So the new HeavyDirtySoul video came out and I had some ideas on what the meaning of it is.
So let's start with the car: why is he riding in a car and what is the car supposed to represent? I have two theories that both end in completely different conclusions.
The first one is that the car represents Tyler himself. His depression and/or anxiety is causing him to lose control and start falling apart until he's been completely destroyed.
That one was a bit dark but don't worry, the next one has a happier ending.
The other is that it represents his depression and/or anxiety. In this one, instead of Tyler being destroyed, it's his depression. His depression is at it's prime (hence the speeding out of control) when it starts falling apart and slows down until it's finally gone.
Now let's talk about other parts of the video and how they support these theories.
The Driver:
So I think we all can conclude that that's Blurryface, the human representation of anxiety, depression, and all that stuff. You get a small glimpse of him driving the car before he disappears. Here's how it could tie into my theories.
Tyler theory: It could be Blurryface taking control of his life and causing him to slowly be destroyed.
Depression theory: It could be Blurryface trying to get the car, or depression, back on track before Tyler leaves it all behind, but Blurryface's disappearance could represent his failure to do so.
Josh: he was shown in the street as the car passed him, nearly hitting him several times and setting his drums on fire. He could tie into both theories in the same way.
Josh was trying to stop the depression from harming Tyler, but to do this he stood in front of the depression, taking it head on, which would end up hurting him. The car avoiding Josh could support the Tyler theory because the car, or Tyler, would be avoiding Josh so that he didn't get hurt. Though the drums catching on fire means he was still hurt in a way. It could still though support the Depression theory because the car, or depression, missing Josh could represent that Josh is strong enough to resist becoming depressed. The fact that the car falls apart where Josh is at the end also supports the Depression theory. The car, or depression, is stopped at Josh which could represent that Josh helped to stop Tyler's depression from continuing, or that being in the band helped stop the depression.
The road: I know what you're thinking. The road, a completely normal thing, could be a piece of evidence? Yes, yes it can. Well, not as much of a piece of evidence as part of the theory.
The road could either represent depression or a calm life.
The road representing depression would support the depression theory because it loses control and starts breaking free from the depression and at the end when Tyler jumps out it represents him finally being free from the road.
The road representing a calm life supports the Tyler theory because it's him losing control of his calm life. When he jumps out of the car or himself after it's been completely destroyed he started freaking out, which supports the fact that he lost control of his calm life.
Tyler: You might be saying "well ho Evan the car represent Tyler if Tyler's in the car". Well I think that actual Tyler actually represents Tyler's soul. It represents him inside weather than his actual physical body, which is represented by the car. Here's how he could support the theories:
Tyler theory: He started kind of freaking out when the car crashed, which could mean that his physical body has died but his soul is having a panic attack.
Depression theory: Despite freaking out, he seemed to be pretty calm on the ride. As if he was fine with it. It's as if he was just taking his time on his ride. "WAIT A SECOND, DID YOU JUST REFERENCE RIDE!" Yes I did and I'll cover that in another category. Anyways, the fact that he was calm about it could represent him being glad that his depression is finally fading.
Relation to other songs: I saw possible references or similarities in to other songs of theirs in this video.
Ride: this, despite being used as an example for the depression theory, supports the Tyler theory. In the song he says he's falling, which could represent the fact that his depression is taking over, but then he says he's taking his time on his ride which is why he's so calm while he's riding, but freaking out after the whole thing ends.
Lane Boy: Lane Boy brought me to a whole new theory but we'll discuss that after we talk about how it goes with the existing theories. Lane Boy mostly supports the Depression theory because it could be Blurryface telling him to stay depressed, or stay in his lane, but Tyler defies him which leads to the end of his depression, but because I have to make things more complicated than it already is, I made a new theory from this song. This theory I like to call the society theory. I've always looked at Lane Boy as a song about defying society and not giving into their standards, which could also be what this video is about. In this case the car still represents Tyler but the road represents society. Even though the car crashes it stays on the road so this could represent Tyler either giving into to society or being destroyed by it. Now another question is "if this is about society then who's driving the car". Well to attempt to find this out I considered all the Twenty One Pilots songs that I knew had either a car, a specific character in it, or just dealt with society to see what person or thing would make most sense in this situation, but it was hard to come to a conclusion considering we don't know whether the driver was making it go out of control or trying to control it. I decided that if it was the person trying to control the car then it would be society, or the they in "they say stay in your lane boy". If it was the person trying to make the car go out of control then it could be the voice from March to the Sea. If you didn't know already, March to the Sea is about how everybody fits in and does the same thing, thinking it's the only way to do things, but Tyler hears a voice saying "follow me instead." In the theory that society is driving Josh would be the voice but in this theory there is nothing I can think of for Josh to represent. There's also no reason in either of the theories for Josh's drums to catch on fire. If you have any ideas for this one please comment.
HeavyDirtySoul: Well we've talked about all the parts of the video and songs that could be related to it, but what about the actual song it goes to.
Tyler theory: the chorus "can you save my HeavyDirtySoul" could represent him trying to reach out to someone to help him, which could be the reason why Josh arrives. The whole rapping part in the beginning basically talks about how he's trying to get rid of demons in his head, and these demons could be the reasons why he's going out of control in the first place.
Depression theory: this one has the same proof as the Tyler theory except the result of these things are different. He succeeds in expelling the demons from his head and being in the band saves his HeavyDirtySoul.
Society theory: In the chorus he also says gangsters don't cry therefore I'm Mistermistyeye which could represent him trying to fit into society before "the voice" directed him away from that priority.
If you know Twenty Øne Pilots, you might know that they sometimes like to hide lyrics if you play the song backwards, so I listened to it backwards to see if any of the lyrics corresponded with these theories. The chorus backwards seemed to be the words "those sinners, they have their singer, me" but I couldn't think of how that went with the theories I had so I listened to parts other than the chorus. Now the rap parts were so hard to hear but I swore I could've heard the word "suicide" in one of them. This points more towards the Tyler theory. That's all the proof I could get from listening to the lyrics backwards.
That's all the proof I could think of. Which theory do you think is the best?
The Tyler theory
The Depression theory
Or the Society theory.
Leave your answer in the comments and if you have any proof to help one these theories then please comment that as well. Thanks for reading!
