Stressed out

            Remember those days as a little kid where nothing really mattered and stress was a feeling that wasn’t all too prevalent? Remember the carefree attitudes we used to have, how we would live for today and the 5-year plan wasn’t a thing? Were you content with who you were or did other peoples opinions of you get to you at a young age? Life has switched lanes for many of us. Our opinions have changed, we have more on our plate and everything is confusing. The song stressed Out, by 21 Pilots does an exemplary job at describing what young adults that are going through during the growth stage from childhood to adulthood. 

            Here are the lyrics and a link to the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXRviuL6vMY

I wish I found some better sounds no one’s ever heard,

I wish I had a better voice that sang some better words,

I wish I found some chords in an order that is new,

I wish I didn't have to rhyme every time I sang,

I was told when I get older all my fears would shrink,

But now I’m insecure and I care what people think.

My name’s ‘Blurryface’ and I care what you think

Wish we could turn back time, to the good ol’ days,

When our momma sang us to sleep but now we’re stressed out.

Sometimes a certain smell will take me back to when I was young,

How come I’m never able to identify where it’s coming from,

I’d make a candle out of it if I ever found it,

Try to sell it, never sell out of it, I’d probably only sell one,

It’d be to my brother, ‘cause we have the same nose,

Same clothes homegrown a stone’s throw from a creek we used to roam,

But it would remind us of when nothing really mattered,

Out of student loans and treehouse homes we all would take the latter.

My name’s ‘Blurryface’ and I care what you think

Wish we could turn back time, to the good ol’ days,

When our momma sang us to sleep but now we’re stressed out.

We used to play pretend, give each other different names,

We would build a rocket ship and then we’d fly it far away,

Used to dream of outer space but now they’re laughing at our face,

Saying, “wake up, you need to make money."

Wish we could turn back time, to the good ol’ days,

When our momma sang us to sleep but now we’re stressed out.

            All right! Now that you’re as well versed in this song as I am, lets talk about it! The first verse of the song or the first four bars is about how he wants to be unique and improve on himself in unrealistic ways. It is unrealistic because he uses the word wish. Wishing for something is as useless because there is no forward action in it. What I mean by that is you are not pursuing an attainable outcome, you are in fact being stagnant. Also wishing for something is something children do and this song all about wants to go back to your childhood. 

For me the next to lines hit me hard. I was told when I get older all my fears would shrink, But now I’m insecure and I care what people think. I did not give a fuck, not a single fuck about how others viewed me and I wasn’t afraid to take on the world and give it my best shot even if I thought I would fail. But now a days, it’s changed. I worry more about the way society looks at me and I have become more fearful of the things and people around me. I fight it as much as I can because I know its wrong but the weight of the world is cruel on the back.

Wish we could turn back time, to the good old days. There’s that word wish again.  What a useless word. We all reminisce in the past and all the fun memories we have about how much fun we had when we were kids, for some of us that was only a few years ago. It seems like the future wont be as fun or full of joy but it will. Best piece of advice I can give is to not think to much about the past or future. The present is where the real party is. The next line where he talks about his mother singing him to sleep but now that he doesn’t have that anymore he is stressed out. This is about how the worries and troubles of the day could be terminated with a good night sleep. Now that we are older our worries carry on from day to day. Whether that be school or work or paying the rent or remembering to change that damn password in 12 days or you have to go to IT to do it.

Fast forward a few bars and we get to the tree house homes and student loans rhyme. Anyone have a tree house as a kid? If not they were freakin’ awesome! Student loans on the other hand, are not awesome. This is also talking about the stress and worries of the young adult life. I would rather take the latter.

The ending of the song describes how we could be anything and do anything we wanted to as children. We had the freedom to be a different person and the imagination to be somewhere totally different. But now that we are older we have to focus on the “real” world and assimilate into society by making money. Making money and paying your own bills is the true transition point from childhood to adulthood. It is when you finial become independent and no longer suckle on the teat of your mother, although you might still like to from time to time.

Stressed out by 21 pilots is a dank ass social commentary about what it is like going through the transition of being a child to being an adult. The level of dreaming in the song mixed with the slap of reality blends perfectly together to create a sense of being pulled in opposite directions and the confusion that comes along with that.