The highly anticipated latest release in the 10-year saga created by Twenty One Pilots has finally been released. Their 7th studio album Clancy is the final record to their story, and fans have been anticipating the full story for years. Here is a breakdown of the release:
Lore
Over the past 5 album cycles of Twenty One Pilots career, the Columbus duo has been building characters and a world completely outside of our own. On February 22nd of this year, the band released a 4-minute teaser video that explains the stories background in a more digestible and understandable form to see how the story has progressed to today and that “Next week, a new chapter begins.”
In the video, we learn that Clancy has escaped from the location of Dema multiple times but is always found. Clancy is found by Nico (appears in the song “Nico and the Niners” on Trench) or Blurryface (2015 album Blurryface) as he likes to be called. Nico is one of the nine bishops of Dema, where they wield power and control over citizens.
This instance creates a cycle where Clancy escapes and gets a little further every time, but Nico still finds him. Until in his last escape when the Banditos (a group that lives outside of Dema, in the track “Bandito” on Trench) witnessed him and helped him escape from Dema once and for all.
After being captured and forced to be a pawn to entertain the citizens of Dema (Scaled and Icy era). Clancy escapes to an island off the coast of Trench called, Voldsøy. There he meets a creature (in the video for “Chlorine” on Trench) called Ned that gifts his the same abilities that Nico and the Bishops have.
With this last record, now that Clancy possesses the same power as the Bishops, he could end the cycle of control that the Bishops have over the citizens of Dema, possibly freeing the citizens.
Music Videos
Twenty One Pilots created a music video for every track on this record. This is something the band said they have always wanted to do but have not had the time or resources to do until now.
The band created four more high-budget style videos. And the rest of the tracks had a more low-budget style that just showed the duo having fun with their music.
Additionally, the duo also livestreamed all the videos and broke down some information about the process, including filming, directing, and the writing process of the album. You can watch the full livestream here:
Most notably, the video for the song “Backslide” was the directorial debut for drummer Josh Dun. The video featured many allusions to the world of Dema the band had created, specifically the “Ned’s Breads” rolls. This anecdote was enjoyed by fans, even if the video was not part of the core storyline. You can watch the video here:
The music videos for “Overcompensate” and “Navigating” build on the storyline of Dema. The final video will be “Paladin Strait” which is set to release in June. On the livestream, a placeholder video was released in the meantime.
Tracks
The album had four singles, starting with “Overcompensate” which peaked on the US Rock Airplay chart on Billboard at 6 and at 7 on the US Hot Rock and Alternative Songs on Billboard.
Followed by “Next Semester” which has a very unique music video. Showing the duo in a small venue playing the song in a very intense, but fun atmosphere.
“Backslide” was the third single, which reached 10 on the New Zealand Hot Singles (RMNZ) chart. The way the track charted shows it is a fan favorite abroad, and we can expect the duo to play it for their upcoming New Zealand shows on the Clancy World Tour.
On May 22, the duo released the final single, “The Craving (Single Version).” The album version of “The Craving (Jenna’s Version)” is a personal ballad from Joseph to his wife.
Clancy World Tour
The duo is going on their biggest tour yet, starting in North America this summer. You can find more information here:
Dun commented in the live stream that this is also the group’s first time headlining in Latin America. They were very excited to play there outside of the festivals they have played in the past.
Overall, this record is set to be one of the band’s best releases, while likely not surpassing the popularity of 2015’s Blurryface. Fans can see the duo’s dedication with this new record and the emphasis on artistry.
