Ode to Sleep is an amazing song by an amazing band, Twenty One Pilots. For me it speaks about the late nights we stay up, for whatever reason, even though the band addresses it to social anxiety and self-harm. If we look at the chorus I believe it's easily applicable to any sort of struggle we go through. Whether it be self-harm, eating-disorders, porn, alcohol, drugs, etc, we all have to face demons usually at night and when we're alone, and that is something none of us want to face. Like it says:
I'll stay awake,
'Cause the dark's not taking prisoners tonight.
Why am I not scared in the morning,
I don't hear those voices calling,
I must have kicked them out, I must have kicked them out,
I swear I heard demons yelling,
Those crazy words they were spelling,
They told me I was gone, they told me I was gone.
I don't know about you all, but for me I've definitely been there before. I've had those late nights, experienced them as a participant and spectator. I promise you, someone needs you with them those nights. Now here is the other thing I wanna make clear. This isn't just a song about trying to fight against the urge to give into your demons, there is a lot of that in this song, but there is a slight religious aspect. In the chorus Tyler sings:
But I'll tell them,
Why won't you let me go?
Do I threaten all your plans?
I'm insignificant.
Please tell them you have no plans for me.
I will set my soul on fire, what have I become?
I'll tell them.
In my opinion I believe the "you" he is refering to is God, seeing as he is a Christian. Now to clarify Twenty One Pilots isn't a Christian band which I'm happy about. Christian bands are awesome, they praise God and give Him glory which I believe he deserves, but right now we need bands that can reach people's hearts who aren't Christian. I'm not trying to be rude, but lets be real, most people who don't believe in God don't give a crap about Hillsong or Matt Maher, or Chris Tomlin. They just don't and there is nothing wrong with that. They just don't connect with their music and there is a pretty good reason. Their music doesn't come down to earth. It's heavenly music. Music meant for worship and glorification, but not for people. It's not addressed to people, and that's fine, but people need to feel like someone understands them, and that's the beauty of bands like Twenty One Pilots, Thousand Foot Krutch, Memphis May Fire, and Beartooth. All of these bands have members who are Christian, but they don't make their music about praising God. They make it about reaching people, and connecting with people. Again neither type is better than the other, personally I believe that the strongest way to reach people is through music and that's what we ought to be doing. Okay, now back to the interpration. Tyler is begging God to tell his demons, that he isn't important, that he is "insignificant," and I can say honestly I've asked for that. I've asked God to tell my demons that I'm not important enough or valuable enough to try to damage and you know the beautiful thing? Not once has He done that. Now you can say "Alex, God is just being a dick by putting you through all this pain," but I disagree. He sees the value in me and won't lie or put me down just so I won't have to go through a little struggle. He sees the bigger plan and promises that this suffering is so little compared to what HE has planned for me. For example look at Tyler Joseph (lead singer of Twenty One Pilots) he does "threaten all their plans," he has reached hundreds of thousands of teens and adults suffering from depression through his music, and if God had decided to give up on Tyler and not follow through with His plans for him, then Tyler never would have done any of this.
To wrap this up I wanna say a few more things. First, Ode to Sleep is an amazing song. Go listen to it while reading the lyrics, you'll enjoy it so much more. It truly is a special song from a special band. Second, people can connect with people. Let's be real, if someone doesn't believe in God, asking them to listen to Oceans most likely isn't going to attract them to our faith, they'll probably be like "I guess it was a good song, but to be honest it doesn't matter to me." Last you have value. I don't know what you're fighting against, but I promise you there is a reason. Marble has to be chiseled before it becomes a statue. Iron has to be heated and hammered before it becomes sharped into what it's meant to be. I think you see where I'm going with this. Whatever you're going through will make you stronger in the end if you can endure it. And that's about it, peace to all of you.
(Image: Twenty One Pilots; Josh and Tyler)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OnO3UXFZdE
