Chlorine

Most of the songs by Twenty One Pilots are about the intersection of their Christian faith with the ways of the world. There is a struggle in Tyler's lyrics to maintain his belief in God (a "higher" power) in a world as dark (and "low") as ours, with its worship of fame and its frequent descent into addiction and mental illness.

Chlorine, in particular, reads like someone who has been far from God (where are you? - sorry I forgot you), but now he's coming back.

And I think he's experiencing a type of Communion/cleansing. The imagery sounds like communion -- he's getting up from his seat, and he's getting into formation for holy communion. "I'll be back when it's all complete."

HOWEVER, in this case, for Tyler, instead of the wine equating with the blood of Christ and cleansing him, it appears to be his music that provides the cleansing properties and the connection to God.

Tyler admits that he sometimes wants to run away from it. Tyler despises God sometimes. Although he's in line for a cleansing, he falls out of formation. He plans his escape. He's running for his "life." He's running from God.

It's a battle for Tyler's life.

In his life as a musician, Tyler has been finding fulfillment in his "lead" (his writing), his "poisonous vibrations." But he realizes that God made the paper on which he's writing. He even made the music. He even made Tyler himself. No, Tyler cannot get away from God.

And like everyone, letting God into his life is cleansing, but for Tyler, sometimes it's painful -- like sipping on straight chlorine.

(It's cyclical, btw. That's the meaning of TøP's "day/night" symbolism in so many of their songs. The morning and the "sun" and the car represent a journey to God. In the morning, heading toward the East and the sun, Tyler is cleansed. But day heading into night represents him descending into darkness. Tyler goes far away. In the morning, he tries again. He comes back. He's cleansed. Etc., etc.)

As Tyler was writing this, he felt like he'd been cleansed, and gotten dirty, and been cleansed, and gotten dirty, and been cleansed ... to the point that there was hardly anything left.

Just pieces of him. Just the chemical.

And he's hoping that when he goes to see his Father in Heaven, that he will have a place there, even though he's just "pieces" - just a "chemical."

A few more things --

"Build my house" is a Christian phrase meaning our dwelling in heaven - sometimes, it's even called a mansion, although it's usually interpreted as meaning our new heavenly body. 2 Corinthians 5:1-4, John 14:2,3 Tyler's voicing that he feels there might not be enough of him left to dwell there.

"Tested" is a Christian term - it's temptation. ("Lane Boy" also speaks to this concept) Tyler is saying he's sorry that he forgot God, but he's been tempted like crazy. He thought he was invincible, but he wasn't.

"Carnation" is a flower named for the "incarnation" of Christ, whose blood is red. (And Christ was a rebel.) In Christianity, the idea of allowing Christ into your heart is to allow him to grow within you as you die/decay to yourself.

As a side note - in the music video for this song, I think the styrofoam cup that Tyler is carrying around is representative of the healing power of God. But Tyler DOESN'T drink it. Instead, Tyler just works with Josh to fill a pool with chlorine (the music they make) and let Ned swim around in it (and perhaps Ned is their fans?). Tyler apparently gets into the pool too. But neither of them actually DRINK. Getting into the pool and swimming helps, obviously, as Ned's horns begin to grow and he is cleansed. But it's cyclical. By nighttime, the pool is empty. And now they're going to have to start over. Ned and Tyler get some cleansing from the pool - the music - but they are fighting against the real gift of God -- the full cleansing of just DRINKING and believing. I think willingly drinking the cup is "blind belief." And Tyler knows it will take him onto a higher road (with the rest of the Banditos). But Tyler just can't yet. He's still going on a journey toward it, wrestling with God all the way.