twenty one pilots

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5i-KdUQ47o

aoty

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mREOvIgImmo

this song kinda sounds like dirtbag phoenix??? (compliment????)

yeah this is good! they seem to be spreading out their influences a bit more.

CAN'T CHANGE WHAT YOU'VE DONE
START FRESH NEXT SEMESTER

it's so fucked how good this album is. cohesive despite genre-hopping on every track. a lot more fun than trench which is what ultimately puts it over for me. i don't even have to equivocate about the dude's rapping anymore. it's good!

it occurs to me that their success may have something to do with how they sort of invert the traditional xtian rock lyrical ambiguity, where it sounds like a typical pop love song but the beloved is actually Jesus. what TOP seem to do is take, you know, His perspective and use typical emo concerns as a vehicle to explore living in a fallen world … obviously that can be patronizing and problematic in its own right but the way they seem to have created a sort of fanbase qua emotional mutual aid group, and how they seem to be for their fans, rather than going for the whole fan as Stan brand builder and online troll conscript seems, idk, salubrious

maybe that’s too charitable, but in another way their mystifying rap ukulele pro tools 311 sound is another expression of non-judgmental acceptance. you feel safe with them because they’re simultaneously embarrassing and confident and seem to offer a way to not just live with your own embarrassing qualities but make something out of them. anyways I sorta can’t believe I’ve given it this much thought but I always hated stressed out and heathens and have been ignorant about both the extent of their success and how intensely uncool their sound is, as well as how sticky some of the hooks are.