Heathens

Album

3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life Of...

Label

Atlantic Records

Genre

Stage & Screen

Composer(s)

Tyler Joseph

Entered Chart

Jul 9, 2016

Peak Date

Sep 24, 2016

Released

June 16, 2016

Recorded

2016

Catalog #

Warner Bros./Atlantic

The music video for "Heathens", directed by Andrew Donoho, was uploaded to the Fueled by Ramen YouTube channel in June 2016.[17] It shows Joseph singing the song in Belle Reve, a fictional prison in the DC Universe, with Dun appearing while playing drums in the course of the video. Joseph makes his way to a small stage in the middle of a room, where Dun is already on the stage playing the drums. Joseph then picks up a floating bass guitar and begins playing it while the prisoners leave their cells and watch the duo perform the remainder of the song. At the end of the video, Joseph is sitting in the room alone as the prison security guards surround him. Throughout the music video, various clips from Suicide Squad are played. The video won an award for Best Rock Video at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards

Twenty One Pilots have a very close-knit fan base called the Skeleton Clique. Frontman Tyler Joseph gives a warning here to the Skeleton Clique not to pass judgment on the "heathen" outsiders joining in as a result of the duo's increased popularity. The eerie song was released as the lead single from the official soundtrack for the Suicide Squad movie, a film centred around DC Comics' classic supervillains. The video shows the Twenty One Pilots duo of Tyler Joseph on bass guitar and Josh Dun on drums, rocking the high-security penitentiary that's packed with the Suicide Squad cast. It turns out the pair wanted to pay tribute to one of the most famous prison concerts of all. "We were trying to give a very subtle nod to Johnny Cash's Folsom Prison performance," Twenty One Pilots stylist Amanda Valentine told Billboard magazine. "You can barely just make out the bolo tie." Twenty One Pilots wrote this specifically for the Suicide Squad film. Tyler Joseph told Radio.com: "I met with David Ayer, the director, and he kind of showed me some ideas, and some clips [from the film]. I'd never really written a song for a movie before, so it was a new experience. Especially the part where you show the movie company the idea, and you get a 'Yes' or 'No' back. Like, whether or not you're good enough. For us, we make a song, and if we like it, it goes on a record. So I was a little worried about that part. I kind of prepared myself for it to be a 'no.'" "We made sure that we wrote a song that would make sense for our band; it was a Twenty One Pilots song. I wasn't going to waste my time," Joseph continued. "So, they said yes, and they dug it. It seemed to fit with the theme of the movie, and also what we go for." This won for Best Rock Video at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards.

All my friends are heathens, take it slow
Wait for them to ask you who you know
Please don't make any sudden moves
You don't know the half of the abuse
All my friends are heathens, take it slow
Wait for them to ask you who you know
Please don't make any sudden moves
You don't know the half of the abuse

Welcome to the room of people who have rooms of people
That they loved one day stocked away
Just because we check the guns at the door
Doesn't mean our brains will change from hand grenades
You're lovin' on the psychopath sitting next to you
You're lovin' on the murderer sitting next to you
You'll think, "How'd I get here, sitting next to you?"
But after all I've said, please don't forget

All my friends are heathens, take it slow
Wait for them to ask you who you know
Please don't make any sudden moves
You don't know the half of the abuse

We don't deal with outsiders very well
They say newcomers have a certain smell
Yeah, trust issues, not to mention
They say they can smell your intentions
You're lovin' on the freakshow sitting next to you
You'll have some weird people sitting next to you
You'll think, "How did I get here, sitting next to you?"
But after all I've said, please don't forget
(Watch it)
(Watch it)

All my friends are heathens, take it slow
Wait for them to ask you who you know
Please don't make any sudden moves
You don't know the half of the abuse

All my friends are heathens, take it slow
(Watch it)
Wait for them to ask you who you know
(Watch it)
Please all my friends are heathens, take it slow
(Watch it)
Wait for them to ask you who you know

Why'd you come? You knew you should have stayed
I tried to warn you just to stay away
And now they're outside ready to bust
It looks like you might be one of us