Welcome back to the first edition of Battle of the Albums for the 2022-2023 school year! Today, I will be comparing the two of Twenty One Pilots’ albums, Blurryface and Scaled and Icy, and deciding which one is the best. Twenty One Pilots is an alternative pop/rock band that started in 2009 with members Tyler Joseph, Nick Thomas, and Chris Salih. Following the departure of Nick Thomas and Chris Salih in 2011, Josh Dun joined the band as a drummer, and ever since then, Tyler and Josh have produced four albums together. The band’s third album, Blurryface, was released in 2015 consisting of a 14-song tracklist and their newest album, Scaled and Icy, was released in 2021 with an 11-song tracklist. You most likely have heard the songs “Ride” or “Stressed Out” on the radio, but if you don’t already listen to Twenty One Pilots, I highly recommend checking them out. 

Starting off with the band’s album Blurryface, my favorite songs are “Heavydirtysoul,” “Tear in my Heart,” and “Lane Boy.” As a stand-alone album, I would rate it 8 out of 10 because there are a few songs I wouldn’t listen to as often as others. However, I find the meaning behind the lyrics to be really interesting. For example, in “Lane Boy,” the lyrics are, “I’m in constant confrontation with what I want and what is poppin’ in the industry… my creativity’s only free when I’m playing shows.” To me, it sounds like Tyler is explaining how songs on the radio all sound the same and because of this, it’s hard for the band’s songs to reach a larger audience. People tend to judge their music more harshly just because it sounds different from the more well-known songs that are constantly winning awards and reaching high positions on the charts. By saying his creativity is only free at concerts, Tyler’s saying that he only feels comfortable with playing his music in front of people he knows will enjoy it because they listen to the band on a regular basis. In the song “Heavydirtysoul,” Tyler writes the lyrics, “There’s an infestation in my mind’s imagination… this is not rap, this is not hip-hop just another attempt to make the voices stop.” In “Heavydirtysoul,” I think Tyler is trying to explain to the audience that writing music is what helps relieve stressful and intrusive thoughts that constantly run through his head. Apart from the meaning behind the song lyrics, I really enjoy listening to the album because of how the music sounds. I think the songs on Blurryface are great to listen to if you’re looking for music to get you in a good mood or help hype you up for an activity. 

My favorite songs on Scaled and Icy are “Good Day,” “Mulberry Street,” and “No Chances.” Unlike most of the band’s past albums, Scaled and Icy consists of a more uplifting, carefree message. In “Good Day,” Tyler sings about how he doesn’t know when he will experience his next good day, so he’s going to sing and tell everyone he knows about it before it ends and he has to experience the downsides to mental illnesses. Another song I enjoy listening to on Scaled and Icy is “The Outside” because Tyler sings about how songs that are considered mainstream are going to put Twenty One Pilots at the risk of “extinction” because they take listeners away from their band and the number of charts they reach decreases. “No Chances” is one of my favorite songs on the album because it reminds me of the band’s older music; it’s one of the few songs on Scaled and Icy that isn’t necessarily joyous. If I were to rate Scaled and Icy as an individual album, I would rate it 7 out of 10 because I haven’t been listening to it as much as the band’s older music. Though I don’t listen to the whole album as often, I still enjoy the idea of it and how Twenty One Pilots experimented with a different style of music. 

While I enjoy listening to both albums, and they have their own unique aspects, only one can win in the first Battle of the Albums for the school year. For this edition, the winner is Blurryface! I highly recommend checking out Twenty One Pilots if you’ve never listened to their music before. Apart from Blurryface and Scaled and Icy, their albums Vessel and Trench are also amazing albums to listen to. If you ever have the chance to, I would also recommend attending one of their concerts. I recently went to their Scaled and Icy Tour at the beginning of the month and it was very exciting, and everyone around me in the pit made the concert even better. I hope you enjoyed reading this edition of Battle of the Albums, I look forward to comparing more albums throughout the year!