Analysis Of Car Radio

The Twenty One Pilots song, “Car Radio” is based off an actual event while the singer, Joseph Tyler, was in college. He was running late to class and forgot to lock his car, when he got out of class, his car radio, CD player, all of his CDs and his GPS were all stolen from him. The loss of having music to play in the car helped him realise how much he used music as an escape from life and thinking about existence. Tyler Joseph is not the only one to use music as an escape. One of the reasons for this is perhaps how much lyrics have evolved to reflect reality, which gives people something they can relate to in their everyday lives. Bradley and DeBois state, “[Rap] looked at the world around these folks and talk about their realities. … Rap …show more content…
For example, the style of “If I Should Die” is very listless, also without a strong sense of rhythm. The most unique thing about the style, that helps pull it from sounding like prose is that it uses Dickinson’s signature flow that makes the poem seem much like it was a train of thought that passed through one’s mind while relaxing. However, in “Car Radio” the style is very textured and defined to reflect the passionate tone of the song. Perhaps the reason for this could be explained by Dederer, who said, “Song lyrics do a fine imitation of poetry, but they’re not quite the same thing. Lyrics are a vessel, designed to hold a singer’s voice”. Joseph Tyler’s infamous passionate voice would well explain why the song reflects this, treating mortality as more than a passing thought, unlike Dickinson. You can tell by how the lines of lyric vary to make a point, as well as show progression of tone and mood in the song. For …show more content…
They both treat mortality as something inevitable, and how their death does not make a difference in the grand scheme of things. The subject of Dickinson’s poem is how the world will carry on without blinking an eye when she dies. Although the song “Car Radio” treats death itself as terrifying, he casually says “I could pull the steering wheel,” which is an allusion to suicide, as though the actual act of dying is not a big deal, and can happen at any time(Tyler 25). Along with this, they both are freeform, without a rhyme scheme or defined rhythmic pattern. Also, they both use alliteration and juxtaposition. An example of juxtaposition in “If I Should Die” is, “If I should die, / And you should live,” (Dickinson 1-2). The premise of two people, one alive, one dead is a clear contrast and therefore juxtaposition. These are some similarities and differences between the two pieces