TwentyOne Pilots. Even though the bands’ hiatus nearly killed it’s fans, faith that we would see those boys together again was always strong.
Once their new album was released, fans were ecstatic but a question dawned on us as the whole album was listened through. Not just one question, but several questions. Who or what was DEMA? (Josh stated after receiving an award that Tyler was severing ties with DEMA) Who’s Nico and who and what are the Niners? What’s up with all the yellow? The color yellow somehow appears in most of the videos.
It’s no doubt that everything that TwentyOne Pilots does, has significant detail, reference, and purpose. Even fans who have just recently gotten involved with their world can tell that the level of detail in their songs and music videos are unparalleled. That’s why in April of 2018, when their merch store website was updated and showed: dmaorg.info/clancy.html , fans were confused to say the least. Yet this was only the beginning of a puzzle fans set out to solve.
Once fans checked out the link, there was a cryptic message from this Clancy person, where the capital letters spelled out EAST IS UP. A phrase said in their hit single Nico and the Niners; which still hadn’t been released yet, but it gave hope to fans that new music was soon coming. The website was then updated with cryptic messages and notes from Clancy. One such message was a map of DEMA, ruled by nine bishops, and when rotating the map where East faces up, the nine bishops line up with the nine circles from the cover of the Blurryface album.
From what fans have seen is that each unique design in the circle correlates to a specific song in that album. The name of each bishop is a direct reference to a song from the blurry face album except for Nico, which fans have deduced relates to the song stressed out. Nico is the actual name of Blurryface, the only reason getting this name is because of the way he appears to Tyler (the protagonist). But who’s Clancy, why the obsession with yellow, how does Heathens play into this.
According to the theory, heathens is the direct escape from DEMA, where the song Nico and the Niners references the escape and how they will win but not everyone will leave; hence, Tyler being the sole remaining person at the end of heathens. The song Heavydirty soul then documents Tyler’s escape from DEMA and the end of Heavydirty soul then starts the beginning of Jumpsuit (why both songs are at the end and beginning of each album respectively). The way they get rid of the bishops is with yellow sunflowers (because it’s associated with light and happiness which goes against what DEMA is, darkness and insecurities).
To summarize, Tyler is the protagonist and is simply a third person point of view for the audience to follow. Nico is Blurryface and the bishops are the manifestation of our insecurities and doubts. DEMA is our demons and the darkness we feel within when dealing with mental illness(hence DEMA), the universe it’s self is the human mind recovering from mental illness. The banditos are the people whom try to help those that suffer from mental illness and might often get their offers rejected, often representing, happiness and hope (hence their use of more yellow). The trench is the place we must overcome when dealing with mental illness and Clancy is the rational part of the brain that tells us we can do things. The theme of silence corresponds to the idea of one who would be dealing with mental illness not being able to talk about it because they don’t fully understand it or don’t know if someone would understand them or want to hear them.
The creative geniuses behind this universe is none other than Tyler and Josh, who have stated openly on many occasions the struggles they have gone through regarding mental illness. With this universe, it helps tie together their songs to a bigger purpose and connects their fans to one another since a majority of fans have struggled with depression and anxiety (myself included)
Here is a link to YouTuber Nalbis’s videos with a full explanation into the DEMA universe, including clips from their music videos.