What does "Level of Concern" by Twenty One Pilots mean?

Lyrics Meaning of Twenty One Pilots’ “Level of Concern”

(The following blog post is a transcript created by Xalma of the below video.)

‘Level of Concern’ by Twenty One Pilots was just released and if I’m not mistaken, Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun are making a massive play on the charts; I think the song is going to go big, and I am here to talk about what I think about it and explain it.

Tyler is like all of us, is in quarantine and is affected by the Coronavirus outbreak; as he tweeted on the 6th of April:

always writing,

but this one feels like it should just come out now

he also tweeted:

first song i ever wrote on electric guitar. i think it’s simple but hopeful.

and then he talked about how the pandemic that we’re currently experiencing is hurting people who work as the crow on live shows, and how they’re out of work; deciding that he wants a portion of whatever money this song makes to go to Crew Nation, an organisation that provides funding for people who work in the live music industry who don’t have a job right now.

We all were wondering if the song would be Coronavirus themed, and we saw just yesterday the artwork for the song, a USB flash drive with the song title ‘Level o Concern’, and now that the song is here, and we have the lyrics, we know indeed, that it is quarantine themed; it’s great, it’s timely, it’s perfect, it’s fun, and it’s a song that we needed in some way right now; and I’m not talking about the normal Twenty One Pilots’ fanbase, I am talking generally. This song has the potential to be in the Top 40 and on the radio. Why you may ask…

1- ‘Level of Concern’ is fun, vibing, light, and it’s not too serious; it reminds me -musically- of half•alive songs; and it’s probably going to end up being one of the “less deep TOP songs”, which hasn’t kept them from getting on the charts in the past, but I think there is a defendant opportunity here.

2- The song is Coronavirus-themed; it's what everybody in the world is thinking and talking about right now; so when one of the biggest bands in the entire world writes a song about COVID-19 essentially, you know it’s going to get some attention, it’s just riding headlines for all of the music blogs, myself included.

3- It’s an encouraging message, it has great music, and it is very fun and timely; it’s almost like Valentine’s day song of the Coronavirus-themed songs. It’s a very VERY small niche, not a lot of competition.

4- A lot of other artists have been delaying albums, so there’s not as much new music as there is usually.

5- People need something happy, and this song is happy. Which makes sense for this song to go really big.

Let’s take a look into the lyrics here, at first we have the intro and the first Verse,

Intro

Need you, tell me
Need you, tell me

Verse One

Panic on the brain, world has gone insane
Things are starting to get heavy, mm
I can't help but think I haven't felt this way
Since I asked you to go steady

It feels like he’s talking about his wife, Josh, or his fans in the last line here; a lot of the Trench era has been focused on talking directly to the fans, with less focus on the family in general, which was a much bigger theme in the Self-Titled era. Going steady usually refers to a romantic partnership, which would make sense to have Jenna, Tyler’s wife, and Debby, Josh’s fiancee; but if he’s talking to the fans, which is highly unlikely, then it would be like a tongue-in-cheek approach, to ask the fans to like the music, of to ask Josh to be in the band.

The pre-chorus makes me feel that it is about the family, and

Pre-Chorus

Wonderin' would you be my little quarantine?
Or is this the way it ends?

So he’s asking “are we in this together?”, in person, he’d be talking to his family, and digitally it would be the fans. Then we have the chorus next where he sings,

Chorus

'Cause I told you my level of concern
But you walked by like you never heard
And you could bring down my level of concern
Just need you to tell me we're alright
Tell me we're okay

And honestly, with the last line in the pre-chorus, and this chorus, it makes it almost feel like he’s talking about a relationship that’s on the rocks; and Tyler has not written to my knowledge any songs that are about a fictional relationship, and I don’t think that he’s talking about his own relationship being in any kind of issue here, like at all.

There is a part of me that wonders however if this is kind of a storytelling opportunity to just say “what if we talked about a relationship that’s happening in the Coronavirus era?”; and verse two kind of feel more that way.

Verse Two

Panic on the brain, Michael's gone insane
Julie starts to make me nervous

Michael and Julie could be real people, could be fictional; what do you think about this?

I don't really care what they would say
I'm asking you to stay
In my bunker underneath the surface

These lines give the impression that this is about a couple who are not married or in a family yet; because you aren’t supposed to ask people who aren’t your family to stay and hang out because of the current events; but if you’re asking your romantic interest to come over and stay with you, and let’s admit, tons of people are doing that, then you’re kind of breaking some of the regulations, right? This is why I think he’s saying “I don't really care what they would say, I'm asking you to stay“

Chorus

'Cause I told you my level of concern
But you walked by like you never heard
And you could bring down my level of concern
Just need you to tell me we're alright
Tell me we're okay, yeah

The chorus also has this double meaning to it; as in “tell me we’re okay, regarding the virus”, and “tell me we’re okay, regarding our relationship”, because if these people are going to be separate for a while, they need to know that this won’t ruin their relationship.

Outro

In a world where you could just lie to me (Need you)
And I'd be okay, we'll be okay (Level of concern)
We're gonna be okay (Just need you to tell me we're alright)
Tell me we're okay, I need you
Need you, tell me
Need you, tell me

No one in their right mind would make a hands-down theory 27 minutes after the song came out about what exactly it definitively is about, but I am not just anybody, I am The Pop Song Professor, sometimes known as The TOP Song Professor.

*A couple of minutes later*

Okay, hold up… This is future Cliff; new research’s come up, the story is breaking now; I was on Twitter, and I just saw that Kiss 107.1 Cincinnati @KISS107 has released the actual backstory for ‘Level of Concern’… So, even The TOP Song Professor must know when he is wrong. By the way, we don’t have confirmation on this yet, I am just telling you what I saw on this station’s official account on Twitter, and I am sure we’ll know more about the truth in the future.

Here’s the backstory of #LevelOfConcern from #twentyonepilots: Tyler’s mom inspired him to write a song for their fans in this unprecedented moment in all of our lives. He decided to write about the last time he felt this out of control.

This virus has taken such a huge toll on everyone and as a new dad now in lockdown it makes him feel helpless. He chose to turn it into a love song about his wife.

He compares this time of little control to that moment when he decided to commit to a life with Jenna & that uneasy feeling of realizing that when you make that kind of a commitment to someone else, you give up a good portion of control. It’s no longer all about you, it’s about us!

So yes, the song was about Jenna, and it’s about this commitment, committing to her, and he’s not just nervous about the virus, because that’s the back story that most people will immediately relate to when you hear a word like “quarantine”, but for him, it’s really about that beginning of the relationship, the committed part of the relationship with his wife.

When asking “Wonderin' would you be my little quarantine? Or is this the way it ends?” in a relationship, it can go one of two ways, “yes” and it continues, or “no” and it ends. And so he compares this level of concern that we all have concerning the virus to the level of concern he had when he was asking her if she would join him in his underground bunker and be his little quarantine; cheesy as heck, but it’s a great song.

If you didn’t listen to the song et, or if you haven’t watched the music video, go to the link down below, enjoy, stay safe, and stay sane.