Twenty One Pilots released their eighth studio album, Breach, on Sept. 12. The album features 13 tracks alongside a bonus track, including singles such as “The Contract,” “Drum Show,” and “City Walls,” serving as the conclusion to the band’s decade-long lore. The narrative spans Twenty One Pilots’ fourth studio album, Blurryface (2015), through Trench (2018), Scaled and Icy (2021), and Clancy (2024), ending with Breach.
Musically, the album falls into the alternative pop genre with the inclusion of electronic pop elements, and is led by Tyler Joseph (vocalist and guitarist) and Josh Dunn (drummer). The band has been releasing music since 2009, with popular tracks such as “Stressed Out,” “Ride,” and “Heathens.” “Heathens” was created as an original song for the movie Suicide Squad, which was released in 2016. In total, Twenty One Pilots has accumulated 32.9 million monthly listeners on Spotify and 13.9 million subscribers on YouTube.
Of the four Breach singles, only “City Walls” received a music video. The music video follows Tyler Joseph and Josh Dunn as their respective characters in the lore, with Joseph playing the character “Clancy” and Dunn playing the character “Torchbearer.” The video takes place in the fictional city of Dema and follows Clancy battling on a tower with Nico, the leader of the nine bishops who govern the city. Torchbearer and the Banditos, a rebel group, try to reach Clancy before it’s too late. In the end, Clancy ultimately loses the battle after being impaled by antlers as Torchbearer and the Banditos arrive at the top of the tower.
What happens to Nico is left ambiguous, with some saying that Nico and Clancy merged souls to become one, while others say Clancy killed Nico and took on his powers. Torchbearer sees Clancy put on a robe, which had previously belonged to Nico, and Clancy then offers the Banditos the other robes. Torchbearer denies being given a robe and heads back down the tower, meeting up with the final Bandito, who did not join Clancy. The two pack their bags and carry on to another city, leaving behind Clancy. While the ending of the music video is up to the interpretation of the fans, most have taken the decade-long narrative as following themes of struggling with mental health and self-identity.
The “City Walls” music video also calls back to other tracks from previous albums. Fans have noticed nods to tracks “Migraine,” “Holding Onto You,” and “Truce,” making the finale of the lore bittersweet for fans.
Before the release of the album, Twenty One Pilots announced that they would be going on tour again in 2025 for The Clancy World Tour: Breach, a part two of their The Clancy World Tour, which started on Aug. 15, 2024, and concluded on May 14, 2025. The Clancy World Tour: Breach began on Sept.18 and will conclude on Oct. 26. While still taking the name of The Clancy World Tour, the second portion of the tour will only visit North America with two stops in Canada.
Tyler Joseph took to social media after the announcement of the tour with a message to fans saying that while this is not the last tour, he is unsure of when the band will tour again.
Fans speculate whether this pause is due to the end of the band’s contract with their label, Fueled by Ramen, the heavy workload of releasing two full-length albums back-to-back, or the fact that they have been touring since 2024. Josh Dunn also took to social media with his wife, Debby Ryan, to announce their pregnancy, so fans speculate the break could be due to this, although neither band member has released an official statement.
Ultimately, while the future of Twenty One Pilots is unknown, fans will continue to support the band and wait to see what’s next.