Tyler Joseph was born on December 1, 1988, in Columbus, Ohio. He became the singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist at the center of Twenty One Pilots. He wrote, sang and co-produced “Stressed Out,” from the band’s 2015 album Blurryface, where memories of childhood collide with the worries of growing up.
His first steps into music came through a keyboard that had been sitting unused in a closet. Joseph told The New York Times in 2018 that the instrument was a Christmas gift; hearing its built-in demonstration inspired him to learn. He began working out songs from the radio and writing his own material. Basketball had been a serious pursuit, with a scholarship offer from Otterbein University, but the keyboard gave him another direction.
Twenty One Pilots began in 2009, and drummer Josh Dun joined Joseph in 2011. Their partnership developed across different kinds of stages. Dun told Louisville Public Media in 2014 that their early bookings included basement hip-hop shows and hardcore gigs, with the pair absorbing ideas from both. That helps explain why Joseph’s singing, rapping and keyboard playing could share space without the songs settling into one style.
The band’s 2013 album Vessel, their first for Fueled by Ramen, also brought Joseph into the studio with producer Greg Wells. Sharing responsibility for his music took some adjustment. Joseph initially resisted outside input, and he arrived at the later Blurryface sessions with tracks already close to finished. Even so, he acknowledged that working with experienced producers had given him tools he could use afterward.
There was a similar openness in what he wanted the songs to say. Speaking to Louisville Public Media in 2014, Joseph explained that he didn’t want listeners to have a song completely figured out within its opening seconds. He also resisted treating the stage as a place to prescribe beliefs. “I’m asking questions I don’t have answers to,” he said. Uncertainty was something he could put into the writing, alongside the changes in delivery and musical direction.
The writing had a practical purpose for him, too. “I was attracted to songwriting from the beginning because of what it did for me, it helped a lot,” Joseph told Coup de Main in 2016. Asked about music as an outlet for what was happening inside his head, he agreed with that description.
That personal investment could make finishing a song difficult. “Goner,” the closing track on Blurryface, had occupied Joseph for years while he tried to decide how it should end and what it should feel like. He told Coup de Main it was the album’s oldest song but the last one recorded. The studio schedule nearly ran out before they finished it; losing a couple more days could have left it off the record. Completing it finally resolved an idea that both Joseph and Dun had wanted to see through.
“Stressed Out” brought the pair a Grammy for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance in 2017. Their acceptance returned to a moment before that success: while watching the ceremony at Joseph’s home, they had promised to accept in their underwear if they ever won. They kept the promise, removing their trousers before taking the stage in jackets and boxers.
