As 2022 ended, Twenty One Pilots bid farewell to the Scaled and Icy era.
In an Instagram post over the holiday weekend, frontman Tyler Joseph reflects on the duo's latest record, which was released in May 2021 after being recorded amid the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Scaled and Icy was created and born in a time of uncertainty," Joseph writes. "Live shows were always an important part of our DNA as a band. We probably wouldn't even exist with out them. We always wrote songs for the show, never the other way around. But I always wondered what it would be like to write a record that never existed in a concert setting."
With the pandemic shutting down the concert industry in 2020 and for much of 2021, Joseph and drummer Josh Dun found themselves with "no choice but to write that kind of record."
"As the songs took shape, and we released them, and sat at home, we felt proud," Joseph writes. "Proud of our fans, mostly. It felt good to release music. But something was off. I wondered, what would happen to these songs if we let them echo through a venue?"
Eventually, live music returned, and Twenty One Pilots began touring in support of Scaled and Icy in September 2021.
"71 shows and 14 countries later, Scaled and Icy became something different," Joseph writes. "The lyrics meant something different, something more, the colors found their purpose, the chords rubbed together differently. the record came to life. It was confirmed: this band and these specific songs needed live music."
"I want to thank our crew, who took us around the world during one of the toughest eras of touring ever," he continues. "This past album cycle has meant so much to me."