Blurryface

Background and recording

Following the release of their third album Vessel (2013), the band toured extensively in support of the album worldwide. While on tour the band had a portable recording studio that allowed them to lay down ideas.

"Heavydirtysoul", "Ride", "Fairly Local", "Tear in My Heart", "Lane Boy" and "Doubt" were recorded with producer Ricky Reed at Serenity West Recording in Hollywood, California. "Stressed Out", "Polarize", "Hometown" and "Not Today" were recorded with producer Mike Elizondo at Can Am in Tarzana, California. "Ride" was recorded with Reed at Sonic Lounge Studios in Grove City, Ohio. "The Judge" was recorded with producer Mike Crossey at Livingston Studios in London. "We Don't Believe What's on TV" and "Goner" were recorded with Reed at Paramount Recording Studios in Hollywood, California. "Message Man" was recorded with Tim Anderson at Werewolf Heart in Los Angeles, California. The album was mixed by Neal Avron, with assistance from Scott Skrzynski, at The Casita in Hollywood, California. The album was mastered by Chris Gehringer at Sterling Sound in New York City.

Title and artwork

The album is named after a character the band created called Blurryface. According to Joseph, he "represents all the things that I as an individual, but also everyone around, are insecure about." Joseph wears black paint on his hands and neck during his live shows and music videos for the album, to represent Blurryface, saying: "Very dramatic, I know, but it helps me get into that character."

Art direction and design was done by Brandon Rike, Reel Bear Media and Virgilio Tzaj. Rob Gold was the art manager, while Josh Skubel was in charge of packaging production. Jabari Jacobs provided photography. Rike mentions on his blog about the different feel of the artwork from Vessel and how the red on Blurryface is "the color of passion, violence, and anger", although the band is famous for their content being open to interpretation.

Release

On March 17, 2015, the band announced the album's title, track listing and release date. The band's fans crashed their website attempting to pre-order the album. The band released their new single "Fairly Local" on the same day accompanied by its music video which premiered on the official Fueled by Ramen YouTube channel. On February 3, 2017, the band released the music video for "Heavydirtysoul", which was uploaded as audio only in 2015, but released as a single on December 9, 2016.

On April 6, the band released the second single of the album, "Tear in My Heart", with an official music video released through YouTube. "Tear in My Heart" was released to radio on April 14, 2015. The third single, "Stressed Out", was released on April 28 with a music video. On May 4, 2015, the band posted a YouTube video streaming the audio of the album's 6th track, "Lane Boy", and released "Ride" seven days later through the same media; both were also singles, being released on the 4th and 12th, respectively. Between the 11th and the 14th the band toured the UK. The music video for "Ride" was released on May 14, directed by Reel Bear Media.

On May 19, 2015, the duo performed at the iHeartRadio Theater LA in Burbank, CA to celebrate the album's release. The concert was livestreamed on iHeartRadio's website. The band has shows and festival stops lasting from May 19 to December 14. On July 20, the music video for "Lane Boy" was released. The band played in the UK in November. The tour sold out in a matter of minutes.

Critical reception

Blurryface received mostly positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from music critics, the album has received an average score of 80, based on 5 reviews, signifying "generally favorable reviews". Garrett Kamps of Billboard hailed the album as a "hot mess (in a good way)", but gave it a mixed review, saying that Blurryface "doesn't quite reach the heights of Vessel".

Sputnikmusic and Alternative Press gave Blurryface favorable reviews, with the latter being the more positive. Their critic, Jason Pettigrew, described the album as "wonderful" and hailed the band's mix of genres in their songs, highlighting "Ride", "Polarize", "Message Man", "Tear in My Heart", "We Don't Believe What's on TV", "Goner" and "Lane Boy" in his review.

The album was ranked at number one in Alternative Press's "10 Essential Records of 2015" list. Jason Pettigrew of Alternative Press wrote that the band combined "hip-hop vistas, tinges of reggae, everyman pop, furious electronic urgency and bellicose sadness into an impossibly cohesive record". The album was included at number 2 on Rock Sound's top 50 releases of 2015 list. Blurryface was nominated for "Album Of The Year" at the 2016 Alternative Press Music Awards. The album also won the category of "Top Rock Album" at the Billboard Music Awards.

Commercial performance

Blurryface debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, earning 147,000 album-equivalent units (134,000 pure album sales) in the United States in its first week, making it Twenty One Pilots' highest-charting album and marking the band's highest opening week in the US. The group also made their first appearance on the UK top 40 with Blurryface debuting at number 14. By November 2015, the album sold 500,000 copies worldwide. The following month, it was announced the album's US sales was over 505,000 copies. By January 2016, the album had sold 592,000 copies in the US. Two months later, the album's US sales had risen to 753,000 copies. By the end of March, the album's US sales stood at 792,000. By mid-June, the album had sold 924,000 copies, and over 1 million by late July. By the end of the year, the album had sold over 1.2 million copies in the US. The album has since been certified gold in Canada and double platinum in the US.

Tours

Twenty One Pilots had their first tour which focused on the Blurryface album in 2015, entitled Blurryface Tour, it was an international tour, in which the duo performed 113 shows across the globe. The tour began on May 11, 2015 in Glasgow, and concluded on May 7, 2016 in Bunbury. Echosmith and Finish Ticket opened for the North American leg of this tour.

Twenty One Pilots began the Emotional Roadshow World Tour in 2016, which focuses mainly on the Blurryface album and character. On October 26, 2015, the tour was first announced with dates starting in Cincinnati going through New York City. On May 9, 2016, more tour dates were announced that includes Europe, more North America, and Oceania dates. The tour began on May 31, 2016, in Cincinnati at the US Bank Arena, and is scheduled to conclude on April 8, 2017, in Perth at the Perth Arena.

Track listing

All tracks written by Tyler Joseph.

Personnel

Personnel per booklet.

Twenty One Pilots