Twenty One Pilots has released the first three tracks of their upcoming album, Clancy, and in this article, I will review them on a scale of 1 to 10.

“Overcompensate”

This was the first track released. It was released on Leap Day this year and was the first time they dropped music since May of 2021. Therefore, there was a lot of anticipation for this track, and overall, I don’t think it disappointed. Some things that I liked were how they referenced other songs and the overall energy of the song. 

To elaborate on that, the start of the song was a remix of the bridge on one of their older songs, “Bandito.” When the duo made this song, they really wanted to take you back to Trench. Trench was released in 2018 and is probably their best work so far. The album following it, Scaled and Icy, wasn’t as great, and some say that it was really disappointing coming off their best project. This makes me very happy that they are going back to the Trench era. The overall energy is really good. It’s upbeat and catchy—all things that you would want in a lead track.

Generally, as a fan who is familiar with their work, I don’t really think there are major flaws in this track, but others could have an entirely different opinion. Going back to the fact that they mention stuff from Trench a lot, new Twenty One Pilots listeners won’t recognize the same references that fans do and may think that this song is very overwhelming. For the first minute of the song, they do a whole remix that new listeners might just think that this is the song and become shocked when it switches to what really is the song. Also, on another note, a majority of the lyrics reference older material, and new listeners could become very confused.

As a Twenty-one Pilots fan, I would give it a solid 8.5/10, but stepping out of my shoes, I would give it a 7/10.

“Next Semester”

This is the second track, which dropped in late March. Right off the bat, this could be the best track off the album because it is so good. 

This song is very pop-punk. The production is great and there’s not too much going on like there was in “Overcompensate,” and there isn’t anything that could be confusing to new listeners. In the music video, everyone is at a concert and screaming this song, which makes me feel like I want to be in that crowd singing along too! It sounds amazing and has a good message (I won’t elaborate on that because the message could be a sensitive topic for some).

I would normally write about things I don’t like somewhere in the review for this song, but this song is so incredible that I don’t really think there is anything wrong with it! I give it a 9.9/10!

“Backslide”

This is the third track and it dropped a few weeks ago. On the first listen, I have to admit, I wasn’t really feeling this one.

There isn’t really a lot to this track. To sum it up, it is pretty much just a rap-pop song with some harmony vocals on the chorus. It’s not something that Twenty One Pilots hasn’t done before, but I think it was executed somewhat poorly.

I will say that this did grow on me over time, but that’s because I listened to it more than just a couple of times. The average listener who’s just listening to see if anything is interesting to add to their playlist probably won’t listen to it as many times as I did, so it may not click for them. Therefore, I will give it at first a 5.5/10 but after multiple listens, a solid 8/10.

Conclusion

I’ve done my best to review these tracks both as a dedicated fan and from a more objective standpoint. I think that this album is going to be sneaky good. Maybe not as good as Trench but still something to look forward to on its release on May 24th. Thank you so much for reading and please leave your opinions in the comments! What did you think of “Overcompensate”? Do you agree that “Next Semester” is the stand-out track?