Migraine Analysis

The song “Migraine” by the band Twenty One Pilots has many meanings to it, and a lot of meaning to me, the writer, singer and pianist Tyler Joseph, and the drummer Josh Dun. To begin the song itself is not really about an actual migraine, but more so what it represents. This song is about depression and mental illness. I relate to this as myself and a few family members have battled with mental illnesses our whole lives so the perspective of someone else provides emotional support. Also, viewing mental illness as something else, something that isn’t as daunting, (in this case, a migraine) helps to overcome it. I also relate to the lyrics at the beginning of the song that say “am I the only one I know, waging my wars behind my face and above …show more content…
The next line brings up “what the headache represents”. I relate to this as well as the author does as Joseph points to the headache being a test in which the author is completely defenseless, which is consistent with how one cannot be prepared for depression, and how it is a very difficult struggle to deal with. The mind’s ruthlessness is stated in the next line, along with the mind being like an examiner. The symbolic reference to a ruthless examiner depicts how everything that a person with depression does is picked apart by their mind and ruthlessly scrutinized to point out absolutely every mistake. The song then says that the ruthless examiner is best represented by depressing thoughts, which is consistent, because when every action is scrutinized, and every single mistake is pointed out, it makes you feel terrible, it depresses you, which makes those thoughts depressing …show more content…
The use of the lions as the symbolic reference means a lot here. It shows how difficult it is for a depressed person to fight off the urge to commit suicide (if they are suicidal to begin with), and how dangerous and violent those urges can be. Then the song says "sometimes to stay alive, you have to kill your mind". I can relate this this line as it line depicts how the mind can drive a person to debate whether or not to live, and sometimes the only way to stay alive is to kill your mind. For people with depression, to "kill your mind" is to simply escape, and some of the 'escapes' that are used include substance abuse, alcohol abuse and self-harm, (starving, cutting, bruising, burning etc). The third verse holds a more optimistic tone. It speaks of how, albeit the fact that "shadows scream that [the author] is alone, the author recognizes that this issue is in his head, and that he is not alone and that mental illness is a serious issue, affecting millions of people. He then says that "we should take a moment and hold it, and know that life has a hopeful undertone". In this, the author is basically trying to cheer himself up to overcome the depression he is engulfed by. In the final chorus, the final line "we've made it