Twenty One Pilots: A Non-Christian Band
"Excuse me... could you please leave?"
I’ll start off by saying I was a victim of the Blurryface era. I use the term “victim” here in the most loving way possible. My journey of coming to know and love Twenty One Pilots started like many of us in 2015 when the Blurryface album was released. More specifically when Stressed Out hit mainstream radio. Middle school going onto high school me was absolutely enchanted by this song.
I was going through a bit of an “emo” phase and thought life sucked at only 15/16 years old. I first became obsessed with the song and its relatable lyrics then went on to obsess over nearly the entire discography of the two-man band. I find now that Stressed Out holds more than just a memory of falling in love with the sound, it holds an even fonder memory.
My grandpa would take me to and from school my entire school career. He was always in time with what was popular on the radio and found enjoyment in “what the kids were listening to”. There were times we would be in the car together and the song would come on. I would always get very passionate, especially with the chorus being…
Wish we could turn back time to the good old days
When our mama sang us to sleep. but now we’re stressed out
Which, what would I know about any of that? I haven’t even broken into the real world. I was still a kid. But here I was, already being nostalgic of what my life used to be.
Without fail, every single time the song played my grandpa would tell me-
“Mamas, these are the good old days.”
I wouldn’t really entertain that thought whenever he said it because I was a stupid angry teenager.
My grandpa passed away last October after battling cancer and now I can’t listen to the song without getting teary eyed. He was right. I love you, grandpa.
Back to the band, there’s always been this conversation of whether or not the band is Christian. Singer Tyler Joseph has always been open about his upbringing and how his faith plays a big part in his life. And drummer Joshua Dun was part of a Christian band by the name of House of Heroes. The duo has openly stated that their faith definitely has influence on their music, but they would not consider themselves to be strictly Christian. They avoid the label.
Having said that, there are still some obvious religious themes and undertones in their music. And of course we see these themes present in their song lyrics. Their album, Vessel is a great example of where Tyler Joseph expresses his faith but not being too… loud about it. You can listen to Vessel here! This is my favorite album so naturally I felt the need to promote it loud and proud.
I’d like to start this off by saying that I already knew that there were Christian or religious undertones in their music. But recently, what really set me off was a TikTok I saw (on TikTok) where someone explained lyrics from a track called Migraine (yt link) on the Vessel album. This is one of my favorite songs from the album and one of my favorite karaoke songs. The line in the song goes…
I-I-I’ve got a migraine
And my pain will range from up down and sideways
I happened to find out, through this TikTok, that the “up down and sideways” bit alludes to the sign of the cross one performs on themselves when beginning or ending prayer. As a Catholic you use your right hand, the sequence goes from touching your forehead “in the name of the Father”, touching your heart “the Son”, then touching your shoulder from left to right “the Holy Spirit”, and ending the cross with a kiss to your fingertips in which you blessed yourself with.
I have heard though that the sign of the cross varies with differing religious beliefs. But no matter, that TikTok blew my mind! How could I be so blind to a blatant nod at religion? There are many themes of his religious beliefs though through multiple other lyrics from multiple different songs, and I’d be happy to list them for you.
Twenty One Pilots came to be in 2009 originating in Columbus, Ohio. Formed by Tyler Joseph and joined later by Josh Dun. Although in the beginning of the band’s journey, Joseph had other members Nick Thomas and Chris Salih who both left the band in 2011 but are still involved behind the scenes. Their most notable work would come a few years later their humble beginnings with the Blurryface (2015) album.
“Stressed Out” (yt link) and “Ride” (yt link) from the Blurryface album along with hit single “Heathens” (yt link) performed in the somewhat hit movie “Suicide Squad” (2016), remain Twenty One Pilot’s top hits. And rightfully so! I feel that this era was just… perfection. I would marry this era of music if I could. Having said that, I humbly encourage obsession with their music to you as well. :)
Blurryface was my favorite era, and it still is. Before being signed with record label Fueled By Ramen (2012), the band had released two albums that had already so much heart and soul poured into them. But I feel that it wasn’t until Blurryface that there was more story telling because Joseph began creating characters to bring their music even more to life which I didn’t even think was possible.
Honestly though, I feel that I could just list their entire discography with no specific songs. If you really look close enough you can see, or hear, that there is God in their music even though it’s not completely considered Christian Rock from your typical Christian radio. But having said that, songs and their meanings don’t and shouldn’t have to be “in your face” to get their point across.
Now earlier I said I’d be happy to list them for you. I’m happy to do this because I feel like there would be so much ground to cover if I wanted to speak on every one of their albums individually. Which I would like to, but I feel that it would only be right to give every album a dedicated post because there is just so much religious theming and undertones.
Nearly or every song is about God and faith and references to the Bible. So now I’ll provide some lyrics for your viewing and later listening pleasure.
-
- Isle Of Flightless Birds - (Youtube link!)
His time, were wasting
As time will fly by and the sky will cry as like is fading
And He is waiting, oh, so patiently
While we repeat the same routing as we will please comfortability
- March To the Sea - (Youtube link!)
Then out of the corner of my eye
I see a spaceship in the sky
And hear a voice inside my head
Follow me instead
- Holding on to You - (Youtube link!)
You are surrounding all my surroundings
Entertain my faith
- Trees - (Youtube link!)
I want to know you
I want to see
I want to say
Hello
- The Judge - (Youtube link!)
You’re the judge, oh no
Set me free
I know my soul’s freezing
Hell’s hot for good reason
- Hometown - (Youtube link!)
Be the one, be the one to take my soul and make it undone
Be the one, be the one to take me home and show me the sun
I got these from a master list from reddit where redditor ‘stayawakespace' was so kind to list multiple songs across the duos’ discography. You can see it for yourself right here!
Back to the duo we all know and love now.
I’m doing the same thing with another band called Ghost (you can read that post here!) , which is my most favorite band at the moment and probably will be for the rest of my life (who knows). Like Twenty One Pilots, Ghost has even more blatant religious themes in every album. They are a Satanic Church for God’s sake, of course it’s going to be more blatant since they are an obviously basically a play on the Catholic Church.
Recently when starting this post, it actually became enthralling to me how I can find a love for things that are similar yet on totally opposite ends of the spectrum. Joseph and Dun nurture their messages of God and Christian Rock under the guide of heavy lyrics and lively melodies. Thats what draws me in, the themes and messages are subtle, yet they aren’t. Worshipping? Yes. A spectacle? Kina yeah but in the best way.
I believe that they do add in the perfect amount of worship. And now that I find myself finding myself actually repairing my relationship with God and Catholicism, their music hits me even harder. And I’m not one to preach but honestly, it really is a beautiful and overwhelming feeling of love. I think they are the perfect band for me to dip my toes back in the water of subtle worship.
I won’t go farther than saying that because I constantly experience seeing people get a little too into the Jesus fandom and it gets weird, annoying, seemingly fake and scary. Have you seen a person go through religious psychosis? It’s scary! During my current re-listening of Twenty One Pilots and listening to them from a more open religious perspective, I was actually afraid I was going to start experiencing religious psychosis myself. I hope I never do.
Coming to the end of this lovely post, I’d like to add that they tell even more stories through the music and their music videos. Starring of with “Blurryface” we were also given characters like '“Clancy.” And I’ll be totally honest… I kind of stopped listening to the duo after Trench came out (which you should listen to because it’s a great album). I only stopped because I felt that after that, their songs began sounding more “mainstream.”
But that is just my opinion! I may give their latest albums a listen but their predecessors to me are just perfect.
As always, I think I covered everything I need to cover, yet I always feel like I have even more to say. But I guess we’ll find that out later in a future post.
Thanks again for reading, friend. 'til the next time!
