something really interesting (aka fucking tragic) is how like, this story is going so far

bc overcompensate starts strong on the fighting back (both lore wise and just, life wise ig), and then next semester comes kinda hopeful/hopeless about new beginnings (a common theme with the pilots)

and then theres backslide, which, like its name, is such a big backslide mood wise and theme wise and like, you know personally for tyler's mental health state (i have no idea how to express my thoughts)

like it goes to a darker place, and unlike next semester, it doesn't have any hopeful undertone, it's quite the opposite, questioning whether one deserves help, whether one is worth even the minimun sign of help, even tho he desperately wants to keep fighting and just isn't strong enough to do it anymore

and going from "do you think that nows the time that you should let go?" to outright saying "you should let go" bc its over his head, and just the way he whispers "i don't wanna backslide" in the end, just barely audible

im afraid clancy is gonna be the end of me lmao tyler is really pulling out the pain in this one

(and its also quickly becoming my favorite album despite only 3 songs being out)

"i kinda wish i never did saturday" i'm gonna cry

the way tyler writes his lyrics in a way that's lowkey impossible to interpret at a first glance but still delivers the essential feel of it with the first impression is pretty amazing to me

there is a crack, a crack in everything that's how the light gets in // leonard cohen

ITS A LOOP. ITS A CYCLE . OT ENDS WHERE IT STARTED AND KT STARTS WHERE IT ENDS . BACKSLDIR

break the cycle. it's been "Why do I feel this way? -> is it ever going to get better? -> Wow, I'm messed up -> I'm insecure about that -> But I'll share my mess with others because the insecurity doesn't control me -> they like it & feel it too -> but if they like it because we're all messed up, then aren't I just secure in my mess? Am I afraid to get cleaned up because then they won't connect with me anymore? -> so then my insecurities do control me -> Why do I feel this way? -> is it ever going to get better? -> Wow, I'm messed up -> I'm insecure about that ->" for as long as I can remember.

Let Him break into the cycle and give you a security in Him, not in your mess. An identity in Him, not in your issues. He's got to take your hand and lead you up, step by step, growing and healing away from that cycle. The cycle shouldn't be who you are. Your support shouldn't be your support just because they have the same mess in common. You shouldn't be worried that by getting a wound healed and moving on, you're giving up your Wounded Support Group.

break the cycle by surrendering to God, who is outside of the cycle and can and does make you a new creation.

what would it be like if you stop looking so much at how you feel, and how you think, and how you are, and start talking about something other than your own psyche? Other than what your psyche has in common with others' psyches? You're so profound when you talk about your thoughts and the people who have the same kinds of thoughts as you. What would it be like if you started looking at something outside of yourself and talking about that?

I got recently thrust into knowing about twenty one pilots stuff and as such I seem to have Blessed Unbiased Hot takes (or as I'd like to call them, good opinions), so I have a theory about the Saturday line in Backslide;

So the already established readings are two: A meta commentary on the fan response to the album as a whole and Saturday specifically (the boring reading, Tyler don't come across to me as someone ashamed of his work, plus Saturday fucks) or an actual opinion that Clancy holds in universe due to being forced by Dema to write it.

What I suggest is kind of a bit of both! The callbacks to Blurryface on this video, aka the guy who "cares what you think", as well as the theme of trying to get better and evolve past his mistakes are central to Backslide right? And the whole lore is to a certain degree an abstraction of this depression and the tension within him, the pull to relapse into an insecure person who isnt proud of their work.

So it's a commentary on the refusal to make music which appeals to that expectation (Dema) while fighting back at the actual real expectations that clashed with the release of Saturday without stepping out of the fictional narrative, thus keeping the integrity of his work.

Anyways it's kinda silly and I've written a lot so may be hard to get what I mean but point being Tyler is aware of the Saturday backlash, stands for and defends why it was written, reivindicates it in this song and keeps everything in lore to boot because they're cool 🙏🤓☝️🌄

i could talk for hours about what songs, specifically twenty one pilots songs, mean to me, but i wont lol

what i will say however is it is so important to look back at your younger self and say "i should have loved you better"

hey read these lyrics and think lore . think about the torchbearer

the fact that blurryface's voice found its way back into a tøp song that's about worrying they're gonna backslide is tearing me apart