Twenty One Pilots is an American musical duo from Columbus, Ohio, with several top hits on radio stations nationwide. The duo, Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun, are best known for their singles “Stressed Out,” “Ride,” and “Heathens.” However, there’s more to their music than its ‘hidden’ meaning; there’s a singular storyline that flows throughout four of their albums.

How The Band Came Together

Twenty One pilots started out with 3 members Tyler Joseph, Nick Thomas, and Chris Salih. The band, which was unnamed at the time, bought a house in 2009 and created their first album. While that was happening, the band played for a wide variety of audiences at clubs around the Columbus area. Playing at metal and electronic venues led Joseph to incorporate these different styles into his songwriting.

Their album was conceptualized and recorded in their basement, which is when they also started going by “Twenty One Pilots.” The group released their debut, “Self-Titled” album on Dec 29, 2009. During this time, the band began touring, and participating, in various “Battle of the Band” contests at music venues in Columbus, Ohio.

Nothing happened until Salih left the band on May 8, 2011 to focus on work, and Thomas left the following month on June 3rd, to focus on schooling. Both posted farewell notes on the band’s official Facebook page. Before departing from the project, Salih invited Guitar Center coworker and friend of the group, Josh Dun, to take his place in the band. Impressed by the band’s potential and Joseph’s creative vision, Dun abandoned his previous plans and joined the project only a few weeks before Thomas left the group.

The Storyline

Tyler Joseph, the band’s lead singer, began the storyline in the hit album “Blurryface.” It’s centered around Clancy, the main character, and his experiences with DEMA (a city that controls their citizens). Within their lyrics, they introduced the basics of who Clancy was and his cycle of suffering and self destruction.

In their later album, “Trench,” Clancy broke the cycle, and parted with his inner demons after escaping DEMA. Following his freedom, Clancy sadly was recaptured. In their third album of the storyline, “Scaled and Icy,” Clancy was forced to perform, and entertain the people of DEMA as a punishment. After his long battles, he is taking a second chance to escape and reach freedom. As the storyline is coming to an end, Twenty One Pilots is wrapping up the details of this storyline with their new album, “Clancy.”

Clancy

Building up to the announcement of the new album, many fans were already speculating a release of a new album, ep, or single. Quickly, their fans’ theories, and hopes were confirmed through a subtle hint. On February 15th, Twenty One Pilots added red tape with specific configurations on their previous albums, Vessel, Blurryface, Trench, and Scaled and Icy. This change occurred on all platforms their music was on, including Spotify and Apple Music. Fans quickly began reading into this sudden change, and developed an unconfirmed theory that the red tape created the iconic Twenty One Pilots logo, |-/.

Soon after, On February 22nd, the duo released a teaser video called “I Am Clancy.” This broke down the decade-long mystery of the storyline, originating from Blurryface. Up until then, nothing from the storyline was confirmed; it was theories and ideas backed by previous moves and hints given by Josh Dun and Tyler Joseph.

Four days after the groundbreaking video, the band announced their new album, “Clancy.” “Clancy” is set to release on May 17th, 2024, on the ninth anniversary of their hit album “Blurryface.” Some fans are already brainstorming ideas of why they chose this release date. Along with this big announcement, the first song of the album and its music video, “Overcompensate,” was released. With this music drop, the album’s setlist is also available for view.

Clancy Tracklist:

Overcompensate
Next semester
Backslide
Midwest Indigo
Routines In The night
Vignette
The Craving (Jenna’s Version)
Lavish
Navigating
Snap Back
Oldies Station
At the Risk of Feeling Dumb
Paladin Strait

After nearly a month of silence, Twenty One pilots released their second song, and music video, “Next Semester,” on March 27th. Since then, the band announced a world tour, and posted tour dates with early access codes. Those with the early access were able to purchase tickets starting April 2nd. General public tickets began their sale three days later, on April 5.

Ticket prices range from $70 to $500+ in America, making it more affordable for a wider audience. Even with exponentially high ticket prices, Twenty One Pilots has had great success with their sales, already nearing completely booked out venues. The tour setlist has yet to be confirmed, but Tyler Joseph continues to brainstorm ideas and share them on his social media platforms.

In one idea for the concert’s setlist, Tyler Joseph listed songs from all of the band’s albums, including their “Self Titled” album, and a previously removed album, “Regional At Best.” With discussion of such a large setlist, and bringing back their original songs, fans wonder if this will be the end of Twenty One Pilots music career, or just the end of the storyline; however, nothing has been confirmed or denied.

While Twenty One Pilots continue their music career in an attempt to top their previous albums, fans are eager to listen to their next hit album, Clancy. As Clancy’s drop grows sooner, hopefully more information, teasers, or music will be released.