Released: 2013
“Car Radio” by Twenty One Pilots is a masterful exploration of existentialism, the struggle of introspection, and the balancing act between silence and noise. Lead vocalist Tyler Joseph serves up a poignant soliloquy reflecting on the discomfort of being alone with one’s thoughts, against the sprawling soundscape of electronic rock.
The song starts with “I ponder of something great / My lungs will fill and then deflate / They fill with fire, exhale desire / I know it’s dire, my time today”. Here, Joseph paints the first strokes of his introspective journey, setting a somber tone with lyrical allusions to breathing as a metaphor for absorbing and expelling life’s challenges. The “fire” suggests that his thoughts are burning him up, but he can’t escape them.
The heart of the song lies in the refrain, “Somebody stole my car radio / And now I just sit in silence”. Joseph juxtaposes the deafening calm of a silent car – the car radio being stolen a metaphor for the loss of noise or distraction – with the raucous cacophony of his racing mind. The silence forces him to confront his thoughts head on, a scenario that otherwise would have been masked by the mundane hum of the radio.
In the bridge, Joseph contemplates existential fears and our human quest for meaning, “There are things we can do / But from the things that work there are only two”. The two things – faith and sleep – symbolize action and escape. He implores listeners to opt for faith, or active participation in life, equating being awake with thinking, and thinking with feeling alive.
The repeated chants of “Whoa, oh-oh”, while seemingly just a catchy musical hook, drive home the cyclic nature of his thoughts, and the relentlessness of his internal struggle. It’s a powerful sonic portrayal of his mental state.
The song culminates in a fervent plea to embrace consciousness over complacency, “To let you know you need to try to think”. It’s as much a cry for help as it is Joseph shaking us to awareness, asserting the necessity of introspection despite its discomfort. A tune that’s both a mirror and a window, “Car Radio” is a raw testament to the human experience.