Album Review: Clancy by Twenty One Pilots

It’s been two months since Twenty One Pilots released their seventh studio album, Clancy, and I have listened to it over and over again, waiting for the perfect moment where I’ll finally get the right words to write a proper review. Well, the wait is now over, folks!

Clancy marks the end of an era for Twenty One Pilots, serving as the grand finale to a nearly decade-long conceptual journey that began with 2015’s Blurryface. This ambitious project sees Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun bring their intricate and entertaining lore to a close while delivering a sonically diverse and lyrically poignant album that demonstrates both their strengths and growing pains.

Opening with the energetic Overcompensate, the duo immediately pulls you back into their meticulously crafted world. Within the first minute, you’d be forgiven for thinking you’re listening to Bandito, but that’s the intention. As it progresses, the track’s pulsating rhythm and Tyler’s rapid-fire delivery set the stage for an album that ping-pongs between genres and moods.

This opener acts as a bridge, connecting longtime fans to the narrative threads they’ve woven through previous albums while also serving as an entry point for first-time listeners. The latter will struggle to get the lore, though, so maybe start listening to Blurryface first?

However, Clancy truly hits its stride with Next Semester, a standout hit that blends punk energy with the band’s signature vulnerability. In this song, Tyler’s emotive vocals shine as he tackles themes of anxiety and the desire for self-improvement, creating an anthem that’s both deeply personal and universally relatable. How they manage to seamlessly transition from hard-hitting verses to a stripped-down ukulele outro is the reason why I keep coming back.

Throughout Clancy, Tyler and Josh continue to push the boundaries of alternative rock as we know it. Midwest Indigo, Routines in the Night, and Vignette inject fresh energy into the album while still serving as homages to past albums and tracks. Yet, it’s not all pop-punk, as the acoustic-driven The Craving (Jenna’s Version) offers a tender moment of respite, displaying Tyler’s more intimate songwriting.

Lyrically, Clancy delves deep into familiar territory for the band: mental health struggles, self-doubt, and the cyclical nature of personal battles. Oldies Station, for example, delivers a particularly poignant message of resilience, encouraging listeners to “push on through” dark times. Same goes for one of my best tracks in the album, Backslide, which clearly speaks of the ever-existing fear of relapsing to past patterns when we’ve just managed to outgrow them. This thematic consistency ties the album to the band’s broader discography, and while not all songs directly connect to the expansive lore, you can feel the spirit of the duo’s central narrative in play.

I hate to admit this, but Clancy is not a perfect album (but it sure gets close to being one). Some tracks, particularly in the album’s second half, fail to leave a lasting impression. Lavish and Snap Back didn’t hit that sweet spot for me, but I know a lot of people who might argue otherwise. And as much as I like The Craving (Jenna’s Version), I would have preferred the less acoustic Single Version. While the genre-hopping approach in Clancy is admirable, it sometimes results in a lack of cohesion that may leave some people yearning for a more focused sound.

Despite these (few) shortcomings, Clancy ultimately succeeds as both a standalone album and a conclusion to Twenty One Pilots’ ambitious storytelling project. Navigating and At the Risk of Feeling Dumb were such unexpected bangers, I dare you to listen to them and not instantly fall in love. The fact that Tyler needed convincing by Josh to add Navigating to the album is absolutely wild!

By the time I reached the final track, Paladin Strait, there’s some feeling of satisfaction I obtained that I couldn’t explain. As the longest track in the album, Paladin Strait brings the overarching narrative full circle with its bittersweet tone and ambiguous ending, which left many TØP fans arguing if this was really the end of the band’s conceptual series. Spoiler alert: it is!

With the end of Clancy, Twenty One Pilots now becomes a band at a crossroads: one foot still firmly planted in the world they’ve meticulously built over the years, while the other tentatively steps towards new creative horizons. It’s a fitting end to this chapter of Twenty One Pilots’ career, no matter what anyone says. Sure, it might not fulfill the expectations we may have built up in our heads, but it does a perfect job of relaying the message Tyler and Josh set out to tell, and isn’t that what truly matters?

As Tyler said, “I created this world to feel some control, Destroy it if I want, So I sing Sahlo Folina…“

P.S: Every track in the album has a music video, and Josh actually directed one of the best videos in the album!