History YMMV / TwentyOnePilots

** The band has gotten hit with this ''hard'' due to their music being interpreted as Christian ([[NotChristianRock although Christian themes are present due to Tyler's faith's influence on him, they're implicit at best]]), ''especially'' with ''Blurryface'' and ''Trench''.

** ''Trench'' kicked this UpToEleven. The AlternateRealityGame used to promote the album is directly intertwined with the album's lyrics, song titles, and visuals, not to mention how Blurryface likely ties into the narrative as well. If you never checked out the information on the "dmaorg" site, a lot of stuff will be incomprehensible to you.

* SignatureSong: "Stressed Out" is their most widely-known and commercially successful song, though "Heathens" and "Ride" are close runner-ups.

** The video for "Car Radio" features Tyler shaving his head alone in a bathroom, evidently in an expression of profound sadness. This serious tone is broken a bit when he starts singing into the electric razor like a microphone, though Tyler's [[SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct performance]] reigns this in somewhat.

** "The Pantaloon", a song from the band's debut album, is about the cyclical process of watching your parents and grandparents becoming more mentally and cognitively impaired, a concept inspired by Tyler's grandfather Robert. Almost ten years and four albums later, and ''Trench'' presents "Legend", a song explicitly about this inevitable process fulfilling again in Robert, who passed during the album's production from dementia. The lyrics even describe how Tyler could no longer bring himself to visit him when he stopped being able to recognize him.

** More than a few have drawn comparisons between tracks on ''Scaled and Icy'' to other songs ("Mulberry Street" and Music/EltonJohn's "Benny and the Jets", "Foundation" and Music/{{The Cure|Band}}'s "Friday I'm In Love", and even the bassline of "Never Take It" and Music/TheGoGos "Our Lips Are Sealed").

** More than a few have drawn comparisons between tracks on ''Scaled and Icy'' to other songs ("Mulberry Street" and Music/EltonJohn's "Benny and the Jets", "Foundation" and Music/TheCure's "Friday I'm In Love", and even the bassline of "Never Take It" and Music/TheGoGos "Our Lips Are Sealed").

* SignatureSong: "Stressed Out" is their most widely-known song, though "Heathens" and "Ride" are close runner-ups.

** ''Scaled and Icy'' builds on the ''Trench'' mythos... somehow. The band has remained mum on how the album's iconography of saturation and a dragon tie in to the references to Dema, leaving it up to fans to interpret further ARG clues. Anyone watching the Livestream Experience would likely have no idea who the talk show hosts are supposed to represent.

** The buildup to ''Scaled and Icy'' was filled with this since the album's name was first hinted at in a message written in the background of the "Christmas Saves The Year" [=YouTube=] thumbnail stating "SAI IS PROPAGANDA". Clique detectives quickly determined that the album title is also an anagram for "Clancy is dead" and began to interpret the album's divergent sound and the absence of the band's logo as hints that it is somehow a "fake" album produced by the Dema. How much of this was intended by the band is completely unknown, though the incorporation of Dema elements into the narrative of the album's release and their Livestream Experience implies that at least some of it is.

** In turn, Mutemath, [=MisterWives=], and Jon Bellion have all opened for Twenty One Pilots and led to a lot of crossover between them, with members of Mutemath and [=MisterWives=] becoming associated acts. Mutemath collaborated with the band for the [=TOPxMM=] remix EP in 2016, and their frontman Paul Meany has become Tyler's primary producing partner. [=MisterWives=] trumpeter Dr. Blum was for many years the only other live musician to join the band for live performances (most prominently [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JE8R9KfJwI their version of "Fall Away"]]). All of these artists joined the band for the ''Scaled and Icy'' Livestream Experience.
** There was a lot of early crossover between their and Music/{{Halsey}}'s fandom due in part to her and Josh's friendship in 2015-6, though this has since faded.
* GrowingTheBeard: After being the object of a lot of critical scorn from certain corners of the music community, ''Trench'' was met with almost universal praise for its more ambitious production and storytelling. Many reviewers, including [[WebVideo/TheNeedleDrop Anthony Fantano]], expressed outright shock for how much they enjoyed the album after outright disdaining most of the band's previous work.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: "Stay alive" is their slogan for a reason. Pretty much their entire body of work is dedicated to relating to and comforting people with suicidal depression.
** "Neon Gravestones": Celebrate your loved ones and favorite singers [[DeadArtistsAreBetter before they die]], and don't glorify mental illness and suicide.

* HypeBacklash: At the height of the song's popularity, a number of long-time fans expressed resentment toward "Stressed Out" for overshadowing the band's earlier work and bringing in new fans who were only familiar with the band's biggest hit. This feeling in turn caused some degree of CreatorBacklash from Tyler; he once performed the song with alternate lyrics criticizing its overplayed status when he felt that fans at their concerts showed markedly less enthusiasm toward "Stressed Out" than the rest of the setlist. The ''Trench'' single "The Hype" is in some ways about navigating this.

* HypeBacklash: At the height of the song's popularity, a number of long-time fans expressed resentment toward "Stressed Out" for overshadowing the band's earlier work and bringing in new fans who were only familiar with the band's biggest hit. This feeling in turn caused some degree of CreatorBacklash from Tyler; he once performed the song with alternate lyrics criticizing its overplayed status when he felt that fans at their concerts showed markedly less enthusiasm toward "Stressed Out" than the rest of the setlist.

* {{Mondegreen}}:
** In "Polarize", some people cannot unhear the title as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcsouLHNdB8 "bowl of rice"]].
** The reversed audio in "Nico and the Niners" was interpreted early on by some to sound like "So keep Ned by you" or "So deep, Ned Bayou". "Ned" later became a full-fledged character, and a Columbus pop-up store to promote the band would later be named [[https://www.dispatch.com/business/20190621/twenty-one-pilots-might-open-pop-up-shop-in-short-north Ned's Bayou]].

* GrowingTheBeard [=/=] SurprisinglyImprovedSequel: After being the object of a lot of critical scorn from certain corners of the music community, ''Trench'' was met with almost universal praise for its more ambitious production and storytelling. Many reviewers, including [[WebVideo/TheNeedleDrop Anthony Fantano]], expressed outright shock for how much they enjoyed the album after outright disdaining most of the band's previous work.

** The band's cover of [[Music/MyChemicalRomance "Cancer"]] sparked a little bit of FandomRivalry between TØP and MCR over whose version was better, what with how [[TheCoverChangesTheMeaning the cover took such a unique spin on the original's meaning]]. Some say that there was never a competition, and that each version is good in its own right.
** ''Scaled and Icy'' proved to be quite divisive within the Clique upon release.
*** With its relatively short runtime (not even 40 minutes as opposed to prior albums' 47-60 minute ranges), its polished pop sound, its straightforward lyrics, and the general mood of happiness and optimism running throughout, it represented a style no one was really banking on the band to dive into after the conceptual density and dark, melancholic tone of ''Trench'', which mixed with [[http://reddit.com/r/twentyonepilots/comments/nhp113/something_interesting_tyler_said_and_its/ information from Tyler]] to incite conversations regarding whether the album's lightness made it more disposable or signified less effort put in by Tyler and co., with some even accusing the band of releasing [[StylisticSuck a deliberately bad or fake album]].
*** Another angle of debate was in how the album's style made it compare to its predecessors. Was it a step down from ''Trench''? A complete undoing of their artistic growth? An acceptable detour for lighter content reflective of [[UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic world events]]? A worthwhile creative experiment on par with their previous releases?
*** Then there was the factored-in influence of the Dema storyline, in which the album's accessible mainstream sound exists as Dema propaganda, and the happy mood of the music is false and meant to create complacency and control.[[note]]To this end's credit, the album is peppered with [[LyricalDissonance dark lyrics]] that hint at ''something'' going on beneath the surface, and its final tracks revert back to ''Trench''[='=]s sound to discard the seeming façade.[[/note]] This only stirred up ''more'' debate as to whether or not this concept made the album more impactful or completely pretentious, alongside the implications of how much the album relies on the storyline for meaning.

** The song contains the recurring line "I wish she knew you", stated explicitly by Tyler to be about his wife Jenna and how he wishes she could've known the person Robert was before the disease set in. Now that the two have had a daughter, the "she" works on two levels.

** Another angle of debate was in how the album's style made it compare to its predecessors. Was it a step down from ''Trench''? A complete undoing of their artistic growth? An acceptable detour for lighter content reflective of [[UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic world events]]? A worthwhile creative experiment on par with their previous releases?
** Then there was the factored-in influence of the Dema storyline, in which the album's accessible mainstream sound exists as Dema propaganda, and the happy mood of the music is false and meant to create complacency and control.[[note]]To this end's credit, the album is peppered with [[LyricalDissonance dark lyrics]] that hint at ''something'' going on beneath the surface, and its final tracks revert back to ''Trench''[='=]s sound to discard the seeming façade.[[/note]] This only stirred up ''more'' debate as to whether or not this concept made the album more impactful or completely pretentious, alongside the implications of how much the album relies on the storyline for meaning.

** The band's cover of [[Music/MyChemicalRomance "Cancer"]] has sparked a little bit of FandomRivalry between TØP and MCR over whose version was better, what with how [[TheCoverChangesTheMeaning the cover took such a unique spin on the original's meaning]]. Some say that there was never a competition, and that each version is good in its own right.
** There's also the debate that rages on about whether the group should be considered a rock band. Though their songs have dominated the rock charts, almost none of them use actual guitars and often sound like they belong in entirely different genres.
* ContinuityLockOut:

-->'''Josh''': There's a lot of fanfiction that's super weird... it's more like fan-nonfiction. Stuff like Tyler and I buying matching Lamborghinis and driving really fast, working out together, stuff like that.
-->'''Tyler''': Yeah, that's the G-rated version.

-->'''Interviewer''': Favorite pre-show ritual?
-->'''Josh''': Naps.
-->'''Tyler''': Together.

** With Music/FallOutBoy, Music/PanicAtTheDisco, and Music/{{Paramore}, mostly because a lot of their fans found them when they opened for these bands.

* GrowingTheBeard: After being the object of a lot of critical scorn from certain corners of the music community, ''Trench'' was met with almost universal praise for its more ambitious production and storytelling. Many reviewers, including [[WebVideo/TheNeedleDrop Anthony Fantano]], expressed outright shock for how much they enjoyed the album after outright disdaining most of the band's previous work.

* SequelDisplacement: ''Vessel'' was the band's first ''studio'' album but is often incorrectly described as the band's debut by some media. Many fans don't know about the first two independent albums, which was not helped by the pulling of ''Regional At Best'' from distribution. Further confusing things is Tyler's [[ShrugOfGod inconsistent]] counting of the independent albums himself- he often refers to the self-titled record as "more of a mixtape" and [[CanonDiscontinuity acts as though]] ''[[CanonDiscontinuity Regional At Best]]'' [[https://www.reddit.com/r/Music/comments/9mi18l/ama_hey_we_are_tyler_and_josh_from_twenty_one/e7eqvtk doesn't exist]].

** “Neon Gravestones”: Celebrate your loved ones and favorite singers [[DeadArtistsAreBetter before they die]], and don't glorify mental illness and suicide.

** With Music/FallOutBoy and Music/PanicAtTheDisco, mostly because a lot of their fans found them when they opened for the two bands on the Save Rock and Roll Tour.
** Also with Music/{{Paramore}} due to them being labelmates and good friends.
** There was a lot of early crossover between their and Music/{{Halsey}}'s fandom due in part to her and Josh's friendship.

** The buildup to ''Scaled and Icy'' was filled with this since the album's name was first hinted at in a message written in the background of the "Christmas Saves The Year" [=YouTube=] thumbnail stating "SAI IS PROPAGANDA". Clique detectives quickly determined that the album title is also an anagram for "Clancy is dead" and began to interpret the album's divergent sound and the absence of the band's logo as hints that it is somehow a "fake" album produced by the Dema. Whether ''any'' of this was intended by the band is completely unknown.

* ContinuityLockOut: They've engaged in this as of late. ''Blurryface'' was already a little bit indulged in this trope -- as Tyler only gave outright explanations for the namesake character in interviews, and the album's concept was only readily accessible after a bit of digging -- but ''Trench'' kicks this UpToEleven. The AlternateRealityGame used to promote the album is directly intertwined with the album's lyrics, song titles, and visuals, not to mention how Blurryface likely ties into the narrative as well. If you never checked out the information on the "dmaorg" site, a lot of stuff will be incomprehensible to you.

** "Jyler" for Tyler and his wife, Jenna.
** "Jebby" for Josh and his fiancée [[Creator/DebbyRyan Debby]].

* SequelDisplacement: ''Vessel'' was the band's first ''studio'' album, but is often incorrectly described as the band's debut by some media. Many fans don't know about the first two independent albums, which was not helped by the pulling of ''Regional At Best'' from distribution. Further confusing things is Tyler's [[ShrugOfGod inconsistent]] counting of the independent albums himself- he often refers to the self-titled record as "more of a mixtape" and [[CanonDiscontinuity acts as though]] ''[[CanonDiscontinuity Regional At Best]]'' [[https://www.reddit.com/r/Music/comments/9mi18l/ama_hey_we_are_tyler_and_josh_from_twenty_one/e7eqvtk doesn't exist]].

** The Reading Festival 2016 incident. During "Car Radio", Tyler attempted to crowdsurf out to a high platform in the middle of the audience, a stunt he had performed at countless previous shows. The attendees of the festival pulled Tyler in the crowd, tearing his shirt, stealing his mask and shoes, and delaying the set so long that they had to end it early. Much of the Clique reacted with horror, while other observers claimed that the whole thing was blown out of proportion and that Tyler should have had a better read on the crowd, as Reading is notoriously rowdy and many other performers have experienced similar abuse.[[note]]For his part, Tyler referred to the incident as "one of his favorite sets ever", stating that enjoyed the authentic energy.[[/note]]

* ContinuityLockOut: They've engaged in this as of late. ''Blurryface'' was already a little bit indulged in this trope--as Tyler only gave outright explanations for the namesake character in interviews, and the album's concept was only readily accessible after a bit of digging--but ''Trench'' kicks this UpToEleven. The AlternateRealityGame used to promote the album is directly intertwined with the album's lyrics, song titles, and visuals, not to mention how Blurryface likely ties into the narrative as well. If you never checked out the information on the "dmaorg" site, a lot of stuff will be incomprehensible to you.

** Speculation on exactly who/what Blurryface was and how he was manifesting in the album were rampant in the lead-up to its release.
** The Clique loves to pick apart every detail of stage presentation and social media for hints regarding future projects. Just one example: Before playing a show at the 2016 March Madness Music Festival, Blurryface [[https://www.reddit.com/r/twentyonepilots/comments/4d3hdk/summary_of_today/ tweeted about wearing blue]], calling it "a sign of defeat." For [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8uogj2E-Jo the performance]], Tyler wore a blue jumpsuit, the only time after the release of ''Blurryface'' that he used that color on-stage. Fans speculated over what that tweet meant for ''months'', but it was never explained or mentioned again.

** Tyler and Josh riding tricycles and sipping Capri Sun on the curb in the video for "Stressed Out". It's intentionally and undeniably ridiculous.

** Tyler and Josh are "Joshler."

* SignatureSong: "Stressed Out" is their most widely known song, though "Heathens" and "Ride" are close runner-ups.

** When sinning the "Heavydirtysoul" video, Jeremy Scott of [[WebVideo/CinemaSins Music Video Sins]] noted how similar the song sounded to Music/TheProdigy's "Firestarter".