One of the best-sellers of 2016, made by a band who ascended to mainstream that same year. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Blurryface, by the duo called twenty one pilots (yes, lowercase letters only), who are considered by some as "The Saviors of Rock" (which I don't agree at all, since they have, like, nothing to do with Rock music, but yeah, sure).
Like I just mentioned, Blurryface was one of the best-sellers of 2016 (with approximately 1,5 million copies sold that year) and it includes the smash-hits Stressed Out and Ride, which have been respectively in 5th and 20th place on the year-end chart of Billboard that year. I think that shows how popular the album is.
This record was released on 17th May 2015 and it counts with six singles: Fairly Local, Tear in My Heart, Lane Boy, Stressed Out, Ride and Heavydirtysoul. Even though it was released in May 2015, the album only started to earn mainstream popularity in the end of 2015/beginning of 2016 (Just to compare the popularity of Blurryface in 2015 and 2016: It reached the 31st place on the year-end chart of Billboard of 2015 and in the next year, it was in 6th). Now the critics, they were pretty positive in general. Most of the organizations gave 4 stars to the record, but Alternative Press gave 4,5 (they always give a really high score to this kind of bands though) and Rolling Stones Autralia gave 3.
Okay, now that the introduction of the record is done, we will now proceed with my personal review. I'll start with this: This was my favorite record of the duo (despite that, the self-titled is not far behind). What I specially like about it are the lyrics and the character that the band created: Blurryface. Now, who is Blurryface? According to Tyler Joseph, the vocalist of twenty one pilots and author of most of the lyrics, Blurryface is the personification of his own demons, uncertainties and other negative things inside his head. Basically, his "pessimistic side". This character actually appears directly in some tracks. The best example is in Stressed Out, when a red-eyed Tyler with a distorted voice sings an alternative version of the bridge in the end of the track ("We used to play pretend, we used to play pretend, bunny/We used to play pretend, wake up, we need the money(...)". That's Blurryface!
Also, even though the pessimistic lyrics are one of the duo's main characteristics, present through their whole discography, this record has a "special" pessimism. It may be the record where Tyler opens himself the most, venting his feelings about his insecurities, his fear of death, his musical career, his childhood (usually with nostalgia, referring the fact that he wants to go back to those times) and also talking about his light of hope, which is his wife, Jenna Joseph (as it is seen in Tear in My Heart) and his family. This "special pessimism" is exactly the opposite that the critics and even their record label expected. In fact, according to the research I've done before writing this, their label, Fueled By Ramen, preferred that they made an album that'd be more commercially accepted and less depressive. And they kinda did make a more commercially accepted record when it comes to instrumentals, yeah (even though they say they have done something "different", you GOTTA admit this is way more commercially accepted than all the other records), but they didn't make a record with "less depressive lyrics". This topic of being "forced" by the media to make commercially accepted music is actually addressed in Fairly Local, but he has done it before as well. Actually, now that I think about it, most of the topics addressed in this record were also addressed in previous records, but they were written here in a more personal way. And the about the instrumentals, this album was a commercially accepted version of the self-titled album (where you could hear the piano very often) and abandoned almost entirely the "crazy" electronic beats, a characteristic adopted both in Regional at Best and Vessel, but it still has some electronic beats during the whole record. They basically tried some new stuff, putting Reggae in the mix and investing in Rap as much as they did in Vessel. It was a nice change, in my opinion.
My favourite tracks of Blurryface are probably We Don't Believe What's On TV, Message Man and Not Today and there is not a single bad track in here. (You heard me. Judge me all you want). We Don't Believe What's On TV is one of the happiest tracks instrumentally, with the ukulele and the occasional "YEAH, YEAH, YEAH!" almost forcing me to consider this track a REALLY happy one, but the lyrics are not as happy as the instrumental. I mean, yeah, it is happy, BUT, he still mentions his insecurities a lot, but mentioning more the good things in life. He mentions in the lyrics that he makes music to make the maximum number of people happy, and not because of fame or money (yeah, sure), and that only knowing that they have made someone happy with their music, he and his bandmate already feel fulfilled. Also, the chorus ("I don't care what's in your hair/I just wanna know what's on your mind/I used to say I wanna die before I'm old/but because of you I might think twice") is dedicated to Tyler's wife (some people actually thought it was about Josh Dun, Tyler's bandmate and drummer of twenty one pilots) and there is a part of the lyrics when he talks to his beloved ones ("I need to know/that when I fail you'll still be here"); Not Today is another song with an instrumental way happier than the lyrics (Tyler actually plays with that situation, saying "Listen, I know/This one's a contradiction because of how happy it sound/but the lyrics are so down"). The instrumental is pretty nice. The mix of the trumpet, the piano and the drums are pretty nice and it mixes well with the lyrics, which are basically one big fight between Tyler and Blurryface. It is one of the most creative lyrics throughout all the album because the same lyrics can have two interpretations: Tyler's and Blurryface's. The chorus, for example ("Heard you say, "not today"/Tore the curtains down, windows open, now make a sound/Heard your voice, there's no choice/Tore the curtains down, windows open, now make a sound"), has a double meaning. Tyler is telling Blurryface "Not today". Blurryface will not torment him today and he will get away from his, this time for good, while Blurryface is telling Tyler "Not today" as well. It won't be today that Tyler will get away, and he will tore away the curtain that separates him from Tyler, expecting despair from his side. That is one of the many examples you can see through the track where the same sentence has two meanings and two different points of view; and, at last but not least, Message Man. This track is a critic by Tyler Joseph about people who don't listen to a song at its entirely. They only pay attention to the instrumental, and yet not with enough attention, but it also refers the "civil war" that Tyler is having, beginning with the first words ("No no no no no no. Ye, ye, ye, ye, ye, ye"). But what I like about this song is not really the lyrics, but specially the instrumental. It is quite experimental and progressive and it has a very good rhythm, maybe the best of the album. The electronic beats mixes very well with the drums and it is difficult to listen to Tyler's voice on this track without singing along, specially on the chorus and 3rd verse. It is an excellent song.
This is one of the albums I've been listening the most lately, and I dare to say it is the best album of 2015. Yes, that's right. Call me a "teenage fag with no taste at all" all you want. I won't change my opinion. I find this album pretty good, and that is why I am giving it an 18,5/20. It has very few flaws, and it is mostly perfect. Perfect lyrics, perfect instrumentals, perfect creativity. I even have this record here, on physic. I am listening to it as I write this.
So, what do you think? Do you agree with me? What album should I review next? Tell me your opinion on the comments, and I will surely and gladly reply to you.
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário