What makes a man or a woman? What drives us to perform the necessary actions that enable us to live? We are all subconsciously driven by fear and are constantly in epic battle with not only the fear to fail, but also the fear to succeed. The thoughts swirling around our fantastically complicated brains drive all of us senseless from time to time. These thoughts can consume us if we are not careful. As an individual one must accept that “peace will win and fear will lose” (“Car Radio”). If one can accept this then the fearful thoughts persistently picking at our craniums will suddenly wear away. Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun, the members of the increasingly famous band; Twenty-One Pilots, illustrate this concept of peace, fear, and an individual’s battle with their thoughts through their popular music video, “Car Radio.” By looking at both the lyrics and the visual elements complimenting these lyrics in Twenty-One Pilot’s “Car Radio” video, specifically the “car radio,” Tyler Joseph’s hair and mask, and the audience, we see the idea of peace versus fear. This is important because these elements help illustrate that the only way to truly live is to face each thought without blocking and hiding from the fears and self-doubts constantly implemented throughout these thoughts. 

The car radio mentioned repeatedly during this video, and clearly the title of the track, represents the barriers which shield us from our thoughts, fear itself and the ability to truly live and connect with not only others, but ourselves. In other words, the car radio is an example of a defense mechanism we as humans consistently use to hide from our thoughts. This mechanical object simultaneously gives us an escape from all of the realities and fears overwhelming our minds. This blockade represents the problem so many of us face today: the fact that most of us are almost never truly living. The point Tyler is trying to develop is that in order for us to truly be living, we must rid ourselves of the barriers keeping us from our fears and self-doubts and instead face these insecurities head on by battling the “violent” silence in our lives. Tyler states during the video that there is “no hiding for [him]” and that “sometimes quiet is violent.” The “violent” silence is created after the theft of his car radio and as a result he realizes that this machine also hid him from facing his realties and fears constantly causing him unrest. The barriers were removed and Tyler suddenly had to think for himself and therefore, finally start living again. Tyler faced his fears by accidently shutting down the distractions in his life. As a result, the concept of peace versus fear was introduced and the song depicts how peace can triumph over the fears in our mind. Later in the song, Tyler summarizes, “peace will win and fear will lose”. His recognition clearly due to the removal of the blockade of thoughts (the car radio) and the final realization that fears must be faced in order to achieve peace, and truly live. 

Tyler Joseph’s hair and mask play a significant role in the music video and portray the transition Tyler faces in becoming a human who truly lives, enjoys life, and triumphs fear by accepting silence, and with it all his realities and self-doubts. At the beginning of the video we see Tyler completely removing his hair and proceeding to put on a white mask that covers his entire head. By the end of the video Tyler removes his mask willingly and his hair looks as if it has entirely grown back. This wasn’t done accidently, this was done to symbolize Tyler’s trouncing of fear and his newly acquired ability to comfort silence and the thoughts in which he is consistently at battle with. At first, Tyler struggled dealing with what he feels since there was “no distraction to mask what is real.” Due to this struggle, Tyler cut his hair, and wore a mask, attempting to “mask what is real” or, hide from his thoughts, particularly fears, realities, and self-doubts. However, over the course of the video we witness his acceptance of his doubts and insecurities, and in turn his decision to never go on thoughtlessly living, hiding from all that is real again. He now can think for himself, live in only the sound of his thoughts, fears, and realities, and truly live and connect with others, including him. The growth of his hair and Tyler’s removal of his mask at the very end of the four minutes and forty seconds demonstrates this accomplishment and the overall message that “peace will win and fear will lose,” and that to only truly be living one must constantly be thinking. 

The third and final piece of evidence from the lyrics written by Tyler Joseph and the music video directed by Reel Bear Media is the presence and eventual absence of the audience, reflecting the singer’s triumph over fear. The audience is shown in two different lights during the second half of the music video. The audience’s first movements occur when Tyler still has his mask on and appears almost schizophrenic. The audience is later shown to have disappeared by the end of the video, and coincidently Tyler now has all his hair back and the ability to take off his mask. The first shot of the audience signifies Tyler’s battle with peace and fear, thoughts, and realities in general. The second shot of the audience, (their disappearance), implies that the battle has been won and all the fears and realities Tyler had been facing are now defeated. Peace is clearly accomplished as well since Tyler can easily remove his mask, grow back his hair, and fall back to “just sit in silence”. Evidently, the audience represents all of Tyler’s fears, realities, and self-doubts and their presence is his battle with these thoughts. Tyler accepts that since “there’s no sound to hide behind” he may as well face his fears. He was able to accept the “violent silence” and find peace with his thoughts, allowing him to “just sit in silence.” This silence becomes available after Tyler’s battle and triumph over his thoughts, coincidently, right when the audience is removed from the music video. 

Society as a whole, predominantly the younger generation, is increasingly becoming obsessive, mindless, and scared due to the simultaneously increasing market of technology. Although the increase in technology is supposedly advancing the human race to new heights, the humans using this technology are losing their true touch with reality and link to emotion. We constantly check our phones, turn on the radio, open our laptops, and in doing so, we eliminate time to simply think, reflect, and expand our brains and the knowledge held within. “Car Radio,” by Twenty-One Pilots, may just appear to be another catchy tune we can plug in and listen to, but it is more then just another distraction or catchy tune. The song and music video points out the problem we are all guilty of facing; that our thoughts and realities scare us to death. So we choose to hide behind the distractions in order to “mask what is real”. Tyler Joseph, Josh Dun, and Reel Bear Media do a fantastic job of displaying this problem through the “Car Radio,” Tyler’s mask and hair, and the evolution of the crowd/audience. These then help prove how one truly cannot be living until they face their fears by constantly thinking, liberating themselves from their own distractions, and accepting that “peace will win and fear will lose”.     
