and Icy on release. I'll keep my ear to the ground when it comes to anything new and will review the shit out of anything that comes my way. Stay safe people, hopefully see you soon.
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