About Music (TOP)

Straight to the point: I LOVE TWENTY ONE PILOTS!!

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk 

 

lmao jk 

I do have more to type about.  

 I've been getting back into Twenty One Pilots ever since they released their most recent album "Breach" in September. And gotten REALLY back into their music even more due to the whole flood of edits flooding my feed with the song "Drag Path" (more on that song and a project associated with it in another post)

But for funsies I just wanted to talk about some of my fave songs by them and why I love them so much. Kinda like a Top 10 list if you will. 

 So here goes my top 10 fave TOP songs in no particular order, except maybe the top spot oop:

• Oldies Station
• This song is so dear and near to my heart that I have cried several times listening to this song and it's my fave song across the board. Doesn't matter if the ranking is just TOP or all the other music I listen to as well. This song felt like a pat on the back for little 14 year old me to "Push on Through" and for 24 year old me (at the time of release) to keep pushing on through. I was past the point of my "due date", since I was sooo sure back then, that I wasn't gonna make it past 18 or 20, but here I am, able to enjoy this song and being able to reflect on the past and being able to say "It does get better". Even if the now feels like an actual storm you have to fight through. I would get a tattoo of these lyrics, if my skin wasn't so sensitive to any form of stress and irritation (screaming, crying, throwing up)
  Some of my fave lines:

• "Make an oath, then make mistakes
  Start a streak you're bound to break
  When darkness rolls on you
  Push on through"  

• Next Semester
• This one is very attached to my struggles with Uni and being stuck in post-Covid mental health issues to the point of needing therapy to get it out of my system. I've had mental health issues all my life, but Covid threw a real wrench into everything. This song reminds me both of my early semesters of studying with all the all-nighters and also the catching-up semesters leading up to my bachelors degree and thesis. This song pushed me to defy the "hurry, gotta finish asap"-mentality I've been raised with and gave me space to slow down.
  Some of my fave lyrics:

• "Can't change what you've done
  Start fresh next semester"

•  Neon Gravestones
• I don't see this one talked about often when it comes to fave songs in the fandom, but even back when the Album released I remember this one sticking out to me. Even today I gravitate to this one quite often and it's one of those songs, that lets my fantasy and visual imagination go crazy. I also love the message of pointing out how romanticized it is to take your own life, especially as someone with a lot of fame. Just such a strong message in my opinion. 
  Some of my fave lines (spoiler it's the last verse):

• "Don't get me wrong, the rise in awareness
  Is beating a stigma that no longer scares us
  But for sake of discussion, in spirit of fairness
  Could we give this some room for a new point of view?
  And could it be true that some could be tempted
  To use this mistake as a form of aggression?
  A form of succession? A form of a weapon?
  Thinking "I'll teach them," well, I'm refusing the lesson
  It won't resonate in our minds
  I'm not disrespecting what was left behind
  Just pleading that it does not get glorified
  Maybe we swap out what it is that we hold so high
  Find your grandparents or someone of age
  Pay some respects for the path that they paved
  To life, they were dedicated
  Now, that should be celebrated"

• Drag Path
• This song is the definition of "Agony and despair" but in a good way. I only heard it after it got popular online, which is a shame, bc if that hadn't happened, I probably wouldn't have stumbled upon this song. But this song can be taken in so many ways and applied to so many situations and they make me all cry, I have to be so real lmao
  The human urge to be remembered and to have left your mark that can stay after you're gone is such a strong theming. The bridge is also heart wrenching to me. This is also one of those songs that will genuinely make me ugly cry in my room at 2am if it catches me on a bad day. 
  I also want to make a whole comic project based on this song, using the lyrics as my text. I will apply it in a way that talks about me & my creativity, since I've been struggling with that in my artist journey, but more on that another time. If I start now I can't stop oop.
  Ofc another chunk of lyrics, although this entire song is BANGING:

• "A drag path, etched in the surface
  As evidence I left there on purpose
  A sad sack, laying on the surface
  Can you find me? (Can you, can you find me?)
  I dug my heels into the gravel
  As evidence for you to unravel
  A drag path, etched in the surface
  Can you find me?"

• Taxi Cab
• From what I'm understanding this song talks about god/faith and I'm not religious or anything, but this song is so beautifully written and sung. It's one of the early TOP songs I didn't have to get used to, as in needing a few listens to really appreciate the art of it all, this one just stuck to me like glue. The last verse especially is just so beautifully written. Just amazing, breathtaking, showstopping, no notes.
  It hits harder to listen to the whole song, but this is my fave line from the final verse:

• "We're driving toward the morning sun
  Where all your blood is washed away
  And all you did will be undone"

• Routines in the Night
• What a catchy BANGER! But also very very relatable. The sound and the lyrics are just peak in this song. Plus I love the lyrical imagery of your mind being like a huge labyrinth or even a big city, where every house represents another chunk of thoughts or memories. Ofc you're bound to have a building that you don't want to enter and that metaphor is just so clever! I love it! But yeah this song reminds me of a lot of sleepless nights or depressive episodes where I simply had a very noisy mind, that wouldn't want to shut up. So I would also "walk the routines in the night" as it is in the song. Just a banger all around
  Just the lyrics don't do it justice, but whatever:

• "Walk the layout, routines in the night
  Some doors have "Stay out" spray-painted in white
  While all the world's asleep, I walk around instead
  Through the memories, down the halls of my head" 

•  The Hype
• They say "don't believe the hype" but this one is just such a banger. According to peeps online this song talks about internal and external pressure (had to read up on it again, since it has been a while oop my baaad) and nowadays I can definitely relate more first hand as well. Being perceived by others and perceiving yourself (as in social media) is such a big topic in my mind atm. Also the whole ending bit of "No idk which way I'm going, but I can hear my way around" is definitely how I've been treating art and exploring comics lmao
  Simple little snippet of the song:

• "Nice to know my kind will be on my side
  I don't believe the hype
  And you know you're a terrible sight
  But you'll be just fine
  Just don't believe the hype" 

• RAWFEAR
• A recent go-to song ngl. I can heavily relate to this one, especially with how my life has been going, there was always the push to get things done "faster", get through studies "asap", have good grades so I can be setup for work as soon as I can before I "get kids and will be busy taking care of my family". I get the fear of running out of time implanted by my mom, but I do have to say that fear, anxiety and perfectionism are now haunting me the way it's talked about in this song. This song just feels like that feeling of anxiety put into words to perfectly, it's like Tyler peeked into my brain to write it lmao
  Part of the bridge and some of the chorus:

• "Learning all that really matters is a slow and painful lesson (Never slowing down, never slowing down)
  It is not pass or fail, but a poisonous progression (Never slowing down, never slowing down)
  Try to micro-dose to immunity but you'll never, ever get it (Never slowing down, never slowing down)
  And I go, ah, ah, ah (Never slowing down)
  "What's the matter?" isn't helping (Never slowing down)
  You go, ooh, ooh, ooh (Never slowing down)
  I wish her parents would stop yelling (Never slowing down)
  I could build a tower with the times I was pretending (Never slowing down)
  Try to micro-dose to immunity but I'll never see the ending (Never slowing down)
  
  [...]
  
  Raw fear moves me, sounds of empty Uzis (Ah, ah, ah)
  Life is just forever nipping heels, never slowing down
  Raw fear moves me, sounds of empty Uzis (Ah, ah, ah)
  Life is just forever gripping feels, never slowing down" 

• Center Mass
• I read this song as talking about anxiety, once again, and some grief towards the end. Anxiety being a thing I can relate to heavily ofc. To me it feels like a reflection type song, but also someone who slightly grew out of the anxiety, while having small reminders of it still in their daily life, which does fit me as a person as well. Funnily enough this was the first song on Breach that really stuck out to me and also stuck with me, while I was still getting used to the other songs on the album. Musically this song is also wonderfully crafted and really really catchy.
  A smaller cutesy snippet: 

• "I pull on my shirtsleeve to cover half of my hands
  Bring my arms closer to my body, get as small as I can
  They call it center mass, that part they aim for
  Shrink it down to nothing and forgetting what the pain's for
  I pull on my shirtsleeve (My shirtsleeve), to cover half of my face (Half of my face)
  Bring my arms closer to my body, get as small as they say (Small as they say)
  They call it center mass, that part they aim for (That's blasphemy)"

•  Holding on to You
• Aaahhh an old classic. This was the song that got teenage me through a looot of hardship with bullying and other early mental health issues. This song has a lot of pats on the back and even a bit of nostalgia attached to it. I do have to say I probably listened to it too often, as I don't gravitate towards it as often anymore, but it's still a very significant song to me.
  My faves lines of lyrics: 

• "Remember the moment
  You know exactly where you're going,
  'Cause the next moment,
  Before you know it, time is slowing
  And it's frozen still,
  And the window sill looks really nice, right?
  You think twice about your life,
  It probably happens at night,
  Right?
  
  Fight it,
  Take the pain, ignite it,
  Tie a noose around your mind
  Loose enough to breathe fine and tie it
  To a tree. Tell it, 'You belong to me.
  This ain't a noose, this is a leash.
  And I have news for you: you must obey me.'"

   

 This selection was so hard to cook up, mostly bc I love so many of their songs. This list is also very biased in terms of which songs have been giving me comfort recently, but these are all certified BANGERS to me! 

I do also base most of these on lyrics, but some are just bangers musically and what can I say. I am infact swayable by a nice melody.

For the peeps reading this far, have a 🍪 and have a nice rest of your day/night/whatever it may be :3