"Car Radio" is a song written and recorded by American musical duo

Twenty One Pilots Twenty One Pilots (stylized in all lowercase or as twenty øne piløts) are an American musical duo from Columbus, Ohio. Initially a band, the group was formed in 2009 by lead vocalist Tyler Joseph along with Nick Thomas and Chris Salih, who ...

originally appearing on their second studio album ''Regional at Best''. It was re-released on March 18, 2014, as the sixth and final single from their third studio album, '' Vessel''.

Background

The song was inspired by an event which had happened to frontman

Tyler Joseph Tyler Robert Joseph (born December 1, 1988) is an American singer, rapper, musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the frontman for the musical duo Twenty One Pilots, alongside bandmate Josh Dun. He has been nominated for ...

during college. In an interview with ''

Rock Sound ''Rock Sound'' is a British magazine that covers rock music. The magazine aims at being more " underground" and less commercial, while also giving coverage to better-known acts. It generally focuses on pop punk, post-hardcore, metalcore, punk, ...

'', he explained that one day he arrived to class late and forgot to lock his car's door. After class, he returned to discover that someone had broken into his car and stolen everything inside, including the

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite sy ...

and his CDs. At the time, Joseph didn't have the finances necessary to afford to replace what was lost. The subsequent experience of going on without his car radio made him realize "music can act as a distraction and can get in the way of where your mind wants to go."

Composition

According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by

Alfred Publishing Alfred may refer to: Arts and entertainment *'' Alfred J. Kwak'', Dutch-German-Japanese anime television series * ''Alfred'' (Arne opera), a 1740 masque by Thomas Arne * ''Alfred'' (Dvořák), an 1870 opera by Antonín Dvořák *"Alfred (Interl ...

, "Car Radio" is written in the

time signature The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note va ...

common time The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note val ...

, with a slow

tempo In musical terminology, tempo ( Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (ofte ...

of 65

beats per minute Beat, beats or beating may refer to: Common uses * Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area ** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols ** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men * Battery ...

. "Car Radio" is composed in the key of A minor, while Tyler Joseph's

vocal range Vocal range is the range of pitches that a human voice can phonate. A common application is within the context of singing, where it is used as a defining characteristic for classifying singing voices into voice types. It is also a topic of st ...

spans one octave, from a low of C₄ to a high of C₅. The song has a basic sequence of F–G–Am–G during the verses and interludes and follows Fmaj7–G₆–Am–G₆ at the refrain as its

chord progression In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from the common practice ...

. One of the band's more streamlined numbers, "Car Radio" starts off as a brooding

alt-pop Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commerci ...

and rap rock anthem before exploding into existential

rave-hop Hip house, also known as rap house or house rap, is a musical genre that mixes elements of house music and hip hop, that originated in both London, United Kingdom and Chicago, United States in the mid to late 1980s. British group the Beatmast ...

and

electronic rock Electronic rock is a music genre that involves a combination of rock music and electronic music, featuring instruments typically found within both genres. It originates from the late 1960s, when rock bands began incorporating electronic instrum ...

at its euphoric climax. Its musical composition has a

song structure Song structure is the arrangement of a song, and is a part of the songwriting process. It is typically sectional, which uses repeating forms in songs. Common forms include bar form, 32-bar form, verse–chorus form, ternary form, strophic form, and ...

that is "way out in left field" due to the fact it contains no chorus and no hook. The song's verses talk about a true story of Tyler Joseph being late to a class at college and losing his

car radio Vehicle audio is equipment installed in a car or other vehicle to provide in-car entertainment and information for the vehicle occupants. Until the 1950s it consisted of a simple AM radio. Additions since then have included FM radio (1952), 8 ...

Music video

The music video was uploaded to

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

on April 19, 2013, and was directed by Mark C. Eshleman of Reel Bear Media. It was shot at a concert. Tyler Joseph sits in a bathroom singing the song, he then shaves off all of his hair, puts on a

ski mask A balaclava, also known as a balaclava helmet or ski mask, is a form of cloth headgear designed to expose only part of the face, usually the eyes and mouth. Depending on style and how it is worn, only the eyes, mouth and nose, or just the fron ...

, and heads out to the stage where

Josh Dun Joshua William Dun (born June 18, 1988) is an American musician. He is best known as the drummer of the musical duo Twenty One Pilots, alongside Tyler Joseph, and also contributes backing vocals and trumpet to the band's work. He has collabor ...

is seen playing drums. Joseph walks into the

crowd Generally speaking, a crowd is defined as a group of people that have gathered for a common purpose or intent such as at a demonstration, a sports event, or during looting (this is known as an acting crowd), or may simply be made up of many ...

which is standing still, and once Joseph jumps, the crowd jumps with him. Joseph surfs the crowd to the platform and performs the rest of the song on stage with Dun. As the song ends, Joseph is seen by himself on the stage and the crowd is gone. He takes off his mask, revealing his face once again (as well as his full head of hair, as if it were never shaven). Joseph then sings the final lyrics to the song, in which he falls backwards off the stage and the screen turns to black, ending the video. As of October 2022, the video has garnered over 282 million views on

Live performances

On April 13, 2014, Twenty One Pilots performed the song at the 2014 MTV Movie Awards. On the 28th of the same month, the band performed the song on '' Late Night with Seth Meyers''. They also performed the song at BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend 2016 on May 28.

Track listing

Personnel

* Tyler Joseph – lead vocals, guitar, piano, synthesizers, programming, keyboard, bass * Josh Dun – drums, percussion

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Car Radio 2014 singles Twenty One Pilots songs 2011 songs Fueled by Ramen singles Rap rock songs Electronic rock songs Songs written by Tyler Joseph Song recordings produced by Greg Wells