The band twenty one pilots released their latest album a year ago on Oct. 5, 2018, after a year-long hiatus. It delves into the profound topic of mental health and the writer’s journey with anxiety and depression. Merely listening to the songs does not give the full story. Looking at the lyrics, understanding the band members, and cross-referencing to other songs will help the patterns emerge. From their beginning in Columbus, Ohio, to “Trench,” the band members have been open about their mental health. Here’s a detailed look at the album.
The band name
The band got their name from the play “All My Sons” by Arthur Miller. The main character is a WWII mechanic and realizes he sent out faulty parts for aircraft. Instead of swallowing his pride and admitting his mistake, he does not do anything about it and hopes it all works out. In the end, 21 pilots lost their lives directly due to the faulty parts. The mechanic commits suicide from the guilt.
The hiatus
The hiatus began on July 6, 2017. The band posted a GIF of an eye captioned, “Are you still sleeping?”. Later that month, the drummer Josh Dun accepted an award on behalf of the band, saying that Tyler Joseph, the other half of the two-man band, was busy defeating Dema. At the time of his acceptance speech, this was all cryptic to the fanbase. Music videos were released slowly over the summer preceding the album release. With the full version of “Trench” over a year after the tweet, all the pieces start to come together.
Origin of Dema
The name “Dema” comes from a Persian religion called Zoroastrianism. It is one of the oldest surviving religions. In Zoroastrianism, they would place bodies of those who have passed on top of towers for vultures to feed on. Dema means “tower of silence,” and that is precisely what those towers are. The Zoroastrians believed in disposing of the dead as environmentally as possible.
THE CLANCY JOURNALS
Updates filled the official website with information about the album’s narrative during the hiatus. A character here is Clancy. He witnesses the events of “Jumpsuit” while escaping the city. He journals about how he feels while in Dema and how he feels when he leaves. Sometimes, there are messages hidden within his entries. There are also images with the colors inverted and gifs. The file names reveal more information.
THE SONGS
“Jumpsuit” is one of the few songs on “Trench” that has a music video. It opens with a burning car, last seen in the music video for “Heavydirtysoul” from “Blurryface,” their last studio album. The singer and songwriter of the band, Tyler Joseph, sang, “We’ve been here the whole time. You were asleep. Time to wake up.” He wakes up in the world of “Trench,” but also in a literal trench. Joseph’s jacket is green with the iconic yellow tape. The coat is his jumpsuit, and it protects him from the Bishops because the yellow tape means he is a Bandito. Next, the first Bishop, Nico, rides in on a horse and wearing a red cloak. The red color signifies the “Blurryface” album. Nico represents the song “Stressed Out” from “Blurryface,” and he is the embodiment of Joseph’s insecurities. Over the edge of the cliff, the other Banditos peer down into the trench. Among them is Josh Dun, who is the band’s drummer and Joseph’s best friend, as well as Jenna Joseph, his wife. Nico approaches Joseph, marking his neck with black from his hands. Fans have denoted this to be the ‘vulture feathers.’ This is originally from “Blurryface,” where Joseph always had his hands and neck painted in black. It represents how his insecurities and anxieties would tie his hands and suffocate him. He begins to follow Nico to the center of Trench, a city called Dema. The Banditos start throwing yellow flower petals into the trench. At this, Joseph turns and runs from Nico, representative of him trying to run away and hide from his anxiety. The black on his neck begins to fade. He decides that his fear will have to “grab my throat and lift me in the air” and “tie me down and then break both my hands” to defeat him. In the end, he falls and is taken to Dema by Nico. The black on his neck returns stronger than ever. Dun is the only Bandito left watching Joseph as he is defeated. The screen fades out and returns to Joseph at the burning car, retrieving his green jacket out of the trunk.
Musically, “Jumpsuit” seamlessly flows into “Levitate.” In the music video, the Banditos are shaving Joseph’s head, similar to “Car Radio” from the album Vessel released in 2013. The line “I got back what I once bought back in that slot I won’t need to replace” is parallel to the line “I have these thoughts so often I ought to replace that slot with what I once bought,” from “Car Radio” on the "Vessel" album. “Car Radio” outlines a story when Joseph left his car unlocked at college, and someone stole his car radio, CDs, and GPS. In an interview, Joseph said it made him break the habit of using music as a distraction because he didn’t have the luxury of turning on the radio as soon as he got in his car. Some suspect the parallelism between these two songs to be a literal reference to a fan that brought him a car radio at a show, but others see it more figuratively in his toxic relationship with music and songwriting.
The opening lines are “Oh, I know how to levitate up off my feet, and ever since the seventh grade, I learned to fire-breathe. And though I feed on things that fell, you can learn to levitate with just a little help. Learn to levitate with just a little help.” In Clancy’s letters, he says how he feels weightless when he leaves the city. Joseph knows how to leave the city. He also knows that with support from the Banditos, anyone can learn how to levitate or fly as well. The fire-breathing refers to the Bishops. Later in “Nico and the Niners,” the Bishops are shown worshiping “heatless fires” or neon lights. They do not emit heat or emotion. Joseph, however, does express feelings in his support and his words. Being in Dema can make anyone apathetic with the lack of emotion.
“Morph” is a crucial song in “Trench.” It revolves around the line, “We’re surrounded, and we’re hounded. There’s no ‘above,’ or ‘under,’ or ‘around’ it.”
First, Nicolas Bourbaki needs an introduction. Joseph says, “He’ll always try to stop me, that Nicolas Bourbaki. He’s got no friends close, but those who know him most know he goes by Nico.” Nicolas Bourbaki is the pseudonym that a group of French mathematicians wrote under. They wrote about math from beginning to end. But why did they choose the name Bourbaki? Answer: General Charles Denis Sauter Bourbaki. He was a French general that was known for his success. Then suddenly, in the Franco-Prussian war, he lost 63,000 men. Instead of dealing with the blame, he attempted suicide. This is resonant with the origin of the band name. But in General Bourbaki’s case, it was a failed attempt. He tried to shoot himself, but the bullet shot out the gun and flattened against his skull. Now, he is most famous for his suicide attempt.
Back to ‘above,’ ‘under,’ and ‘around.’ The city of Dema is a circle. The Banditos have underground tunnels that allow them to leave as they please. It is the only way they’ve been able to travel in and out. Joseph says, “And that’s when going ‘under’ starts to take my wonder,” as he desires to escape from Dema through underground tunnels. “And ‘around’ is scientific miracle” refers to the Bishops. In Dema, Joseph is surrounded by the Bishops at all times, and they consume his everyday life.
‘Above’ refers to Joseph’s relationship with God and his faith. Joseph continued, “For ‘above’ is blind belief” and “Let’s pick ‘above’ and see. For if and when we go ‘above,’ the question remains. Are we still in love, and is it possible we feel the same?” His relationship with his faith has been rocky at best. In an interview, Joseph confirmed that Clancy is another character, but many suspect that Clancy is an embodiment of the singer, similar to how Blurryface is an embodiment of his insecurities. They are separated for self-improvement and reflection. Clancy’s Bishop is Keons. In Clancy’s letters, he almost talks good about Keons. Others say how good Keons to them, especially compared to other, more ruthless Bishops. The name Keons has Prussian roots and means ‘king of kings’. Keons is God. In Trench, there is a God. There is hope. Joseph has pondered the idea of a world without God. That would be the world outside Trench. If Keons is God, he needs his struggles to reside in Dema and maintain his relationship with God. He worries that escaping the city could mean that he loses his connection with God.
“Morph” can also be an extension on “Doubt” from “Blurryface.” It’s the first mention of the Bishops in any of their songs. “Doubt” is about Joseph’s relationship with God. He sang, “Gnawing on the bishops. Claw away at the system. Repeating simple phrases. Someone holy insisted.” He’s asking for help from above against the Bishops, even before he entirely created the world of Trench. Joseph sang, “Don’t forget about me even when I doubt you. I’m no good without you.” He knows he needs God in his life, but he’s hoping he’ll stay in his life and won’t give up on him. In Trench, it seems natural to suddenly encounter another Bishop, but he’s hoping that Keons stays with him, even when he leaves the city.
“My Blood” is all about Joseph standing by his friends, or specifically, those he calls family. Many people suspect this song is about Joseph’s brother. At a live performance, Joseph explains the song in more depth.
“This is called ‘My Blood,’ and I wanna explain one of the verses that means a lot to me. I guess you can wrap this song up and say it’s about family. When I was younger, I had some older cousins that lived in Michigan, and I always looked up to them because they were older and cooler. There was a story where the younger brother of my cousins was a loudmouth, got into a lot of trouble, very cocky, and his older brother who also played football with him was much quieter, didn’t talk a lot; And it got to the point where the younger cousin was running his mouth so much that the rival high school football team showed up to his house. So in this song I talk about people at the end of your driveway calling out your name, it’s in reference to this story, because what happened is, the older cousin who was always very quiet, kept to himself, no one knew that he was a black belt, and he went out to the end of the driveway, and he took care of business. That story was stuck with me, you know, defending your family, sticking up for them; and as I was writing this song, I was thinking about if I were in that position, if I had to defend my family, I realized I would probably need a weapon, so I thought I’d introduce a bat into the story, because my soft hands probably wouldn’t be able to punch anyone square in the face,” Joseph said.
Besides the literal reference to his youth, some biblical texts align with “Migraine” from the album "Vessel." Joseph sang, “If you find yourself in a lion’s den, I’ll jump right in and pull my pin.” In “Migraine,” Joseph rapped, “I did not know it was such a violent island. Full of tidal waves, suicidal crazed lions. They’re trying to eat me, blood running down their chin. And I know that I can fight, or I can let the lion win. I begin to assemble what weapons I can find, ‘cause sometimes to stay alive; you got to kill your mind.” Both of these lyrics refer to the parable of Daniel in the Lion’s Den. In the parable, King Darius sets a law that anyone who worships anyone besides him will be thrown into a den of lions. Daniel, one of King Darius’s advisors, hears this and decides to continue praising God. The other advisors catch Daniel praying and tell King Darius. He has to honor his law and send Daniel to the lion’s den, no matter how much he favors him. The next morning King Darius rushes to the den, which was enclosed by a large stone, and Daniel emerges unscathed. He says an angel came down and closed the mouths of the lions because he decided that he was innocent. King Darius orders for the other advisors to be thrown into the lion’s den, where the starving lions immediately eat them.
In “My Blood,” Joseph decides to commit a double suicide if they were thrown into the lion’s den. In the case of his story from Michigan, if the trouble-making cousin were thrown in, he would not be decided as innocent, but the older cousin would survive. Setting off a grenade would possibly kill both of them unless God chooses to save them. Either way, they would be together in the end.
“Chlorine” is all about Joseph’s relationship with songwriting. He finds it almost addictive. Joseph sang, “Lovin’ what I’m tastin’. Venom on my tongue, dependant at times. Poisonous vibrations help my body run.” He needs to continue songwriting to cope, but it’s a toxic relationship. It pains him to bring up these past emotions and times of despair, but he does it in the name of creativity.
“Chlorine” opens with the low voice saying, “So where are you? It’s been a little while.” This character is calling to Joseph, knowing that he has relapsed back into his unhealthy songwriting habits. This resonants with Joseph decided he will “stay in his room” in “Pet Cheetah.” He needs a break from digging up these bad memories, but his inner turmoil knows he will eventually return.
Nico returns in the lyrics symbolically. Joseph sang, “Fall out of formation. I plan my escape from walls they confined. Rebel red carnation grows while I decay.” The red carnation represents Nico and the Bishops. The Bishops feed off of Joseph’s depression. But Joseph needs the Bishops in his life: “Had you in my coat pocket, where I kept my rebel red. I felt I was invincible you wrapped around my head.” The Bishops make him feel safe because he has grown used to the torture of Dema, similar to how Clancy calls it home because it is all he has ever known.
In the sequel to “Tear in My Heart,” Joseph has another song dedicated to his wife. “Tear in My Heart” is about how he can trust his wife to be honest and keep him in check. It’s a small homage to Jenna Joseph and how she is the rock in his life. “Tear in My Heart” is the fifth song on “Blurryface.” On the album cover, some of the circles are red. If it gets rotated, every circle, or song, will be red eventually, except for the middle one, which is the fifth one, or “Tear in My Heart.” It is representative of how his insecurities cannot affect his love for his wife. No matter how bad his anxiety or depression gets, his passion for Jenna will never falter.
“Neon Gravestones” is one of the heavier songs on the album. It has a similar message to “Guns for Hands” from “Blurryface.” It’s about the glorification of celebrity suicide. There is an odd stigma around suicide. People never really hear about someone with depression or someone battling mental health, but they do understand when someone takes their own life. Joseph could not have said it better himself. He clearly states what he believes regarding this topic: “My opinion, our culture can treat a loss like it’s a win and right before we turn on them, we give them the highest of praise and hang their banner from the ceiling communicating, further engraving and earlier grave is an optional way, no.” He brings up multiple points in this small stanza. Joseph outlines the problem: celebrity suicide can accidentally send the message that death is an option. He negates that idea by adding “no.” The gravestones are neon with artificial light, not a real flame. He then brings up how committing suicide himself can help boost his reputation. Joseph sang, “I could use the streams and extra conversations. I could give up and boost up my reputation. I could go out with a bang. They would know my name. They would host and post a celebration.” Not many people know about twenty one pilots, and even fewer know the band members and their stories. Suicide would get them in the news, but Joseph knows that that is a path he will not choose. He goes further in saying, “Promise me this. If I lose to myself, you won’t mourn and day, and you’ll move on to someone else.” He’s specifically asking for his fans not to praise his suicide if it comes to that. But he reassures his audience that “they won’t get them.” Joseph is going to stay alive and live a long life as much as he can control it. Finally, he acknowledges that, even though he doesn’t agree, celebrity suicides are bringing awareness to the broader issue of mental health: “Don’t get me wrong, the rise in awareness is beating a stigma that no longer scares us. But for the sake of discussion, in the spirit of fairness, could we give this some room for a new point of view?” In the end, he asks for change. He asks us to instead, “Find your grandparents or someone of age. Pay some respect for the path that they paved. To life, they were dedicated. Now, that should be celebrated."
“The Hype” is about managing fame and staying true to the root of the band. The music video opens with Tyler Joseph opening up his chest, and the camera zooms into a living room. The representation of fame and following is flannel clothing. When it opens, neither Joseph nor Dun are wearing flannel, and once people show up, they aren’t wearing flannel either. As the band grows in fame, they begin wearing more clothes, and they begin to believe the hype. More and more fans are wearing flannel in support, also buying into the hype. In the end, Joseph falls through the roof, showing how unsupportive fame can be. He decides to return to his roots: back in the living room with no audience, or where it all started.
The world starts to come together in the ninth song of the album. The Bishops are more directly addressed and appear in the music video. There are nine Bishops: one for each song on “Blurryface.” They are Keons from “Heavydirtysoul”, Nico as Blurryface from “Stressed Out”, Listo from “Ride”, Andre from “Fairly Local”, Sacarver from “Tear in My Heart”, Vetomo from “Lane Boy”, Reisdro from “Doubt”, Lisden from “Polarize”, and Nills from “Goner”. Their names can be decoded from the lyrics of their own songs: e.g., choKE ON Smoke from “Heavydirtysoul.” This can all be found in the Clancy letters, and most it was decoded by fans.
In this song, Joseph starts rebelling and explaining how it makes him feel. He says, “East is up, I’m fearless when I hear this on the low. East is up; I’m careless when I wear my rebel clothes. East is up; when Bishops come together, they will know that Dema doesn’t control us.” Being a Bandito makes him feel free. He feels safe when he has his jumpsuit on. In the music video, we see the Bishops worshipping the glass and neon they have created. Their religion is called Vialism. They worship “heatless fires” as they are referred to in “Bandito.”
There are some parts of the song that sound like speech in reverse. In the intro of the song, Josh Dun is calling out to Joseph, announcing that the Banditos are coming to save him. He said, “Renounce Vialism. You will leave Dema and head true east. We are Banditos.” The Banditos then go into the city under the walls. They carry torches that burn yellow and have yellow tape on them. The Bishops cannot see that particular shade of yellow, specifically #FCE300, therefore keeping the Banditos anonymous.
Joseph is seen in his room during this music video, wearing what he wore during “Heavydirtysoul.” He has yellow flowers from the trench in “Jumpsuit” in a desk drawer, each representing failed escape attempts. He packs his backpack to leave. Some of the things include the glasses from “Ride” and the beanie from “Stressed Out.” These were the two most popular songs on “Blurryface.” As the Banditos meet him, Dun and Joseph do their iconic handshake, symbolic of their unbreakable friendship. They break out into a concert in the middle of the courtyard, which gets the attention of the Bishops. The Banditos leave yellow traces everywhere, calling to other residents of Dema and giving them hope. Two kids pick up the jacket, starting their journey in battling Dema. Joseph’s backpack gets left behind as well, including all the relics from the “Blurryface” album.
Once the concert starts, it follows the lyrics: “Start a concert, a complete diversion. Start a mob, and you can be quite certain we’ll win, but not everyone will get out.” These are also the same events as the “Heathens” music video, which was for “Suicide Squad.” Joseph gets taken to prison, but frequently sees Josh Dun drumming. Dun’s hair is bright yellow underneath his hat. The platform that his drums are on is also yellow. Eventually, Joseph leaves his cell, follows Dun, and breaks out into a concert. His orange jumpsuit rips off for a yellow suit. The other inmates join in the show. Once the concert is over, all the other inmates have escaped, except for Joseph: “We’ll win, but not everyone will get out.”
Right at the end, it sounds like Joseph saying “sodeepnedbuyou,” which is decoded from one to the Clancy letters. But he is saying “We are Banditos” in reverse. He considers himself a Bandito.
“Cut My Lip” is yet another song about songwriting. This song, in particular, gives more idea of a motive of why he writes. Joseph sang, “I’ll keep on trying. Might as well. If you decide all is well, I’ll keep on trying. Might as well.” Joseph chooses to write songs because he knows his fans listen to it and need his music. He decides to drink from the rusty cup.
It is not all terrible. He has supported through all of his self-induced sufferings. He sang, “I don’t mind at all. Lean on my pride. Lean on my pride. I’m a lion.” This brings more depth to Daniel in the Lion’s Den parable. Not only is Joseph willing to save his family from the lions, but he also sees himself and his fans as the lions. It could mean he chooses to kill himself metaphorically, and he enters his own lion’s den. He is Daniel and the lion. His pride stands by him nonetheless.
“Bandito” is one of the most cryptic and confusing songs on “Trench.” It outlines the struggle between Joseph’s familiarity with Trench and his longing to leave. He wants to stay because why induce change when it is not needed, but he knows he has to leave because Dema will kill him. The line, “I could take the high road, but I know that I’m going home. I’m a ban; I’m a Bandito” could have multiple meanings. It could mean leaving under the walls of the city when you should believe in God and stay. It could mean emerging out of the trench, like the other Banditos in “Jumpsuit” and helping others who get trapped in their city of Dema. Most interpretations follow the idea of leaving or staying, “where we used to bleed and where our blood needs to be.” Joseph then describes what being in the city feels like. He sang, “In the city, I feel my spirit in contained. Like neon inside the glass, they form my brain. But I recently discovered it’s a heatless fire. Like nicknames, they give themselves to uninspire.” Dema makes Joseph feel trapped and like he can’t be free. The Bishops from Joseph into who he is, but there is no heat from the neon light. There is no love in the formation of Joseph’s character. Joseph continued, “Begin with a bullet, now add fire to the proof. But I’m still not sure if fear’s a rival or close relative to truth.” Joseph can’t decide if the fear is supposed to scare him away from escaping or motivate him to leave. “Bulletproof” is also from “Fairly Local” from “Blurryface.” He sang, “Yo, you, bulletproof and black like a funeral.” The Bishops are not only fireproof but also bulletproof. They are as cold as death because they have no emotions.
Conversely, Joseph sang, “Either way, it helps to hear these words bounce off of you. The softest echo could be enough for me to make it through.” Joseph is referring to singing at the concerts. Hearing the music bounce off his fans at shows, knowing they are supporting him, can be enough to motivate him to get out of Dema. He pays tribute to his hometown and the first fans he had in “Sahlo Folina,” which is an anagram for “All Ohio fans.”
“Bandito,” tells us why Tyler Joseph wrote “Trench.” He sang, “I created this world to feel some control. Destroy it if I want.” He created Blurryface, Clancy, and the whole universe of Trench to look into and understand his mind. He pulled apart the different aspects of his mental struggles to be able to examine them more closely and cope.
“Pet Cheetah” is another song about songwriting. It starts with Joseph struggling with writer’s block: “Eight days straight, eight hours each and not one line.” He then decides to work with what he has, even though it may not be the best. “So, I’ll take this beat I should delete to exercise.” In an interview, Joseph describes music-making and songwriting as a muscle that needs to be trained. By working with a piece that may not become a final product, he is at least getting practice and training out of it. This song ends up outlining the process. He says, “I’ll sit here ‘til I find the problem.” He is choosing to edit this piece in detail and get down to the root of his writer’s block.
The pet cheetah is another metaphor for songwriting. He sang, “I’ve got a pet cheetah down in my basement. I’ve raised him and bathed him and named him Jason Statham.” Joseph’s studio is in the basement of his house. This significance of Jason Statham is that Josh Dun challenged Joseph to fit that lyric into a song somewhere. So part of it is a tip of the hat to Dun, but it also shows how his writer’s block gets to him so severely that he will run with any idea. The pet cheetah gif on the website tells us that the cheetah’s name is Nico. Nico manifests in Joseph’s songwriting, as well. Here, he represents his creator side as another being, almost like the muscle of songwriting is another entity besides himself. Joseph sang, “I’ve trained to make me these beats. Now my pet cheetah’s quicker in the studio than on his feet.” This means that after all this training and working with music that won’t leave the studio, his skills now allow him to crank out beats more quickly. Nico creates music faster than Joseph can cope with his insecurities to write lyrics.
Eventually, Joseph decides to do what he wants to do and what he loves. He sang, “I’ma get mine and get going. I’m showing my faces in just enough places. I’m done with tip-toeing, I’ll stay in my room.” He decides to stay in his room, away from his basement and studio, and focus on himself. He brings back the idea of the vultures in this verse: “My house is the one where the vultures are perched on the roof.” In “Levitate,” Joseph referred to himself as a vulture. Here, he does the same, but he’s feeding off of dead ideas and lost creativity. Then, it moves to the fear of the pet cheetah. Joseph continued, “Get behind me, I bet the nepotistic mindset will help us get ours as we’re growing. This clique means so much to this dude; it could make him afraid of his music and be scared to death. He could lose it.” The nepotistic mindset is where he favors writing music for his fans, instead of everyone. He battles with the struggle of writing songs for his fans. This has been a career-long issue for the band. They create songs that they know won’t be popular, but they decide to run with it because they know they won’t believe the hype, and they don’t need it. In “Screen” from "Vessel," Joseph addresses this issue: “I conversate with people who know if I flow on a song, I’ll get no radio play. While you’re doing fine, there are some people and me who have a callous time getting through this life, so excuse us while we sing to the sky.” Joseph writes for his fans, but specifically, about his struggles. There are people out there who have the same problems as he does. Even though not everyone will relate to his narrative, there’s someone out there that will. But the worry then becomes losing fans if the music isn’t relatable enough.
The repeat of the chorus brings back the idea of getting to the root of the problem. In this case, he’s focusing on his songwriting. Overall, the idea is of his music theory side, or pet cheetah is making beats quicker than he can write lyrics for them. This battle with mainstream writing is what drives his toxic relationship with his music.
Joseph was really close with his grandfather. In “Legend,” Joseph never discloses how his grandfather passed. He sang, “I’m sorry I did not visit. I did not know how to take it when your eyes did not know me as I know”. From these lyrics, it sounds like his grandfather had Alzheimer’s. Joseph did not want a sad song in memory of his idol. That would not be fitting for his personality. Instead, Joseph wrote a happier and more beautiful spin on a song dedicated to his late relative.
“Leave the City” concludes Joseph’s journey in Trench so far. The motif of the fire returns. Joseph sang, “I’m tired of tending to this fire.” He has grown weary and exhausted from continually battling the Bishops. He has to rely on the Banditos for hope, but he knows that hope it there. He sees that “it’s glowing. Embers are barely showing proof of life in the shadow dancing on my plans.” The Banditos are far from him currently. They are in sight, but the hope is dwindling, “so long it’s concerning.” Joseph explains the hiatus. He said, “Last year, I needed a change of pace. Couldn’t take the pace of change. He is moving hastily. But this year, though I’m far from home, in Trench I’m not alone. These faces are facing me.” Although, he is stuck in Trench, his fans and the Banditos are there with him. Finally, Joseph decides what he will do: “In time, I will leave the city. For now, I will stay alive.” Right now, his concern is surviving and managing. Then, he will work on escaping the city. “Stay alive” is from "Truce" on the "Vessel" album and is the core message of the clique.