Tyler Joseph called in to Sirius XM’s “The Morning Mashup” on Friday (April 24) to spill about Twenty One Pilots’ new single “Level of Concern.” According to the frontman, the song came together following an off-hand suggestion from his mother.
“I didn’t have that one in the hopper ready to go,” he said of writing the track in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic. “Actually, my mom made a comment to me in passing as all the news was breaking about the virus, and she just said, ‘Man, I could really use an upbeat song to distract me from all this.’ And I guess that speaks to the danceability of the track.”
Joseph went on to explain that the new single’s lyrics also took inspiration from his relationship with his wife. “When I first met my wife, I was ready to date her; I was ready to dive right in and she was a little more hesitant,” he continued. “And not to compare a pandemic with the uncertainties of a relationship, but in that moment, for someone who maybe isn’t getting, you know, their feelings reciprocated, in their world it does kind of feel like… starting to bubble over and become a little anxious. So I wanted to kind of pair those two stories and move them down the lane at the same time.”
Check out Joseph’s full interview below for more, including how he created the song’s DIY video at home while in quarantine.
