Arianna Tortolero
It’s been a year since we last heard from twenty one pilots, since they announced their indefinite hiatus, but the silence has finally been broken. Although the American duo have been sending us some cryptic messages for some time now, they are starting to “make sense” again and showing bits of the new era upon us.
Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun began the Blurryface era in May 2015, and as they released the album, the Blurryface Tour began. The first of many consisted of 113 shows around the world in one year. And that was followed by the Emotional Roadshow World Tour (or just ERS), which lasted almost a year as well, plus, it had a North American leg, the Tour De Columbus, a special 5-nights-of-concerts tour the band played in their Columbus, Ohio, their hometown. That’s two years of touring… No wonder why the boys needed a break!
And this leads us to the hiatus.
Oh, the hiatus
It started on July 5th last year, when the final chapter of Sleepers came out (if you haven’t watched them yet, take a minute and do it, because it’s a MUST).
The very next day they started posting a series of pictures on all social media. It took a little while, but fans understood what it meant. The first being:
— twenty one pilots (@twentyonepilots) July 6, 2017
And this was the last one:
— twenty one pilots (@twentyonepilots) July 7, 2017
An eye closing, representing the end of the Blurryface era, meaning twenty one pilots was going to sit down and take five. And just like that, there was silence.
But that’s not all
Even though Tyler actually disappeared from the map, Josh stayed for a little bit longer. And on last year’s AMPAs, Dun joined Adrian Young (No Doubt) and Frank Zummo (Sum 41) for a very amazing drumming performance (because, what’s better than one drummer? THREE DRUMMERS!)
But what’s really important about this night, besides twenty one pilots winning the Most Dedicated Fanbase, is the clue Josh gave us in this accepting speech.
“Tyler wishes he could be here, but he’s actually severing ties with dema”
Everyone was very confused, but fans knew this had to mean something. Dema, according to Wikipedia, is actually a word that means “Tower of Silence”, therefore, it’s a place. It made sense with their last tweet, but nobody could find out what else could that mean.
Started out with a GIF, how did it end up like this
One of the most exciting things about bands is when they get all cryptic about what’s next. And tøp should have an award for that by now. There were A LOT of conspiracy theories about this next album and the band, but almost three months ago a fan noticed something strange on the band’s official site: the GIF in the store, under the Vessel section, was updated and had a secret message at the end.
Turns out it was a website with a whole lotta new information for the fans to decrypt. For the lazy ones out there, a very dedicated fan has been updating every move with a megathread on Reddit, and it goes from the very first GIF, to the Tower of Silence, to the black and white pictures, to Clancy, his hidden messages and letters. It’s actually really awesome to read. And it’s great knowing that tøp has been creating a concept for this next album, and little by little they’ve been leaving clues for us to follow and figure it out.
What’s happening right now?
Simple. THE HIATUS IS FINALLY OVER. A few days ago (July 6th), fans received an email with the subject “ARE YOU STILL SLEEPING?“, with a GIF attached. And guess what? It’s another eye. But who’s eye? Is it Clancy’s eye? One thing’s for sure: we’re not going to be able to sleep anymore, if that’s what you meant!
Of course, everybody who got this lost their mind. And when we least expected it:
— twenty one pilots (@twentyonepilots) July 9, 2018
Obviously, this was our reaction to that notification:
“@twentyonepilots has tweeted for the first time in a w-“ pic.twitter.com/ytxrSd6vMp
— alicia (@tylers_uke) July 9, 2018
They’ve changed their logo and header on social media (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, even Spotify).
And this is what this is what their site looks like when you try to get in:
And literally, today we woke up to this:
— twenty one pilots (@twentyonepilots) July 10, 2018
That’s a bass line, guys, WE GOT A BASS LINE!
But wait, there’s more…
THESE ARE ALL OVER CENTRAL LONDON??? W HA T pic.twitter.com/6aBKVxvkqE
— ash (@slowdisappear) July 9, 2018
#TØPISBACK #twentyonepilots #ClancyWeCoverYou
okay I asked to the guys that were fixing the billboard and they said thay next week they are gonna change them to something related to TØP. I’m screaming pic.twitter.com/7UrJFLF6ul— Margherita |-/ #TOPISBACK (@clumsy__alien) July 9, 2018
A collection of the videos I took. I think there’s three more billboards I didn’t manage to video though@london_pilots #twentyonepilots #TØPISBACK
I counted 17 in total, one is upside down and another has a white background if that’s significant? pic.twitter.com/hMp1GTgI8T— sky ||-// 석진 (@implicitdemxnd) July 9, 2018
BILLBOARDS IN TORONTO AND GUESS WHAT THEY SHOW – THE FEW, THE PROUD AND THE EMOTIONAL |-/ #twentyonepilots #tøp #twentyonepilotstheory pic.twitter.com/e7O64MlIgX
— EnglandClique |-/ (@CliqueEngland) July 9, 2018
What does any of this mean? Are they going to fully come back next week? Are we getting a single or even the album’s name in a few days? We don’t know yet. But maybe, just maybe, Josh’s hair color was the first clue we should’ve payed attention to a year ago, since he tends to dye according to the era’s color.
Blue during Regional At Best.
Red during Blurryface.
Yellow for this new era?
Just kidding, that’s a stretch. Although it’d be cool to see him wear some more Good Dye Young in the short future.
What’s left to do is wait, but as clique members we’re used to that by now. Let’s hope new music comes our way very soon. Or, at least, more clues, because it’s really fun to try and decipher the theme and story of this album. Anyway, thank you, twenty one pilots, for letting us know you’re not just sitting in silence anymore, and for letting us know the hiatus is over. We’re anxious and excited to meet you, Clancy.
