Will Twenty One Pilots’ seventh studio album prove to be the final chapter in the story of the biggest rock act to come out of Ohio, the beginning of a new one, or both? Time will tell, but Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun are definitely ending a multi-album conceptual narrative with Clancy. The album debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and has been supported by this summer by The Clancy World Tour, a massive yearlong trek that concludes with two shows at London’s O2 Arena.
In other words, Twenty One Pilots is still flying high after the breakout success of 2015’s Blurryface, the album in which the duo perfected its mélange of musical styles that would be an unmanageable mess in the wrong hands. Joseph’s creative exuberance, knack for conjuring synthesizer hooks and infinite wellspring of lyrical inspiration is offset by Dun’s expressive force-of-nature drumming that complements emotions Joseph explores in song.
The combination is an unstoppable force that creates a rock, rap, reggae, punk, synth-pop and emo amalgamation as compelling sonically as it is catchy. Blurryface’s “Stressed Out” captured the zeitgeist of the mid-2010s like no other angst-driven single, while the song’s lyrics, “My name’s Blurryface and I care what you think,” became an irresistible earworm that helped drive the album to No. 1.
Clancy the character showed up on 2018’s Trench, which would reach No. 2 and expand Twenty One Pilots’ devoted fan base. Sixth studio full-length Scaled and Icy left some critics cold after its 2021 release, but it was its third top three album. Clancy the album feels like a natural pivot after Scaled, as if Joseph and Dun are sowing the seeds of a positive upbeat direction while harvesting the results of 15 years of artistic growth.
Maybe Clancy won’t return, or he’ll come back in another form. One way or another, Joseph will express himself through alter egos and shows no signs of wavering in his voyage of musical discovery. Only The Killers, an influence on Joseph, are a bigger American rock band, and they are of an earlier sub-generation. His ideas resonate with audiences, and his personas are millennial embodiments.
His fans, in turn, express themselves creatively and share the results with the duo. Tyler and Joseph encourage listeners affected by their songs to create fan art, and have interacted with artists. The bond created is one reason Joseph can communicate through recurring characters, and Clancy allowed him to draw fans back into the Twenty One Pilots universe with the music and the album’s promotional plan.
Core devotees received red envelopes with contents that teased the album. Listening events were held at 175 record stores for thousands of fans. The tour features The Fan Premier Exhibit, a traveling museum of personal items that tells the band’s history through the conclusion of Clancy. There’s doesn’t seem to be any end in sight for Twenty One Pilots, though. Only a new flight plan.
MGM Grand, 8 p.m. Aug. 31, starting at $87 plus tax and fee. ticketmaster.com
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