Twenty One Pilots are the biggest alternative band to come out of the streaming era by any metric. As you’d expect, their songs are a fluid blend of clashing genres that want to turn uneasy fears into cause for celebration. While you might not recognise the band name, you’ll definitely know the tracks: a couple of them have been streamed more than 2 billion times on Spotify. This week, their unlikely breakthrough album Blurryface turns 10.
Taking inspiration from a lifetime of musical touchpoints, the band toyed with rock, reggae and indie-pop across Blurryface. It was messy and jarring, there was a lot of ukulele, but the whole thing was delivered with so much conviction; it worked. “We did want to make something that felt new,” admits vocalist Tyler Joseph. “But we weren’t looking over the top of our small fan base, trying to reach this broad audience. That just happened.”
