walking upstream…
Twenty One Pilots
photo: drew de f fawkes · cc by 2.0 ↗Twenty One Pilots
Twenty One Pilots began in Columbus, Ohio in 2009 as a project of singer, multi-instrumentalist and rapper Tyler Joseph, settling into a duo with drummer Josh Dun that welds rapid-fire rap verses, piano-pop hooks, reggae bounce, and electronic and rock textures into a single restless sound. Raised on a mix of Christian rap rock, classic pop, and the 2000s emo scene, Joseph built a catalog around anxiety, faith, and self-doubt that connected with a devoted younger audience. Their 2015 album 'Blurryface' and its singles 'Stressed Out,' 'Ride,' and 'Heathens' turned them into one of the most commercially successful alternative acts of the 2010s, earning a Grammy and blurring the lines between rap, pop, and rock for a generation of listeners.
the sound in question
2015
Stressed OutTwenty One Pilots
walk the tributaries ↓
The Beatles1960s · Rock / Pop rock
Tyler Joseph has named The Beatles among his childhood musical influences, and the band's habit of folding disparate styles into tightly written pop songs runs through Twenty One Pilots' own genre-hopping, hook-first approach.
listen: upstream & here
1968
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-DaThe Beatles
2015
RideTwenty One Pilots
listen forThrow on the ska-and-reggae bounce of the Beatles' 'Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da' right before 'Ride' — hear how both ride a sunny, skanking off-beat lilt under a singalong melody, turning a light Caribbean-flavored groove into an unshakable pop chorus.
Eminem2000s · Hip-hop / Rap
Joseph's rapid, densely syllabic rapping has been widely compared to Eminem, and Joseph has acknowledged the comparison, joking that as a white guy saying words very fast he apparently sounds like Eminem — a reference point for the way Twenty One Pilots drop breakneck rap verses into otherwise melodic pop-rock songs.
listen: upstream & here
2000
The Real Slim ShadyEminem
2015
HeavydirtysoulTwenty One Pilots
listen forCue the tumbling, quick-tongued verses of Eminem's 'The Real Slim Shady' next to the machine-gun rapping that opens 'Heavydirtysoul' — both stack tightly rhymed syllables into a barreling, barely-pausing flow before the hook lands.
My Chemical Romance2000s · Emo / Pop punk / Alternative rock
Twenty One Pilots' early material has been described as leaning toward post-emo, echoing the mid-2000s emo bands like My Chemical Romance whose theatrical, confessional intensity shaped the scene Joseph came up in — the same swing between whispered vulnerability and full-throated catharsis.
listen: upstream & here
2006
Welcome to the Black ParadeMy Chemical Romance
2013
Car RadioTwenty One Pilots
listen forSet the slow-building dread and explosive release of My Chemical Romance's 'Welcome to the Black Parade' against 'Car Radio' — both start hushed and haunted, then detonate into a huge, screamed-along climax that treats private anguish as arena-sized drama.