Twenty One Pilots was the soundtrack to my early teenagehood. Their music got me ‘through high school’ or at least 13-year-old me thought so. It was not uncommon for me to be blaring their rap-rock hybrid tunes through the wired headphones of my smashed iPhone 5C truly believing it to be some kind of tortured poetry that only me and a few select others could ever understand. Their 2015 album ‘Blurryface’ is undoubtably a cornerstone of 2010s Tumblr emo culture and although a tad dated nowadays, I think it still holds some weight. I also thoroughly enjoyed their 2018 album ‘Trench’ still finding this to be their best and most mature.
However, I did not enjoy their 2021 release ‘Scaled and Icy’, finding it to be a huge and disappointing change in sound for the Grammy winning band. I can then say I ‘grew out’ of the band and hadn’t really listened to them in years. I only really thought about them to reminisce on my high school ‘emo era’ and laugh at the pictures of me wrapped in yellow tape at their Trench tour, of course at the time I found myself very edgy and cool. I could say my Twenty One Pilots era was over but still look back fondly at the band and what their music meant to me at the time.
Last week however I was scrolling through Twitter and stumbled across a video they had posted, slightly surprised that I still followed the band, out of curiosity I gave the video a watch. The four-minute video explained all the ‘lore’ that the band has created throughout their career such as the characters from concept albums and the imaginary lands featured in music videos. All things I was a little too invested in a few years back. The band then announced a new album ‘Clancy’ coming out in mid-May realising the new lead single Overcompensate. I can’t pretend that the video didn’t make me overcome with nostalgia remembering all the hours I’d spent theorising over the world that the band had created. I felt that I owed it to 13-year-old me to give their new single a listen and see if it was possible for me to reconnect with what once had been my favourite band.
Overcompensate is without a doubt a call back to Twenty One Pilots’ older sound. The single brings an energy and vibe I had come to expect from a Twenty One Pilots song showcasing the bands signature genre-blending creating a hybrid of rock, hip-hop and electronic sound. The songs introduction feels inspired by 90s alternative electronic music almost sounding like something The Prodigy would’ve released. The lyrics of Overcompensate are classical Twenty One Pilots alluding to a greater theme of the character of ‘Clancy’ which I’m sure will be explored further in the new album. The chorus is catchy and hard hitting having a bit of a poppier feel but still feeling like a celebration of the bands sound and history.
I wouldn’t state that the song is some crazy amazing track, but it is definitely solid having been stuck in my head for a few days now. Overcompensate marks a new era for the band, one which I think has a lot of potential. Whilst a slightly ‘middle of the road’ tracks the single has got my attention back on the band again and I am excited to see what they do with their new album later in the year. I would recommend giving the single a listen even if is just to temporarily transport yourself back to your high-school emo era. Overcompensate – 6/10.