How TWENTY ØNE PILØTS writes a song

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Written by:
Josiah Byall
Motion graphics by:
Logan McNay

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Script:
So I was driving the other day, and “Stressed Out” by Twenty One Pilots came on the radio and I was blown away with how catchy and simply unique the lyrics were, and I decided to figure out why they sound so good! After listening to a handful of their other songs, I realized that the genius of their lyrics was quite simple, yet still very impressive. Tyler Joseph, the vocalist for Twenty One Pilots, is uncannily creative in the application of a figure of speech called assonance--a repetition of vowel sounds.
Like in “The Judge,” with his repetition of the “ow” sound in verse 2.

So what is so special about assonance? Are there wrong ways to use assonance? Certainly, but the key is to use the right vowel sounds depending on the emotion you are trying to convey; and that is the most effective use of assonance: to convey a specific emotion or lack thereof. Each vowel sound sends a different message when repeated or when paired with different vowels, and it’s not as simple as “a” is happy and “oo” is sad. Vowels are like colors, in that they evoke certain emotions within certain contexts.
There are two types of vowels: front and back. Front vowels like eye, ee, ay, and a (at) evoke very strong emotions and back vowels like oo, uh, oh, and ah are unemotional or neutral. Listen to this section of “Car Radio” for the use of the strong vowels, “ī,” “ï,” and “i” (“high,” “heat,” and “hit”) to communicate his raw emotion.

Sometimes quiet is violent
I find it hard to hide it
My pride is no longer inside
It's on my sleeve
My skin will scream
Reminding me of
Who I killed inside my dream
I hate this car that I'm driving
There's no hiding for me
I'm forced to deal with what I feel
There is no distraction to mask what is real
I could pull the steering wheel

Its really impressive how he displays this emotion with how the same strong vowels are repeated, but he does more than simple repetition. In the song, “Holding On To You,” he changes the repeated vowel from “oh” to “Ih” to “ī” to “oo” to “ee” to create an illusion of a wide range of emotions, which is appropriate for a verse addressing a battle against suicidal thoughts

Remember the moment
You know exactly where you're going,
'Cause the next moment,
Before you know it, time is slowing
And it's frozen still,
And the window sill looks really nice, right?
You think twice about your life,
It probably happens at night,
Right?
Fight it,
Take the pain, ignite it,
Tie a noose around your mind
Loose enough to breathe fine and tie it
To a tree. Tell it, "You belong to me.
This ain't a noose, this is a leash.
And I have news for you: you must obey me."

When I listen to this particular verse I can subconsciously realize the breaks in thought when he changes to a different vowel. So he can ramble without seeming like he's rambling. Tyler Joseph is very intentional with all of his vowels, especially the vowels he uses to close a particular verse. In Car Radio, you are left feeling somewhat hopeless and depressed, but you feel hopeful and optimistic at the end of Migraine, and I believe that it is partially due to his vowel choices. Though Migraine is full of emotional vowels, the bridge ends with a repetition of the “oh” sound

And I will say that we should take a moment and hold it,
And keep it frozen and know that
Life has a hopeful undertone.

…to drain the negative emotion that the song had built up, but Car Radio does not have this effect, ending on the word “silence” disturbing the comfortable repetition of the “ah” sound.
So hey if you love writing poetry or song lyrics, I would encourage you to check out the vowel choices that Tyler Joseph employs in his writing. Your vowel choice will massively affect the way your writing is received, but…let's not overthink it.