Meaning of “Stressed Out” by Twenty One Pilots

The song “Stressed Out” by the famous musical duo Twenty One Pilots has lyrics which center on three major themes. These themes are: the nostalgic memories of one’s childhood years, the stress accompanying one’s adulthood years, and the struggles of maintaining family relationships. The singer talks from the point of view of a character named “Blurryface”, who also happens to be the titular character of the album on which the song can be found.

Facts about “Stressed Out”

• The song was written by the musical duo’s lead vocalist Tyler Joseph.
• The song’s production was handled by renowned American record producer Mike Elizondo, who is best known for working with Eminem and Dr. Dre.
• The song was released on April 28, 2015 as the fourth single released from Twenty One Pilot’s fourth studio album titled “Blurryface”.
• Most of the scenes of the music video of “Stressed Out” were filmed at the childhood home of the Josh Dun, which is located in Ohio. Dun is the other half and drummer of Twenty One Pilots. The video not only features both Tyler and Joseph and Josh Dun but also several members of their respective families.
• The music video was released in April 2015 on YouTube and went on to accrue more than 1 billion views and several millions of likes by January 2018. Today, the video is one of the most viewed and most liked YouTube videos of all time.
• “Stressed Out” is one of the duo’s most successful singles of their career. It peaked at number 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 12 on the UK Singles Chart.
• Having sold millions of units all over the world, “Stressed Out” went on to become one of the most successful singles of 2016.

Did “Stressed Out” win a Grammy Award?

Yes, it did. Actually the song was nominated for two Grammies at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards in 2017 in the categories of Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and Record of the Year. It won in the former category beating the likes of “7 Years” by Lukas Graham and “Work” by Rihanna featuring Drake. However, it was unable to win the Grammy for Record of the Year having lost to Adele’s worldwide smash hit “Hello”.

Which movies and television series has “Stressed Out” been featured in?

The song has been used in the American superhero TV series “Supergirl”.

What genre does this song fall under?

We can confidently say “Stressed Out” falls into the category of rap rock.