“Car Radio” by Twenty One Pilots is one of my all time favorite songs, ever since my junior year of High School. For me, it was one of those that you don’t really like that much on the first listen, because it isn’t very catchy or too melodic, but once you start listening to it more and more, you begin to see all of the amazing qualities of the song. The more I listen to it the more I like it, even today. This kind of music is the kind of music that Twenty One Pilots has always been creating. Twenty One Pilots makes mostly songs that incorporate and rap and singing, and in my opinion he (Tyler Joseph) is phenomenal at both.
“Car Radio” starts off with just piano, and a tapping on the hi-hat. After the first verse, some strings come in, and then bass and more drums, until finally the instrumental melody comes in, and the song is at it’s most intense couple minutes. The song finally ends with essentially the same instruments is it started with, with the exception of slightly more percussion and drums. For me, however, the beauty of this song is not necessarily in the music or instrumentals, it’s in the lyrics. Not to say that I like or appreciate the music in the song, because I love the chords and piano and synth string/sawtooth lead part, but I find the lyrics to be so incredibly well thought out and meaningful. I love lyrics that aren’t obvious or give a blatant meaning, I like lyrics that you can interpret for yourself and input your owning meaning onto. That way, it can be relatable to anyone, which I think is really important if you want people to connect to your music. If people can’t find a way to relate to a song, then it’s hard for them to understand the emotion that was put into the song. That’s why I think it’s sometimes not the best to make a song very specific to one situation, because then no one will be able to relate to it, and in a way it almost loses it’s meaning. There are many different interpretations of “Car Radio,” and there’s probably an intended meaning and a personal meaning for Tyler Joseph, the person who wrote the song. My interpretation is this:
Someone is having a hard time getting through life, maybe having a problem with depressing or depressing thoughts, but have managed to get through it all this time somehow, because of something else; maybe it was a distraction, maybe it was someone else. . .But either way this person relied on this thing, and even hid behind it, but not that it’s gone he/she has to face the reality of the situation. The whole song is about how he’s dealing with being on his own now and how’s that’s affected his life.
What I love about these lyrics, is that Tyler Joseph never really mentions anything I stated above, he uses a metaphor of a “car radio” and “sitting in silence.” The “car radio” represents the “thing” that he relied on to distract him, or “provide some background noise,” but now that it’s gone, he has to face what’s going on head on, aka “sit in silence.”
I would recommend this song to anyone, no matter what genre they enjoy, because I think the song has so much meaning behind it, and that it has such much to offer the listener. I don’t that everyone should love the song, because not everyone has the same music taste, but I think that this is a song that people should hear and appreciate regardless of whether they’ll like it or not.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KCMeR26yAs
You’re right Eli it’s a very nice tune – simple but effective. Not sure I’m a big fan of the vocals at the end, the intent might be to convey psychic pain but it just sounds “screechy” to me. You’re absolutely correct that the piece begs for interpretation since it sure doesn’t seem possible that he is only talking about “replacing that slot”.
More proof-reading please.
I’ve got to say, I’m not usually a fan of the type of music, but I’ve listened to this song before and I really enjoy it. That aside, you’re certainly right about simplicity being the key to a good song every now and then. Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in the technicalities of music and forget that music’s true purpose is to express. This song really shows how simplicity is effective sometimes. It does an incredible job of expressing emotion, which is even more notable considering the fact that the lyrics are so vague and open to interpretation as you said. Depression could surely be the idea behind it, and it was my first thought while listening to the song as well.
This is an awesome choice for a song with varied interpretations, but I have to disagree! I think the lead singer sounds whiny and ridiculous, which detracts from the meaning of the lyrics. Bands often fuse genres together to create a new sound, but in this case, I don’t think it worked for them.
I can’t see why you may not like the screaming at the end, but he actually does have a very nice voice in my opinion. Here’s an example of his majestic voice. (A cover of Can’t Helping Falling In Love)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ThQkrXHdh4
+1 just for submitting a song that features a Ukulele (Elvis would be proud).
Wow! Tough love there Amanda! His voice probably isn’t anyone’s idea of a traditional male vocal lead but as I posted earlier didn’t really put me off until way late in the song.
Is it the relatively high register that makes it whiney or something else?
Related aside. Love Bob Dylan’s songwriting can’t stand to hear him sing…
I like this song a lot! It was recently shown to me by a friend who thought I would like it and he was right! I also agree with you when you say that you like songs where you can’t really understand the meaning. It may be weird, but I like not knowing what the song is about and kind of wondering what the writer is trying to say.
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