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twenty one pilots initially turned down their VMAs performance—here's the story

Current AP cover stars twenty one pilots sit down with editor in chief Jason Pettigrew in our latest issue to talk an array of topics. One subject included their performance at this year’s VMAs, which almost didn’t happen. “There was an artist they mentioned and we said, ‘Thank you, but we’re going to pass. It doesn’t make sense for us for a number of reasons,’” said Joseph. “And we thought that was it: We had blown out chance to play the VMAs—and it’s gone forever. But it was a good decision and it made sense. Then MTV came back to us and said, ‘What about A$AP Rocky?’” 

Read more: No big deal: twenty one pilots just sold out Madison Square Garden

You can read an excerpt from the interview below. Read the entire piece in AP 329, which is on sale now

“There was an artist they mentioned and we said, ‘Thank you, but we’re going to pass. It doesn’t make sense for us for a number of reasons,’” said Joseph. “And we thought that was it: We had blown out chance to play the VMAs—and it’s gone forever. But it was a good decision and it made sense. Then MTV came back to us and said, ‘What about A$AP Rocky?’ I started diving into what he’s all about, and although it’s very different from what we’re coming, there was a like-mindedness. It was one of the favorite moments of my career. Not because of what everyone saw, but just the learning process of working with another artists and working with the politics of what it means to work on a stage that big.”

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