Part of a high-concept EP alongside “Shying Without Wings” and “Pretty Shy (For A White Guy)”…
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[6.88]
Juana Giaimo: Since the pandemic began, writing stories and sharing them with friends and pals has saved my mental health. I have fun but I also take them seriously and love my characters to the point I don’t want to let them down, as if it was possible to let down a product of your own imagination. So I guess it makes sense that I got into Twenty One Pilots last year. Most critics — except, and I hate to say this, The Needle Drop — have always been condescending towards them and most probably didn’t even listen to their whole albums. It’s surprising considering they are one of the biggest bands among teenagers. This is a band that, for their age, shouldn’t have worked with teenagers — they are as old as Paramore, but boomed a decade later. Tyler Joseph is now a father and one may ask: will he seriously continue to write the typical saga about his alter-ego escaping from an enclosed city? He’s always been too good at combining fiction, autobiography and fans — he is probably one of the most self-conscious songwriters about their fandom. When he sings “don’t you shy away”, it’s a message to his younger brother, to Clancy and to his fans too. It’s all an emotional mess and you either take it or leave it. I not only take it, but also love it. I love how simple the storyline is, but also how he makes it unique by making it part of a musical project — leaving clues for fans, looking for colors, logos and symbols for each era and even searching for sounds that represent characters and different parts of the story. “Shy Away” is refreshing not only because of the bright ’80s pop-rock sound — and once again, Tyler shows how much he loves a polished production where you can almost hear the guitar strings tremble with each strum — but also because there is some kind of desperate hope. His scream in the bridge along with the tempo change is far from bringing an optimistic stability, but presents instead an ongoing battle. Sometimes I ask myself what am I even doing with my life, writing silly stories that no one cares about, and listening to him still believing in his story has been one of the most encouraging things I listened to this year. I promise I’ll try to not shy away.
[9]
Al Varela: Without a doubt, one of the best songs Twenty One Pilots have ever made. Whoever told Tyler Joseph that he should start playing electric guitar and implement it into his music deserves a medal. It always astonishes me to see how far the band improve with every project, now embracing a brighter, neon-infested synthpop sound that works great with their cryptic lyrics and nervous energy. The hook is monstrously catchy, the groove drives the song and never looks back, and Joseph reaching a hand out to his brother to not shy away from his true potential is inspiring.
[10]
Ian Mathers: This feels less… pieced together(?) than the previous big singles, definitely the most song-y (and most ingratiating) I’ve heard from them since “Jumpsuit”, which remains the only other song I hear and go “huh, I think that’s Twenty One Pilots”. If anything it’s better because it doesn’t go unconvincingly aggro at the end. Guess they should stick to slightly edgy pop rock rather than whatever “Ride” and “Stressed Out” were.
[6]
Jeffrey Brister: Nervy New Wave isn’t a bad look, honestly. Tyler Joseph’s voice has a lot of character and melodic ability — aping Julian Casablancas, intentional or not, is a good look — and keeps things interesting. What’s going on isn’t very interesting, skating right up to the edge of weird and pulling back, but it’s fun and checks all of the good post-punk boxes (besides piss-poor recording and cavernous reverb).
[6]
Edward Okulicz: I did wonder what happened to Donkeyboy, so it’s nice to see their new single smuggled onto the airwaves and no doubt the charts by being misattributed to Twenty One Pilots.
[7]
Nortey Dowuona: So… I have been a huge fan of these guys for years. And now that they’re making synthpop, not rapping, singing about being a bum, rapping about controlling their shawty, singing about the devil, rapping in a flat triplet flow, singing about staying alive, rapping like they’re knocking baseballs out of the park with their bare hands… this is actually nice. The gorgeous cycling synths, the smooth snapping drums and thinned-out bass guitar and Tyler’s smoothed-out singing is completely… nice. Wish they were making songs that would never be played on the radio, had front-flipping bass drums, Zack Snyder strings and went ooohweeoohweeooowee. (Can we call this Man of the Wood-ing? Cuz I am kinda miffed by this.)
[6]
Alfred Soto: It’s progress of a kind when TOP allude to more interesting referents, perhaps steering their (many, many) fans toward frillier and sillier synth pop even if those fans may balk at the band transforming into an ambitious Maroon 5.
[5]
Katherine St Asaph: A decent ersatz “Take On Me” synth riff surrounding a song that sounds disturbingly like Maroon 5 — best-case-scenario Maroon 5, but a worrying step down the path to bland.
[6]