Twenty One Pilots thunders back with ‘Jumpsuit’

Sarah Beckford

Usually when a band returns from hiatus, fans typically theorize how they’ll sound after being away. The same can be said for Twenty One Pilots, who disappeared for a year after their critically acclaimed record Blurryface shot them to fame, and brought their spirited fanbase into the spotlight as well. A new era has now begun, and ‘Jumpsuit,’ one of two lead singles from their upcoming record, Trench, proves that.

Jumpsuit is part of a larger story, a story that’s highly suspected to be part of the universe of cryptic images, messages, and billboards that have hinted at Twenty One Pilots’ return. Despite all of this, ‘Jumpsuit’ is a track that not only drives one to write a thousand theories of its meaning, but it also sounds stellar as well. It opens with a bass heavy industrial sound, and flows well, peppered with traditional Twenty One Pilots’ sonic trademarks- high energy, cinematic soundscapes, lyrical symbolism, and the exhilarating twist and turns that occur when one masterfully blends soul, hip-hop, and rock elements.

‘Jumpsuit’ urges you to wake up, as Tyler Joseph says at the beginning of the song’s music video. Through the song’s lyrics, Joseph speaks of feeling pressure, and appealing to his jumpsuit t act as a safeguard from these pressures. These pressures could either be society, the music industry, insecurities, or simply Dema, a mystical land/governmental force that’s mentioned in ‘Nico and the Niners,’ the album’s other lead single. The song’s bridge is strikingly soft, backed by soft percussion and high harmonies, before a guttural and exciting reprise of the chorus. It’s here that the listener can hear Twenty One Pilots’ hard rock influences, and it’s done in such a way that one genuinely feels the catharsis and energy with which Joseph is singing.

‘Jumpsuit,’ with all of its complex elements, is a piece of the larger puzzle that’s been created by mysterious nature of we know and don’t know about the band’s upcoming record. Nevertheless, it’s an energetic track deserving of the hype it’s been given. With this and the reggae-infused ‘Nico and the Niners,’ Twenty One Pilots has returned not just for the fans, but for themselves. At their core, they’re storytellers, and this shows that they know how to tell one.