Watch the video for twenty one pilots' surprise new song, Level Of Concern.
It's here! twenty one pilots have just unveiled their first new music in two years: Level Of Concern.
While the Columbus, Ohio superstars' latest album – the 4K-rated Trench – was shrouded in secrecy before lead single Jumpsuit arrived in 2018 (Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun went as far as to have a year-long social media blackout in the build-up), the current global situation regarding coronavirus has inspired Tyler to release Level Of Concern as a standalone single, away from the world-building that went into the likes of Trench and its 2015 predecessor, Blurryface.
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“Always writing, but this one feels like it should just come out now,” Tyler revealed earlier this week alluding to Level Of Concern, adding that it's the “first song” he’s ever written on an electric guitar, and “it’s simple but hopeful”.
The frontman also announced that he wanted “a portion of whatever money this song makes to go to this charity I saw called Crew Nation. It provides funding for people who work in the live music industry who don’t have a job right now.
“No-one knows when live music will get back on its feet,” he continued. “I’ve met so many amazing people working venues and touring with bands. Hopefully we can do something to help some through this song.”
Watch Tyler and Josh's heartwarming home video for Level Of Concern below:
Ah, it's so good to have new twenty one pilots music, isn't it?
As we mentioned, Trench was worked on in total secrecy – but it doesn't sound as though the band would take that approach again on a new record.
“I don’t know that there would be a world in which we completely go off the map again,” said Josh in December last year. “Completely going off the grid was tough for both of us in a lot of ways. We’re both wired to always be wanting to do something that pushes us forward.”
Ahead of Trench’s release in 2018, Tyler and Josh went into detail about how they went offline, with fans having no idea what they were up to in that time.
“The truth is, wherever humans gather, there’s going to be a bunch of emotion,” explained Tyler. “There’s emotion that you can pour into it, there’s emotion that you can receive from it – and ultimately that’s what the internet is. It’s a bunch of us that have gathered in this area, and we’re sharing emotions. And I knew I wanted to preserve any and every emotion for this record only. I didn’t want it to be affected by any sort of outside source. So it’s nothing against social media, necessarily; it was more a protection of the recording and the writing process, which is very delicate. It was about trying to block out those pressures and influences from the outside.”
