Arianna Tortolero
As many of you might know, twenty one pilots broke their silence last week. But they broke the internet as well by dropping two singles, a music video, and world tour dates. That’s right. The Trench era has finally begun, everybody! Prepare your jumpsuit.
After a year of hiatus, the boys are on the radar again with Trench, their upcoming conceptual album. And not only we have The Bandito Tour already, but new music and a new sound. Although Nico and the Niners is really awesome and you should listen to it, let’s talk about Jumpsuit for a bit.
Directed by Andrew Donoho, Jumpsuit tells the story of Clancy, or at least it gives us a peak of it. The music video is filled with concepts and symbolisms. But let’s go step by step.
First verse and chorus
As the video begins, we see Tyler Joseph on top of a burnt out car. Looks familiar, doesn’t it? Well, that’s the same burning car that appears in the end of the Heavydirtysoul video.
Remember when they send the e-mail asking if we were still sleeping? Well, yeah.
We’ve been here the whole time
You were asleep
Time to wake up
Next, Tyler wakes up in a canyon, by a river. This location can be seen as Dema, where he’s trapped and left to die. He seems nervous, as if he knew something was coming. And that’s when we see a horseman wearing a red cape. Now, there’s two important symbols here. One is the Horseman of Death, who rides a white horse, coming for Tyler. Yes, as in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The second one is about the other side of the rider. It’s Blurryface. We’ll get to that in a second.
Also, from now on, let’s refer to Tyler as Clancy,
So, as Clancy sings “Jumpsuit, jumpsuit, cover me” while looking up, people start coming towards the edge of the canyon, staring at him from up above. Anxious, Clancy falls down on his knees. Standing up again, he tries to understand why are they surrounding him.
They all turn around, making Clancy turn as well. Blurryface comes at full speed towards him, but Clancy seems to have give up. He closed his eyes and surrendered while singing once more “cover me”.
Take it to the bridge
When Blurryface approaches Clancy, he touches his neck and leaves black marks on it. Clancy’s neck starts turning black and he now follows Blurryface.
If you don’t know this, in the last era, Tyler stated that the paint his neck and hands had a meaning. Insecurities. Insecurities about what he writes (hands), and sings (neck). And it’s Blurryface who feeds those insecurities.
So, by following him, Clancy has given in to self-doubt again.
I’ll be right there
But you’ll have to grab my throat and lift me in the air
If you need anyone, I’ll stop my plans
But you’ll have to tie me down and then break both my hands
Meaning he can’t escape Dema as long as Blurryface has power over him.
But while looking down, Clancy gets a glimpse of yellow flowers by his side, and that makes him look up once more. But he’s not intimidated by them anymore. They’re the banditos, and they are with him. Before Blurryface can do anything, they all start throwing yellow petals at Clancy.
The horse gets riled up and the black paint starts fading away. The petals represent hope and support given to Clancy in times of trouble, from fans and people that cares about him. We can even see Josh Dun (drummer) and Jenna Joseph (Tyler’s wife).
Final chorus and outro
Now Clancy seems determined. Hopeful and willing to escape.
And the torch GIF’s file name: “_they_ca_ntseeFCE300”, which is the hex code of a shade of yellow. Not the Bishops nor Blurryface are able to perceive optimism, hope or support. But Clancy can. And understanding those people up there are his protective “jumpsuit”, he sings and screams “cover me” as he runs away.
Unfortunately, he trips and falls on the ground again, but at the sight of this, Blurryface seems to stop. Clancy lays down in the river as in the video’s beginning, but holding a flower. Hope is not lost.
This part is a little bit tricky. Blurryface is the one looking up now and he seems to give a slight nod. The banditos are gone, all but Josh, who’s still standing there.
In the very last scene, Tyler takes from the burnt out car’s trunk the green jacket with yellow stripes he wears in this video, puts it on and walks away. This could mean his transition from Tyler to Clancy.
The little things
If you followed twenty one pilots’ cryptic messages, then you may have noticed some of them in this same video. The nod to one of the first pages from Clancy’s Journal (you are still sleeping) at the very beginning. Some of the pictures: the body in the river, the people on the cliff, the vulture. The “_they_ca_ntseeFCE300” and, most important, the “cover me!” in his last page.
Will they continue this? Are there more music videos related to Dema, Clancy, and dmaorg.info? We know there are Nine Bishops in Dema, but who is Nico? Is it Josh? Is any of this actually related to Tyler’s yellow suit and jumpsuit in the Heathens music video?
So many questions! We’ll have to wait and see what else they have prepared for us, but we can barely stand still.
Remember, Trench comes out October 5th.
