Before I get into my little rant about how much I adore Twenty-One Pilots and how much I love their new songs, let’s just use our imagination to really get an idea of my reaction. I get a text from one of my friends telling me Twenty-One Pilots have finally released a song from their new album. I was a little late to find this out because I am not one who stalks a band’s Twitter or website.

Being at work when this happened I had to go to the back of good ol’ OfficeMax and sit at my manager’s desk in receiving and cry as I listened to their song “Fairly Local.” I did not cry because the song was touching, or the music video was so emotionally captivating. I cried because I was excited that the band finally came out with a new song after so long of waiting for new material.

“Fairly Local” is a different song compared to what the band has written before. That is not a complaint though, I am completely okay with the new style. To me the song is about them understanding where you are in life. They have “been around” they have “seen the streets you’re walking down,” musically this song is reaching out to their fans, or even listeners in general. The song starts out with Tyler Joseph singing about how he is “evil to the core” and  he truly doesn’t have a chance. He goes on to sing about how he will “repeat yesterday’s dance.” In these lyrics, he almost seems to feel hopeless that he will keep going down the path that he is going. That he will never have a chance.

As Tyler continues through the song, he takes on a different light. He is now “not evil to the core” and he now he truly has a chance. To a person who is going through something rough or thinks that their life is hopeless, this may shine a light on what the future holds if they change their ways. That they will “avoid yesterday’s dance,” this gives the listeners a chance to really understand that they have a chance, that they can live from yesterday. Live from their mistakes and enjoy their life and push past what they have done. The song was written to connect to people who hear it. Some may take the lyrics a different way, but to me they are telling people they have a chance no matter what they have done in the past. The song was made to give people hope. To get them to push themselves harder in all aspects in life. “Fairly Local” is a powerful song; to me, it is perfection.

Now to mention how wonderful the music video for the song is. The band in an abandoned building with snow on the ground. It is as if they are isolated, almost like how people are when they are lost in their thoughts. The lighting is dark, giving it more of an ominous look. Throughout the video, Tyler walks through the dark snow filled halls singing to the lyrics as it seems like he is looking for something. The room will sometimes go red in color and then back to the blue tint, from anger to sadness again. It is a simple music video that has a lot of meaning at the same time; it is beautiful.

The second song that they released is “Tear in My Heart.” This is another song that I would not have expected from Twenty-One Pilots. It is more upbeat and a type of love song that I believe Tyler wrote about his new wife, Jenna. He sings about how she is the “tear in [his] heart” and continues with him singing “my taste in music is your face” which happens to be one of my favorite lyrics from the song. I feel like that is a relevant lyric considering he has such a huge love for music, and he does it for a living. He is saying that she is his life. I also really love when he is singing about how he is driving and she falls asleep in his car and he avoids the bumps the best he can so she can sleep. It seems like it is a real memory he has of a moment he had with her; I love when musicians do this. They bring the lyrics to life so we are able to really imagine what happened. Tyler also brings his feelings out about how he is “cursing my government for not using my taxes to fill holes with more cement” so that he wouldn’t have to avoid so many holes. In a weird way this song is sweet, it has a place in my favorite category for sure. If you have not taken the time to listen to this song, you are not fully living life yet.

The music video for this song is all bright and colorful. They have it taking place in what looks to be Chinatown. They are playing in the middle of the court, and all of the people look at him oddly for singing. Soon after they stop focusing on people the town start to blow up. The people ignore it and keep walking. The best part of the video is that his wife is in it. He follows Jenna through this alley and into this random cafe, where he approaches her and tries to talk to her before she throws him around the cafe and beats him up. The video has humor to it, but in the end, they are happy together and she is regretful for what she did to him. I love this video and this song; I say bravo Twenty-One Pilots, I am more than ready for this new album.