Hear twenty one pilots’ surprise holiday song “Christmas Saves The Year”

twenty one pilots fans can finally take “Level Of Concern” off of repeat (or should we say a never-ending loop) because the duo have returned with another brand new song, “Christmas Saves The Year”.

Following Tyler Joseph’s hidden nod to Clancy and the tease of a pending “gift” Monday, the band finally shared the new Christmas single at the conclusion of their Twitch stream.

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It’s been a little more than two years since Joseph and Josh Dun welcomed us to Trench with their latest full-length. Since then, the duo dropped a reimagining of some of the album tracks through the Location Sessions in 2019 before releasing their first post-Trench single “Level Of Concern” in April and “Level Of Concern (live from outside)” in May.

Following that never-ending video for the song, the duo kept fans busy with yet another cryptic scavenger hunt (and revealed the method behind the madness). But questions of new music still remained as Joseph teased another album was in the works.

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In May, the frontman told Zane Lowe that, like the rest of the world, the band were navigating 2020 show cancellations amid the coronavirus pandemic. With more free time on their hands, they pushed up plans for their Trench follow-up.

“I’m writing a record right now,” Joseph said at the time. “I’m not sure when it’ll be released, but it’s definitely going to be sooner than we were planning on releasing a record.”

The frontman also opened up to Alternative Press this summer on the future of live shows and what to expect from the band next.

“I’m not really sure which direction we’re gonna go yet,” he admits. “There are two very different records, in my opinion, to be written. One being right now and the other one being after that. I don’t know which one I’m going to do first. I have an idea of what I think is next, sonically. It’s just whether or not it’s too big of a risk, I guess.”

Joseph gave an update in mid-November with a brief video on his Instagram Story where he shared a simple, “I’m working on the album.” However, no concrete timeline of a release or storyline has been revealed yet, but that didn’t stop the Clique from theorizing their own.

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Now, Joseph is taking a break from the studio to play Fortnite at the final event in the Chipotle Challenger Series. The musician, who has been vocal about his love of Chipotle, joined Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Juju Smith-Schuster and skateboarders Jagger Eaton and Heimana Reynolds. They faced off with pro players such as Bugha, Mongraal, Clix, NickEh30, Nate Hill and Ewok for a prize pool of $50,000 and free Chipotle for a year.

With brand new Ned emotes, Joseph hosted his holiday-centric stream titled “Tyler’s Christmas Party” on the band’s Twitch account. With the promise of a gift at the stream’s conclusion, fans tuned in to see what TOP had planned.

Joseph began his stream just ahead of the announced 6 p.m. ET start time to directly address fans following backlash related to a tweet he shared in September. In the wake of Black Lives Matter protests, twenty one pilots fans called upon the group to speak up about racial injustice.

On Sept. 2, the frontman took to his personal feed to share two photos of himself in platform sneakers. “You guys keep asking me to use my platforms,” Joseph captioned the photos. “Feels good to dust these bad boys off.”

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The since-deleted tweet was met with immediate backlash with the band and singer’s name trending on Twitter as fans discussed his actions. Joseph followed up the photos with a thread of tweets discussing mental health and his way of dealing with it. He drew attention to the then-upcoming Suicide Prevention Week and shared “respect [for] all the warriors out there fighting for different causes.”

Joseph began trending again Dec. 7 with fans continuing to tweet about his September statement, and the singer took the opportunity to begin his livestream by addressing it directly.

“A few months ago, I tweeted out a tweet that was kind of poking fun at using your platform, and I want to take the opportunity, the moment, to apologize and to say that I’m sorry, and it was wrong,” Joseph says. “I shouldn’t have done it. I see now how it could have hurt some people, and it did hurt people. You can even ask my parents. Ever since I was little, it’s always been a little tough for me to admit when I’m wrong, and this is me admitting that I was wrong. I wish I could take it back, but I can’t, and I’m truly sorry.”

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“I hope you can forgive me for it. I know some people will feel that this is not enough of an apology, and I understand that. That’s OK. And I guess, because of some of the realness of the reaction to it, there’s a philosophy that if you don’t publicly talk about the threats and the doxing that it will maybe just go away, and if you talk about it, it might ramp up and happen more. Not just threats to me, but my family—my wife [Jenna Joseph] and my daughter [Rosie]. And so what I want to do is, I want to clear something up in hopes that that happens less or at least stops happening altogether. I know that I’m not a racist person. I know that about myself. Not just because of the words that I say, or what I say outwardly, but also because of my actions.”

Joseph, who grew up playing basketball, continued by explaining shortly after high school, he started working as a counselor at a sports camp for inner-city kids. He reveals he fell in love with the job and helping children, so in 2016, he launched a sports-related community non-profit.

The non-profit, which Joseph did not disclose the name of, selects kids to be part of a camp at Ohio State University’s facilities. The participants are introduced to college coaches and players as well as guidance counselors, which the singer explains is to “hopefully give them the tools to not only excel and propel their career in sports but even more than that.”

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While still active, Joseph explains he kept it private until now and has never asked fans to help fund it. With that focus on outreach in his own hometown community, Joseph continued to emphasize his support.

“I want you to know I’m an advocate for, an ally of and a supporter of Black lives in ways that you may never know. Now listen, I’m not talking about this as an excuse for what I’ve done and what I’ve said and what I’ve tweeted. I still come back around to know I was wrong. I shouldn’t have done it, and I’m sorry.”

After his statement, Joseph hopped on for three hours of gaming where he was joined by Dun and Debby Ryan (who recently revealed their secret wedding) as well as Jenna, Rosie and TOP creative director Mark Eshleman (aka Reel Bear Media).

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In addition to competing in Chipotle’s Fortnite event, the group surpassed their $10,000 fundraising goal for Make-A-Wish by raising $18,000. Joseph matched the donations and took it up to $36,000.

Fans were treated to the brand new Christmas track at the end of the stream where the duo played the visualizer just before 9 p.m. ET. A few minutes after the hour, it officially premiered on YouTube and streaming services.

twenty one pilots have shown their holiday cheer in the past, performing a covers medley that included “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “Jingle Bells” and “O Holy Night” among others in 2011. Joseph also lent his vocals to iDKHOW frontman Dallon Weekes’ “Sickly Sweet Holidays,” but he was left off of the final mix.

Now, twenty one pilots fans are finally getting an official Christmas single from the band. Check out “Christmas Saves The Year” with its lyrics below.

twenty one pilots “Christmas Saves The Year” lyrics

Snow falls down from the gray sky
Ashes fall in the sea
Plans are thrown to the wayside
Frozen days of the week

But everybody wants to make it home this year
Even if the world is crumbling down
Cause everybody’s got somebody who’s got their name on a shelf
With cheap décor and flavored cheer
You rest assured, Christmas saves the year

Dust off old photo boxes
This one’s marked ‘92
Years past seemed so much grander
This one needs to come through

Cause everybody wants to make it home this year
Even if the world is crumbling down
Cause everybody’s got somebody who’s got their name on a shelf
With cheap décor and flavored cheer
You rest assured, Christmas saves the year

What do you think of twenty one pilots’ Christmas song? Let us know in the comments below.