MEAWW.COM / ENTERTAINMENT / MUSIC

21 Pilots ‘Scaled and Icy’: Is album 'another masterpiece' or 'bland and boring'? Pop duo gets mixed reactions

‘Scaled and Icy’ is a follow-up to their 2018 mega-hit album ‘Trench’ which featured hit singles like ‘Jumpsuit’ and ‘Nico and the Niners’, ‘Levitate’, and ‘My Blood’

After teasing music lovers for months, musical duo 21 Pilots has finally answered the prayers of their loyal fans with a brand new album called ‘Scaled and Icy.’ The sixth project from the duo is stacked with 11 tracks and is dubbed as “scaled back and isolated", a phrase which the band’s frontman Tyler Joseph associated with music produced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The official Instagram account of 21 Pilots shared the release of their album with their 8 million followers. ‘Scaled and Icy’ is a follow-up to their 2018 mega-hit album ‘Trench’ which featured hit singles like ‘Jumpsuit’, ‘Nico and the Niners’, ‘Levitate’, and ‘My Blood’.  The fresh full-length project of the duo, Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun, was released via their record label -- Fueled by Ramen and Elektra. A lot of social media users rushed to Twitter to share their excitement as the group has returned after a hiatus of almost three years.

RELATED ARTICLES

Twenty One Pilots 'Scaled And Icy': Air time, how to live stream, concept and all you need to know about album's debut at virtual fan event

Twenty One Pilots 'Christmas Saves The Year': Surprise single summarizes 2020, fans call it a 'mood'

What is ‘Scaled and Icy’ about?

Sharing his thoughts on the album's 'sound', Tyler Joseph earlier told Kerrang, ‘What you’re inundated with [at first] is shiny, and colorful, and seemingly upbeat. But, as always, as you dive into lyrics, a lot of times it’s asking some pretty heavy questions and addressing some pretty heavy things. That was intentional.”  

The album cover features a colorful dragon with intricate details. Talking about the album's concept and shedding light on the cover art for the album, Tyler asserted, “If you’ve noticed with some of our previous releases there’s always a bigger story to everything that’s being created, and this record particularly is more colorful than other records – literally more colorful, and hopefully sonically as well.”

He continued, “That color is supposed to represent the unleashing of an imagination. You know, I have this theory that, even if you’re confined to one small room, if you were to focus on one singular detail of that room, that detail can then come to life." 

Tyler added, “Actually, I have this little dragon totem figurine that I’ve been staring at, and my theory is that if I can get to a place where I’m looking at him and I’m creating something, and all of a sudden he can grow and actually fly around the room, and then where I am I can actually transport it to a completely different place… It really is the power of creativity, the power of imagination, and, ultimately, the power of music.”

Some of the notable tracks from the album include ‘Good Day’, ‘Choker, ‘Shy Away’, and ‘Saturday.’ Fans can stream the new album on leading streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Tidal and YouTube or simply hit this link.  

‘Thank you for another masterpiece’

Within a few hours of the release, ‘Scaled and Icy’ entered the top 10 on US iTune charts. Looking at the hype, a lot of social media users erupted with joy on Twitter and shared their first reactions.

One fan posted, “Looks like a completely new era for pilots but like hey, every artist needs some change and new impulses from time to time. Still here for it.” Another shared, “It is pretty different and radio-friendly but it's so light and viby. I still love it so far! Thank you!”

However, one user who could not connect with the new album tweeted, “I am sorry but coming from a HUGE vessel, and blurry face fan, this s**t is so bland and boring but has some hit and miss songs,” while another stated, “It's so different to anything you have done before. But dang, it's soo good!!! Thank you for another masterpiece.”

The next one asserted, “Is it just me or…? I need to sit down with the lyrics because I pretty much have no idea what these songs are about.” Another fan said, “Tyler, Josh..I'd just like to real quick here say thank you. thank you for sharing your music, for inspiring people, helping people that are having trouble find themselves, find who they are, find what they want to do, your music has touched so many people in a very positive way." One fan concluded, “The only problem with  #ScaledAndIcy is that there isn’t more songs.”