Message Man

Honestly I think this song is about Tyler addressing fans who assume they know his life story because they have watched interviews and listen to his music.. I went to a show not too long ago with an interview portion for both of them and people kept shouting out answers for them and Tyler said more than once, "you don't know me," or "you guys don't know my best friend like I do."

Don't get me wrong, I know Tyler and Josh both love and appreciate their fans, this is just my observation that they are afraid their fans are missing the message by being so concerned about the opinion of the "messenger man."

In the beginning of the song he says "You don't know me, I'm wanted and on the run," which isn't supposed to be literal but he's saying it's possible there are things about him that he doesn't discuss in interviews, or that isn't common knowledge.

By asking that we "use discretion when you're messing with the message man" he's asking that instead of putting words in his mouth about his own feelings, we listen to what he has to say and treat him as a messenger. A messenger is usually someone unrelated to the message being relayed. While this is not exactly the case, Tyler seems to be saying that he thinks his music would be more effective if people would look at the music for what it is instead of relating it to what is known about the author (Tyler).

He says "these lyrics aren't for everyone, only few understand" to say that some of his songs have a meaning that is very personal and he invites us to make our own opinions as to what they mean to us, but our interpretations don't define him.

This is made even more clear when he says: "You don't know my brain / The way you know my name / You don't know my heart / The way you know my face."

"My people singing" again, is sort of pointing out that he's directing this to his fans.

"People they rhyme like this, we're all impressed by this They rip it, flip it but these are just triplets Wrote this in three minutes, three words to a line It's just poetry divided, I'm the kind of guy Who takes every moment, he knows he can fight it And music to use it, for others to use it"

This part is saying that his lyrics are just his own personal poetry that comes natural to him because he writes about his struggles, but he's glad that it can become music that helps other people, too. However with that is implied that his intent in making music is so that people can apply TOP's music to themselves rather than use it to try psychoanalyzing Tyler.

"Life is up here but you comment below When the comments will always become common motivation To promote you choose next episode So your brain knows to keep going even though hope Is far from this moment but you would not know it Gets better when morning finally rears its head Together we'll lose this, remember the future Remember that morning is when night is dead"

This verse in my opinion is trying to give the positives to this issue. That when people comment and read comments on his videos, posts etc. it creates a support system and "common motivation" for TOP fans to work together to fix the problems addressed in Tyler's songs. He says "together we'll lose this, remember the future" to remind his fans to keep fighting because it will take a while to win the battles that we chose to fight for (social injustices, depression etc) but it's important that we remember each new day is another opportunity.

Therefore in my opinion the overall message of the song is "Hey guys, maybe stop caring so much about what this means to me and start seeing what it means to you so we can change some shit."

Just my interpretation! And yes I realize that by posting this I am sort of going against what I think the song means, but only because I do think its important that people use music as a tool to get a network of people who want to help create change!

Ok so I am rolling with this after having read Lane -Boy an earlier track on the album. I feel that this song is one of the 'common' ones he refers to in the track Lane Boy. He is rhyming quickly over a beat and starts with a catchy chorus ;and even the part before the second verse oddly sounds similar to dark horse by Katy perry's song beat.

The 'Loser' in the 'mask' is himself, and on this common sounding song, he feels terrible compared to 'other times'. He is 'in denial' during 'suicidal sessions' as in he hates that he is making a song that sounds so cut copy. Then he touches on how many songs that have been very pop like lately have meaningless lyrics that are un original and similar to their predecessors. And he talks about his 'people' singing that together 'we will see the future'

My take

"You don't know what I've done, I'm wanted and on the run"

That kind of reminds me of their older song The Run and Go. I know he isn't legitimately talking about killing a man in that song, or this one, but it's kinda funny to imagine a hidden message since this song is like him saying no one knows the truth about him really, and they can only guess and have the songs mean something personal to them as well. But what if he really did kill someone?! Kidding. But yeah. I like that connection, and I love this song.

Okay so I think this song is about Tyler being depressed and no one quite understanding it. This isn't the best analysis but it's what I take from the song: He's hiding behind the mask we see him as, secretly a loser inside - a loser to his depression, perhaps. He's getting worse as the days go by. Whosoever he is talking to, be it people in general or specific others, don't understand, or they just don't know. But he's hopeful it will get better and he'd rather live in the mindset that it is going to. They think he's just denying his depression, but he's "living in the future", where it'll all be better. They try the "suicidal session" and Tyler is basically saying that there should be caution when dealing with "the message". Note that in the official lyrics, there is a comma between "message" and "man" so this is not about a person, not even metaphorically, but rather addressing a person or people. Another idea could be that maybe Tyler feels that songs should leave room for interpretation, and that only those who know about depression should be able to really understand it. I find it hard to interpret the fast bit but from what I can tell Tyler just goes on to spit fire about his opinion on his own music - how it isn't quite to impress, but to help others - and that we all rather not think about our depression, if we have it, and refers to the common topic of troubled sleep and rough nights. Those are my thoughts, anyway.

I get frustrated on YouTube when a few people are sharing interpretations of the lyrics for a twenty one pilots song, or are sharing Bible verses that inspired the song's "message," or are even sharing a problem they've had, and then someone comes along and posts about how "cute" Josh is or how a certain time mark has a hot look on Tyler's face. Innocent fun, I suppose, and sure, we all notice how they look. But I think Tyler hopes it doesn't become the focus of your fandom. It's one of the reasons they wear masks. My interpretation of Message Man: Don't focus on the messenger. Focus on the message. Don't obsess over their cute smiles. Take what you heard them say and turn it into action in your own life.

I love blurrykate's interpretation of the song and I would fully agree with it. However, I think there is one more thing that is worthy of note. Considering how TOP writes their music, there is frequently discontinuity on certain lyrics between different websites. Because of this, it would be fair to say that the canon source for what the lyrics actually are would be the official lyrics in the booklet for the album. I just bought Blurryface, and in the booklet, the lyrics go "please use discretion when you're messing with the message, man" Notice the comma? I don't think Tyler is referring to himself as the 'message man' but is referring to a message and using 'man' to indicate that he is referring to the listener. Hene the separation between message and man. "Message man" was never meant to go together as a single term, but as a call to the listener to hear the message, not the singer (Tyler).