After three years since their last album release, the alternative musical duo, Twenty One Pilots, is releasing their new album, “Clancy,” on May 17. This is the long awaited and perhaps final album from the band. Devoted and past fans alike are taking notice and getting pumped for the new album’s release.  

Red Tape

The first hint that fans received of a new album was on Feb. 16, when all of Twenty One Pilots’ albums on music streaming sites had a thick strip of red tape edited onto them, excluding their self-titled album. The tape was covering the eyes of the band mates’ grandpas on “Vessel,” the first circle on “Blurryface,” the eyes of the vulture on “Trench,” and the eyes of Trash the Dragon on “Scaled and Icy.”  This deliberate reference to eyes may prove to be an important theme in the upcoming album, but that will only be clear when it is released. 

I Am Clancy

Next, on Feb. 22, the band released a four minute and five second video titled “I Am Clancy” on all their social media platforms. It summarized the fictional storylines of albums “Blurryface” to “Scaled and Icy”, all of which are detail-oriented concept albums that follow the narrative of lead singer Tyler Joseph’s character, “Clancy.” 

This was shocking to fans because the entire band’s lore has never been summarized in one place before. In years prior, fans had to do a lot of detective work and piece together music videos to understand the plotline. In this way, this band is really unique because they have been telling a story for years through their music and the final chapter is upon us. 

Just the Surface of TØP Lore

The protagonist, Clancy, was a citizen of the oppressive fictional city of Dema, which is run by nine bishops. He had escaped and found a group of rebels called the Banditos, led by the toucher-barer: his bandmate and drummer, Josh Dun. They then got recaptured by Dema’s bishops and were forced to be vessels of propaganda via their music. However, at the end of “Scaled and Icy,” the two escaped and washed up on the fictional island of Voldstoy. 

“Overcompensate”

On Feb. 29 the new song and music video, “Overcompensate,” was released. This is the first song of the album and will presumably be the dramatic opening song for the tour’s setlist. 

The video included the band members rallying the citizens of Dema and educating them on its oppressive government. Yet, in the end of the video, it is revealed to viewers that Dun and Joseph were controlling other people from outside of Dema to promote their uprising, while they themselves arrived at an unknown location, perhaps Voldstoy Island, by boat. 

The song itself included many different elements, including strong drums throughout most of the song, courtesy of drummer, Dun. Towards the beginning, Joseph exhibits soft airy vocals singing the lyrics “I created this world to feel some control, sahlo folina” which was a direct lyric from the song “Bandito” off of their album “Trench.” Later the song evolved into rap verses with a sung chorus, with all new lyrics despite the aforementioned line.  

“Next Semester”

The second single that the band released on Mar. 27th titled “Next Semester”explored a more lighthearted beat that almost sounds nostalgic. 

The music video depicts a crowded concert that Joseph and Dun are performing for with Joseph periodically experiencing flashbacks to being in the middle of a road and something almost running him over. This lines up well with the lyrics mentioning “the yellow dashes in the street” and then him hearing “hey kid, get out of the road.” 

At the end of the video, Joseph comes out into the crowd and finishes the song on a ukulele, making for an impactful and slow end to a relatively fast paced, punk-rock influenced, song.  

The Clancy Tour

Twenty One Pilots has since announced their upcoming global tour starting on Aug. 15 in Denver, Colorado, and ending on May 14, 2025 in London. On the local level, Twenty One Pilots will be performing on Aug. 25 at the Golden One Center in Sacramento, and there will also be three more shows throughout California. 

This is all super exciting news for fans, between now and the album release however, we have the “Clancy” album tracklist, the new logo, tour tickets, and exclusive merch that is available to pre-order. So stay tuned for all that the duo will do and do not miss this monumental release!