Blurryface

Blurryface
Twenty One Pilots studio album
Publication (s)	17th May 2015
Label (s)	Fueled by ramen
Format (s)	CD , vinyl , download
Genre (s)	Alternative hip hop Indie rock Rock music
Title (number)	14th
running time	52 min 23 s
occupation	Vocals , piano , keyboard , ukulele , organ , synth bass: Tyler Joseph Drums , percussion : Josh Dun
production	Mike Elizondo , Tim Anderson , Ricky Reed , Mike Crossey , Tyler Joseph
Studio (s)	Serenity West Recording, Paramount Recording Studios, Can Am, Sonic Lounge Studios, Livingston Studios, Werewolf Heart
chronology Vessel (2013) Blurryface Trench (2018)

Blurryface (also stylized as BL U RRYF Λ CE ) is the second major album and the fourth studio album by the Twenty One Pilots duo from Columbus , Ohio . The album was scheduled for May 19, 2015, but the musicians themselves released it on iTunes two days beforehand . The main single was the song Fairly Local on March 17, 2015 . With Tear in My Heart , Stressed Out , Lane Boy and Ride , four other songs were released in advance as a single.

Backstory

After releasing their third studio album and major debut Vessel in 2013, the duo toured extensively around the world promoting the album. During the tour, the musicians had a mobile studio with them to work on their first ideas for the next album.

Songs like Heavydirtysoul , Tear in My Heart , Ride , Fairly Local and Lane Boy were recorded with Ricky Reed at Serenity West Recording Studios in Hollywood , while Mike Elizondo produced Stressed Out , Polarize , Hometown and Not Today at Can Am in Tarzana , California took over. The Judge was recorded by Mike Crossey at Livingston Studios , London . Ricky Reed also produced the songs We Don't Believe What's On TV and Goner at Paramount Recording Studios in Hollywood. Message Man was recorded with Tim Anderson at Werewolf Heart Studios in Los Angeles .

After the recordings, Neal Avron took over the mixing at The Casita with the support of Scott Skrynski . The final mastering was done by Chris Gehringer in Sterling Sound in New York City .

concept

The album is named after a character created by Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun . Blurryface symbolizes both the characteristics of Joseph as an individual and the people in his personal environment. Blurryface is the embodiment of Tyler Joseph's insecurities, fears and doubts. During live performances as well as in the music videos, Joseph colors his neck, neck and hands with black paint to transform himself into a blurry face . This color symbolizes the areas of his life that are most clearly influenced by Blurry for him. His hands, as his greatest insecurities are the things he creates with them (music, poetry, etc.) and his neck, as he feels a feeling of suffocation when Blurryface has the upper hand.

publication

On March 17, 2015, the musicians announced the album's title, track list, and album release date. On the same day, Fairly Local, the main single of the album and the accompanying music video was released. Due to the massive influx of fans who tried to pre-order the album, the band's website was temporarily shut down.

On April 6, 2015, the second single followed with the release of the song Tear in My Heart, for which a music video was also produced. A few weeks later, on April 28th, the third single on the album, Stressed Out, was released, also with an accompanying music video. A week later, Lane Boy , a song from the album was released as a single in advance. Another week later, Ride was released as the fifth single.

The album itself was scheduled for May 19, 2015, but the musicians themselves released it on iTunes two days in advance . On the actual release day, the group played a concert at the iHeart Radio Theater in Burbank , California to celebrate the release of the album. This concert was broadcast live on iHeart Radio . Between May and December 2015, the duo completed several tours and played at several music festivals. The tour was completely sold out within a few minutes.

Track list

#	title	length	Remarks
1.	Heavydirtysoul	3:54
2.	Stressed out	3:22	3. Single
3.	Ride	3:34	5. Single
4th	Fairly local	3:27	1. Single
5.	Tear in My Heart	3:08	2nd single
6th	Lane boy	4:13	4. Single
7th	The Judge	4:57
8th.	Doubt	3:11
9.	Polarize	3:46
10.	We Don't Believe What's on TV	2:57
11.	Message Man	4:00
12.	Hometown	3:54
13.	Not Today	3:58
14th	Goner	3:56

success

Press reviews

Professional reviews
Averages
source	rating
Metacritic	80%
Reviews
source	rating
Alternative press
Billboard
Kerrang
Rolling Stone Australia
Laut.de

At Metacritic , Blurryface achieved a Metascore of 80 percent based on five published reviews from English-language music magazines. Garrett Kamps of the US Billboard wrote that Blurryface was pure chaos in a positive sense. However, the author gave a rather mixed review, as the album does not come close to the previous Vessel from 2013. Jason Pettigrew of the Alternative Press, however, was visibly impressed by the work and described the album as a whole as wonderful, whereby he praised the mixture of different musical styles in the songs. Songs like Ride , Polarize , Message Man , Tear in My Heart , We Don't Believe What's on TV , Goner and Lane Boy were named as musical highlights in his review.

Also on Alternative Press , the album reached number one in the list of the ten most essential albums of 2015. In the list of the 50 best albums of 2015 by British rock sound , Blurryface took second place. The album was in the third Alternative Press Music Awards in the category Album of the Year nominated and won the award. The album won the Best Rock Album category at the Billboard Music Awards .

Kai Butterweck from Laut.de wrote that the red thread of the album was getting thinner and thinner from minute to minute, which is not least due to the mass of producers who try to give the album their individual side. The album is lost in the colorful B-sides and rarities mix.

Commercial win

In the United States, Blurryface sold a total of 147,000 copies in the week following its release, 134,000 of which are from traditional phonogram sales. As a result, Blurryface immediately landed number one in the US music charts and thus earned the duo's highest chart entry. The album is also the first Top 40 album in the UK , where the album debuted at # 14. Six months after its release, the album has already been sold more than half a million times worldwide.

In December of the same year it was announced that Blurryface had also crossed the mark of 500,000 units sold in the USA. In January 2016 there were almost 600,000 units sold before the album was sold almost 800,000 times in the States just two months later. In mid-June, 920,000 albums were sold, and at the end of July the million mark in the USA was broken. In Canada , Blurryface received the gold record , in the United States double platinum .

In Germany , Blurryface rose to 66th place in May 2015 and only lasted for a week. In February 2016, the album returned to number 56 and has been in the German album charts ever since. On July 29, 2016, the plant reached its highest ranking to date with place 27. The same phenomenon can also be observed in Austria and Switzerland .

On March 1, 2018, the song Hometown received a gold record. As a result, every track on the album received an award from the RIAA. Twenty One Pilots is the first artist ever to do this.

Chart tracking and awards

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Singles

Fairly local   US 84  gold 04/04/2015 (1 week) Tear in My Heart   US 82  platinum 04/25/2015 (5 weeks) Stressed out   DE 3  × 3 Triple gold 01/22/2016 (46 weeks)   AT 2  platinum 01/29/2016 (39 weeks)   CH 2  × 2 Double platinum 01/17/2016 (58 weeks)   UK 12  platinum 02/04/2016 (44 weeks)   US 2  × 7 Seven times platinum 05/16/2015 (52 weeks) Ride   DE 21st  platinum 06/17/2016 (24 weeks)   AT 7th  platinum 06/24/2016 (28 weeks)   CH 24  platinum 06/05/2016 (32 weeks)   UK 47  platinum 06/23/2016 (22 weeks)   US 5  × 5 Quintuple platinum 04/02/2016 (39 weeks)

Weekly album charts

Charts	Top ranking	Weeks
Chart placements
Germany (GfK)	27 (63 weeks)	63
Austria (Ö3)	12 (55 weeks)	55
Switzerland (IFPI)	22nd (63 weeks)	63
United Kingdom (OCC)	5 (120 weeks)	120
United States (Billboard)	1 (... Where.)	...

Year-end charts

Charts (2017)	placement
Annual charts (2017)
United States (Billboard)	31

Awards for music sales

Country / Region	Award	Sales
Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales)
Australia (ARIA)	platinum	70,000
Denmark (IFPI)	platinum	20,000
Germany (BVMI)	gold	100,000
Italy (FIMI)	platinum	50,000
Canada (MC)	4 × platinum	320,000
Mexico (AMPROFON)	3 × gold	90,000
New Zealand (RMNZ)	platinum	15,000
Netherlands (NVPI)	gold	20,000
Norway (IFPI)	gold	5,000
Austria (IFPI)	platinum	15,000
Poland (ZPAV)	2 × platinum	40,000
Sweden (IFPI)	gold	20,000
Switzerland (IFPI)	platinum	20,000
United States (RIAA)	4 × platinum	4,000,000
United Kingdom (BPI)	platinum	300,000
All in all	5 × gold 18 × platinum	5,085,000

Main article: Twenty One Pilots / Music Sales Awards

Awards

• Alternative Press Music Awards
  • 2016 : Album of the year ( won )
• Billboard Music Awards
  • 2016 : Best rock album ( won )

literature

• Ryan Bird: Top 50 Releases of the Year . In: Freeway Press Inc. (Ed.): Rock Sound . No. 208, London, January 2016, ISSN  1465-0185 .
• James McMahon: On the Road . In: Bauer Media Group (ed.): Kerrang . No. 1593, London, 7 November 2015, ISSN  0262-6624 .
• Jason Pettigrew: 10 Essential Records of 2015 . In: Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. (Ed.): Alternative Press . No. 330, Cleveland, December 2015, ISSN  1065-1667 .
• James McMahon: Twenty One Pilots: The World at Their Feet . In: Bauer Media Group (Ed.): Kerrang! . No. 1574, London, June 27, 2015, ISSN  0262-6624 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Fred Thomas: Allmusic : Biography: twenty one pilots
2. ↑ Tom: HMV : "We're used to not fitting in ..."
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} According to the album supplement
4. ↑ MTV YouTube : Twenty One Pilots Explain Why Their Album Is Called "Blurry Face"
5. ↑ Music Television News : Um, Why Is The Dude From Twenty One Pilots Covered In Black Goo?
6. ↑ Andy Ritchie: Rock Sound : "Twenty One Pilots Just Dropped A New Track, Announced An Album And Four UK Dates. WOW."
7. ↑ Cassie Whitt: Alternative Press : Hear twenty one pilots' eerie new single “Fairly Local” from impending album 'Blurryface'
8. ^ Brian Kraus: Alternative Press : twenty one pilots release video for exuberant new single, "Tear In My Heart"
9. ↑ Andy Biddulph: Rock Sound : This New Twenty One Pilots Is Adorable
10. ↑ Brian Kraus: Alternative Press : twenty one pilots stream “Lane Boy” from 'Blurryface'
11. ↑ Scott T. Sterling: Radio.com : Twenty One Pilots Take a 'Ride' with New Song: Listen ( Memento of the original from May 16, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
12. ↑ Radio 1045 : "SURPRISE! Twenty One Pilots Release" Blurryface "Early!" ( Memento of the original from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
13. ↑ iHeart Radio : "iHeartRadio LIVE with twenty one pilots" ( Memento of the original from May 18, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
14. ↑ ^{a b} Metacritic : Twenty One Pilots - Blurryface
15. ^ ^{A b} Jason Pettigrew: Alternative Press : twenty one pilots - Blurryface review
16. ^ ^{A b} Garrett Kamps: Billboard : twenty one pilots - Blurryface criticism
17. ↑ Rod Yates: Rolling Stone Australia : twenty one pilots - Blurryface review ( memento of the original from January 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
18. ↑ ^{a b} Kai Butterweck: Laut.de twenty one pilots - Blurryface criticism
19. ↑ Rabab Al-Sharif: Alternative Press : Here's a list of winners from the 2016 APMAs ( Memento of the original from August 20, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
20. ↑ Billboard : "Billboard Music Awards 2016: Complete Winners List"
21. ^ Billboard : "Blurryface flies to number one of Billboard 200"
22. ↑ Keith Caulfield: Billboard : "Billboard 200 Chart Moves: Taylor Swift's 'Fearless' Surpasses 7 Million Sold in US"
23. ↑ Keith Caulfield: "Adele's Hello Tops Hot 100 for 10th Week as Twenty One Pilots Fly to Top 10"
24. ↑ Gary Trust: Billboard : "Twenty One Pilots Fly to No. 1 on Pop Songs Chart With 'Stressed Out'"
25. ↑ Kevin Rutherford: Billboard : "Twenty One Pilots' 'Ride' Replaces Their Own 'Stressed Out' Atop Hot Rock Songs Chart"
26. ↑ Keith Caulfield: Billboard : "Billboard 200 Chart Moves: Twenty One Pilots' 'Blurryface' Surpasses 1 Million US Sales"
27. ↑ Musical awards: CA - US - UK - DK
28. ↑ ^{a b} Blurryface chart tracking: DE - AT - CH - UK - US - CA
29. ↑ Maggie Dickman: Alternative Press : Twenty One Pilots are the first to hit this RIAA achievement
30. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Chart sources: DE - AT - CH - UK - US
31. ↑ Awards: DE - AT - CH - UK - US