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Is twenty one pilots' latest update a nod to the end of the Trench chapter and the start of something new?
Longtime followers of twenty one pilots understand that pretty much everything the duo do has some sort of hidden meaning; whether it appears to be a big or small update, there's always plenty to unpack. And Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun's latest activity could suggest that the Trench era is over, and their next chapter has begun.
The band have just updated all the headers of their social channels to a new orange-tinged photo of the pair in an empty venue staring at the stage, with their Trench era logo in between. Of course, the yellow of Trench could be combined with the red of previous album Blurryface to be making this colour – so does that mean fans should expect a mix of both records when it comes to new music? Or are twenty one pilots just working on something else in relation to those particular LPs? Or will there be a combination of Trench, Blurryface and something new to come?! Basically, there are already so many questions to be asked.
Read this: twenty one pilots: Every album ranked from worst to best
There are already theories about the arrival of new music following the ending of twenty one pilots' 'never-ending' music video for Level Of Concern, too. On Reddit, LuminescentLabrys pondered the length of the never-ending video – 178 days – and how that number could be significant in some way.
"We know that the never ending music video ran for 178 days before stopping and I was thinking, could that be pointing to a date or something?" they wrote. "As in like 17/8, 17th of August, new album release? (The number of hours it ran could also be significant maybe)." Others suggested new music could arrive on June 22, 2021 – 178 days after the Level Of Concern video ended.
New orange era coming this year, then? Let's wait and see…
Recently, both band members confirmed that a new record was in the works, with Tyler simply teasing, “I’m working on the album.”
“It really is me and Tyler working on this,” Josh later revealed. “I think it probably takes longer than some artists coming out with albums because we don’t have other people really helping us. And, also, logistically, we’re in different places. We both have our own studios, which is really nice, so he comes up with a lot of stuff at his studio, sends it over to me, and then I come up with some stuff here at my studio and then send it back.”
Tyler told AltPress in early 2020 that there were “two very different records” that he could make, adding that he wasn't “interested in reacting” to what’s going on in the world.
“There are two very different records, in my opinion, to be written,” he considered. “One being right now and the other one being after that. I don’t know which one I’m going to do first. I have an idea of what I think is next, sonically. It’s just whether or not it’s too big of a risk, I guess.”
Anyway, clearly the Internet is already very, very excited about whatever is going on: