This redditor said they asked Tyler after a concert what the ending was and he said “it won’t sound like the end but it’ll look like it” if you think about if blurry face comes in and says the same lines just to take off his mask and see that it’s Tyler happily smiling back “PROUD” of Tyler for finally realizing that you can’t get rid of your insecurities. It’ll be a great ending in my opinion
I've seen it already. Three lights are lit, but the forth one's out. The whole narrative and story is out of order, intentionally... Tyler makes it (No Chances) and becomes unified by his former selves; Blurryface (Father), Clancy (Son), and Tyler (Holy Ghost) as each one of them sings one part of the last line, FEW, PROUD, SO EMOTIONAL as they stare down from a Dema tower of silence, as all the Banditos below are fighting one another, some of them wearing the Rebel red tape from Overcompensate and others wearing Trench yellow. Listen to The Judge's intro, that is literally Tyler hearing Nico in a room who is actually Tyler, becoming what he has hated in this self-defeating cycle. Flying by the dangerous bend symbol every time, using the "commandeered hot ride" from Heavydirtysoul which shows swerving and movement like Next Semester does where Tyler thought of the yellow tape as it appears just like the yellow dashes in the road. There is also Taxi Cab/A Car, A Torch, A Death is the prequel to all of this, talking about the Torchbearer and what I think is an unknown female character (Could also be the same one, a citizen's perspective of Dema in Redecorate?) who in the lyrics, helps pack his car and buckle up his heart, given a map (Dema?) and he also dies and after saying he'll take the grave, send them his way. Now he must put his money where his mouth is...
Yeah I haven't seen anyone mention this at all, and it would've been a bigger deal if it was true, since a big chunk of the fanbase is still entertaining the idea of a double album or EP. Not sure how this person would've asked Tyler anything when the more recent concerts were the 'An Evening' series and the boys would exit the venues from the back with little contact with the fans besides some high fives when exiting through the door or waving them goodbye before getting into their cars.
Obviously, like you said, it's really none of our business to speculate what type of addiction Tyler has struggled with, but we also need to keep in mind that addiction doesn't always involve substance abuse. Depressing thoughts, negativity, and self harm can all be addictions for people as well, and these are things that Tyler has been open about his struggles with a lot.
Yes! When we think of addiction, we automatically think of substance addiction. But we can't neglect behavioral addiction, which can be just as damaging.
I had a similar initial reaction. I think Overcompensate set a tone of expectation fore the lore and then the album didn't follow through. BUT, the more I listened I fell in love with this album and realized Tyler is being very vulnerable. Whether substance related or not, he obviously struggles with some type of addiction. Snap Back sheds some light on the hiatus, which would have been 2017.
100% agree with your reaction to Overcompensate’s tone. I really think they unintentionally misled the clique with the opening track as well as interviews regarding the album’s lore focus prior to its launch.
Or how the last music video recorded for Blurryface was heavydirtysoul which was released in 2017 and the music video contains the “hot ride” that Clancy says he “commandeered” in the lyrics for snap back. Makes sense he says “kicked in 17” and “drove it till the engine died”. He thought he kicked Blurryface in 2017 and now he’s back, either to take him back to dema or maybe a final fight
My appreciation and admiration for this album grows exponentially everyday, there’s always a track that perfectly describes what I’m struggling with, and another to pick me up and show me there’s light at the end of the tunnel. Clancy came out at a perfect time for so many of us, what a beautiful album 🫶
Obviously we all want more songs, but the feeling of this album being unfinished is kind’ve like mental health. You can overcome struggles but it might always haunt you.
100% agree with you. If it wasn’t for Tyler teasing stuff to come with his “you tell me, does it sound like the end” line, I would agree that this is a fitting end as is.
being cold in ohio 😭 okay but in 3:40 when you said he reached out to his friends, my brain went immediately to how midwest indigo is about trying to reach out but struggling with it. i just think it's worth mentioning with lyrics like "reaching out on my way home" "you make me sad and second guess myself" and "i requested counsel with the counsler and he cancelled twice." i don't know why but this is the first time i see this connection
I agree. I don't think it is just about how Ohio is cold. It traces a parallel with how we can be just as cold when we're dealing with mental health issues. And how Dema is cold (physically, but most importantly, metaphorically). It reminds of Hometown and Mulberry Street ("where we're from there's no sun" + "keep your sunny days, leave us in the rain" -> "I want love and sunny days"). "I'm a bit too old to run away. You make me sad and second guess myself" -> Dema makes Clancy sad and second guess himself, but he's gone too far to run away (as in Paladin Strait: "I'm past the point of no return"), so he has to return to the city and fight instead.
I think it's also interesting how he is reaching out on his way home could be him on his way home walking down the middle of the road in next semester or driving. As we all know cars and driving (especially without a car radio) can be a dangerous time. *I could pull the steering wheel*
Sensing the addiction might be isolation and disassociation based on the entire album. It’s so very tempting to go there when battling anxiety and depression.
I feel this so hard. I always want to isolate when I am depressed and it is like pulling teeth to get me anywhere that isn't work, home, or my parents.
The one way that paladin music video could end, and be the final song, and I wouldn't be disappointed, would be like what JL Anderson said in one of his videos. It all loops back around, forming one big cycle. Tyler says, "does this sound like the end?" because it isn't, it's the beginning of the next cycle. That would also explain why it ends with "hello" rather than "goodbye". Fairly local music video looks suspiciously like dema.
I totally agree on this, I am still hoping there is more, but I do think it would also be a nice end, mimicking life as we know it, we battle against a struggle (big or not) and when we get better something else happens, and the cycle goes on again.
This album is so important for me since im currently at a place where I’ve been struggelung with addiction and depression a lot and the thought of relapsing and disappointing other people is really scary
For me it's exactly the same! I struggle often to explain why this music and especially this album is so important to me, but I know that there are people out there like you who feel the same and that makes me feel not completely alone, which helps on my dark days and times. All the best to you, stay strong!
I also see in this album an overarching theme of being haunted by the past. Mistakes, trauma, and past decisions seem to be catching up to the narrator (Clancy, Tyler, whoever it ends up being). In almost every song I noticed this haunted theme.
I love all that you had to say sooo much! These videos are just too good! Although, Midwest indigo is way more meaningful than just being about a cold winter! It is about how blurryface is so cruel and taunting, mocking him for not being farther along as time passes in his life “did you forget were tight on time?” vs. God who is kinder and assuring to Tyler “chill out man we’re right on time”
My favorite thing viewing this album from the perspective of addiction is The Craving. The line "I just hate to put this on her" communicates putting an addiction on a loved one of not wanting to put it on them but also knowing you need to share and need their help. Then there's the line "if I found my body in chains.... I'd hope she looks for me." Chains are often associated with addictions and maybe meaning if I fall back into addiction will she still be there for me? As well the cyclical nature of the album is amazing. The fact that next semester is followed by backslide and then Navigating (which is used in next semester music video and similar themes to next semester) followed by Snap back (which calls back to Backslide).
Midwest Indigo is a metaphorical song about where he grew up/lives being so cold but not just the weather. For example there’s not a big musical scene so he’s saying how hard it is to ‘become someone’
Sooooo I have a theory that is a little wild. But hold on. The fans have wanted a more lore focused album since the release of "Scaled and Icy". "Overcompensate" was the first single released as a way to overcompensate for the fact that the album wouldn't be all lore based. BECAUSE, what we all do? It's what we see in this album, the hardest part of human existence is facing our demons head on until we are basically a fresh and upgraded version of ourselves. In order to rid ourselves of the things we battle, sometimes we have to... "purge the things you used to love, everything must go". - (Oldies Station) So in this album, Tyler(Clancy) is on the other side of "Paladin Strait" singing this whole album. He is "walking the layout, routines in the night"(Routines in the Night) inside of his head, "A route i've mapped a thousand times" (Paladin Strait), preparing for his trip across "Paladin Strait" to once and for all battle his demon(blurryface). So what does he do? He finally begins to make the long journey back to Trench(where the whole album begins) "welcome back to Trench"(Overcompensate) and he begins letting his wife into the nightmare he faces, by himself, all the time. He says it in the song "Paladin Strait", "I can't be alone, guess I never told you so, making my way toward you"...." because his wife is actually trapped by DEMA as well because when someone is struggling with anxiety and depression, it effects everyone around them. He finally makes it across the strait, begins to search for blurryface, his ultimate shadow that he faces, he gets to the door, and now the double album comes out, all lore based as Clancy(Tyler) is finally ready to fully fight and free Trench, and the captors living there, once and for all from DEMA.
love this!! totally feel the same, and analyzed clancy as an album very similarly, it really does feel like a character study, I think many of us expected world building like trench but after a while i realized there actually really is no need for that anymore, the world is built everything is set, so character driven narrative seemed like the right move. but yeah it definitely feels incomplete with paladin strait and im extremely curious to see what they are cooking. and once it's all done then i will make my final opinon on it.
I think all the music videos that take place in the snow are inside Clancy’s mind, like in Oh Ms Believer the Snow represented her mind. I made a video about it and how it starts in Midwest indigo
I dont usually comment on videos but i feel moved to here. Of course, you are correct with his addiction not being our business. I will say that if it is depression and self-defeating thought, that is a very heavy addiction. I even have nightmares of being back into the worst times of it. I am 42 and have struggled with many addictions from the age of 16. One of my hardest ones is negative self talk. It was so bad that i forced myself to start to understand the mind. I basically went to school with my thoughts. Writing and answering where the thoughts came from. I dove deep into Carl Jung and learned about the individuation process. Basically sitting with the dark parts of you that control you. Figuring out where they come from. Its a long intense process but worth it. It has always reminded me of Blurryface. If we do not meet the dark parts of us, we let it control us. We need to be in conversation with it. It needs attention to be transmuted. The questioning is "the work" and when we let the negative thoughts run us again, that to me is giving into something we thought we kicked. It takes us over and we are "pulled back to Dema". We cant defeat these parts, but we can control them better so it doesnt steer us around. Find where we can change and find where we forgive and surrender if we cant fix it. I have followed this band for 10 years now and i am going to my 4th concert with my 11 year old son. These boys and their extended team are a gift. We can't necessarily beat all of the parts of us, but there's is always course corrections. We got this. Much love to you all.
This is very similar to my interpretation of the album and the message as well. I am so happy I got to experience this band in my lifetime. Also props to you for working on yourself, it isn’t easy but is always worth it. I am going to my ninth and tenth show of theirs in the fall!
I’ve been thinking about Midwest Indigo a lot. The song describes being in a rush to get somewhere, but the only clue as to where he’s going is the line about requesting counsel with a counselor. If this is where he’s going, then the song is about the anxiety of being late to meet with the counselor and thinking about the cold of Ohio as a metaphor for what he’s feeling as he tries to make it to his appointment on time.
I hear your disappointment, and im sorry you feel that way. I believe this is about cycles like you said, but I think it a story of about handling all the ups and downs life throws at us. Just when we think we got it figured out, we're hit with a new problem that can start the cycle all over again. We're all Tyler, with a Clancy inside fighting dema.
Could I just add that Midwest Indigo implies the feeling of being misunderstood by friends/family while you are going through an anxious episode (could also relate to addiction)
Interesting… I remember in an interview from years ago, probably 10(?), Tyler was asked about alcohol or something and he said that he didn’t really do that as he has an addictive personality detailing how he was addicted to Yeatzee or something
He also said, when being interviewed about Good Day, that if those things described in the song actually happened to him, he would probably start drinking or smoking or something like this, trying to escape reality. I wonder why he thinks he would do that. If he recognizes he is particularly susceptible to addiction, maybe because of something in his past, this would make perfect sense.
If this is about addiction.. could it be an addiction to depression..? As hard of a question, that is.. the facts are written well into how that is an addiction and what happened to him too. Could be wrong with this 🤔
I think this is the most rational explanation where Tyler is concerned... I specifically remember seeing an interview where they were talking about how they didn't do drugs or alcohol and had half of a stale beer once... I absolutely LOVE that about them. Mulberry Street amplifies their distrust and disgust in big pharma, and makes note of how everyone "relies on synthetic highs." I very seriously doubt the addiction, if that's actually what's being underlined here in this album, is specifically about a substance.
Great analysis of the Clancy theme, Jake! I hadn’t connected all the dots this succinctly. Hmmm yeah not sure Tyler would’ve used the word ‘addiction’ if he was just talking about addiction to dark thoughts. 🤔That has certainly been the over-arching theme of their musical career. One can be addicted to their Shadow side; dark thoughts, self-harm, suicidal ideation. Ty talks in RITN, Glowing Eyes, etc about how there is comfort & reassurance in the familiarity of depression. Much harder to pull yourself over to the ‘glass half full’ side of life (speaking from my own personal experience). I don’t think it’s any coincidence that TØP took a 1 year hiatus in 2017. Whatever Ty was struggling with (anxiety over the newfound fame from Blurryface, and perhaps also negative coping habits that went along with?) Yes, his business, but he did bring it to us in the livestream; we didn’t dig it up from the tabloids. Such a vulnerable album! The cycles, the cycles… Can’t wait to see how they conclude the story. ❤💛
I think it's worth mentioning the first Tyler clip was specifically about "Oldies Stations", not necessarily about the entire album. Besides the "2017" line which was 5 years ago now, I think it's hard to say if he's really struggling these days or not with whatever it is. When he tried to be brighter and upbeat in SAI he was heavily criticized.However, I agree with your overall analysis and the theme of the album being addiction focused. I just hope it ends on a hopeful note 🎶 The placement of Snap Back and FTROFD towards the end of the album seem a bit odd to me. Interested to see what happens in the next few weeks
so one thing i have to think about which no one has a answer for is in the scaled and icy era, nico gets betrayed by one of the bishops. and ultimately gets murdered by the others to help clancy escape. in the clancy letters there is a area where keon, that same bishop who got killed is a comforting person for clancy and takes him back to dema (dark place). maybe keon is the addiction that he talks about, and since nico is just clancy's self and the thing thats holding him back, he instead let go of his addiction by killing it and not giving it the power/not let it trick him into a false comfort.
Tyler hasn't directly stated that he struggles with addiction. He said Vignette was about addiction. Tyler writes from different perspectives at times (Redecorate, At The Risk of Feeking Dumb). I don't think it's good to speculate about something so personal.
On one hand, I see your point. But on the other, the album is about Clancy, which is Tyler. I’m not speculating on the form of addiction, but the themes of addiction seen throughout the majority of the tracks are too apparent to ignore.
I don’t understand why people are becoming so upset, they set their expectations to be a “victory lap were beating the bishops” but the reality is that we don’t escape from our problems we only learn to live with them. I feel like that is what the message is here. It makes me sad to hear people say they are disappointed in this album because it’s not back to back lore songs. That would be so un fun for people who are not obsessed with the lore. The whole point of the lore according to the band was to give people enjoyable songs to listen to, but have a little something extra if people wanted to dig in further. The lore is secondary, and not primary. It is largely being treated as the main focus by many fans who I might add are the overwhelming favorite to be disappointed. I can understand that that is how you would feel based on the rhetoric leading up to the launch of the album, but I feel like if you take a step back and evaluate the project as a whole it is still an unprecedented masterpiece across a four album cycle. It took me a few listens, but I really feel like the ending of the album is telling us that the end of our problems are when we confront them. When Clancy confronts Nico at the end of the album thats when it ends. I don’t know why that is such an unsatisfying ending for so many, but it’s not exactly like Tyler was going to write about all the solutions to his problems. If he knew them, none of this would have happened in the first place. I would not expect to see some clean and beautiful conflict resolution in the music video.
We set our expectations based off of Tyler’s comments regarding the album before it came out. Tyler said this would be the most lore-focused album in interviews, and seeing that the album is named after the protagonist we’ve known since Trench, this signified how important this album is within the lore context. Even the first song/music video informed the fans that this was going to be pretty lore-intensive. All this to say, fans are disappointed because the album was almost marketed to be something it’s not. If the album was properly represented in interviews, I wouldn’t have a problem at all with. The album is GOOD, just not what was described by Tyler prior to its reveal. With time, more people will appreciate it for what it is, especially if they didn’t follow the marketing build up.
I sensed the marajas in the Outside “take a hit/join the club” and Saturday since the submarine looked like a blunt. However… that’s gotta be like a Snoop blunt for that to be a serious addiction so my gut says, that’s not it. Other than that, addiction can be anything. Addiction of praise, success, food, exercise, depression medication/pain pills (which sucks because the body becomes dependent), self harm…,and of course street drugs etc.
Thank you for mentioning that the specifics of his own addiction is none of our business. We are pretty sure it's not alcohol or substance abuse because of his stance on those being widely known; however, there are so many other kinds of addiction that exist. There is no need to speculate, and it is not important for us to know. What is important for us (the audience) is to derive the messages out of the songs and hopefully gain something from them for ourselves as well.
I find this interesting, since after listening to SAI a few times there was a motif of drug use or something. I can go into detail about songs like Mulberry Street or the idea of saturation, but with Clancy having a theme of addiction, it makes for an interesting follow-up.
Props man. As always…great interpretations and breakdowns :-) One of these days I’ll buy you one of these coffees you need…I too am a raging coffee addict lol
I am SURE that this is only part 1. It’ll be probably a double album! I mean.. Josh know what he was doing when he said in the last interview “in the closing chapterS”.
@CapitaineElsass bruv we have intentional clues that have been dropped by tøp pointing to a double release. If you want, I can post the clues thus far if you need to be caught up.
I sadly don't think so. I think Clancy is just part of the cycle and the end of Paladin Strait represents relapsing essentially; Falling back into addictions and/or depression and whatnot. I really hope that it's a double album and they continue the story to show that even if he does fall back into the cycle, he's grown and gained new tools to continue fighting, but I genuinely think this is the end. I think all the "Hints" towards a double album are either misinterpreted quotes or just red heirings. But I hope I'm wrong, like there's no way Tyler would be close to scrapping 2 songs with music videos done, right? I'm really hoping he meant he was gonna include them on the double album. But again, I doubt it.
I've never been extremely interested in the lore, but the album was marketed and titled as lore focused, so even I was a bit confused when the lore wasn't directly referenced as much. That's personally fine and preferred imo, but I too want to see how they land this story. Overall though the album's theme about addiction is certainly intact, and sonically I think it will be popular among a wider audience similar to Blurryface.
Another "addiction" we havnt talked about is concerts. Lol. We all know the high it is going to and leading up to a concert. Then an immediate low following. Not saying this is what he is talking about. But I have been thinking for years how hard it would be to be the preformer. To ride the high and the low of that as a job. Sounds exhausting. Especially when you brain is sick and that high can be so exciting.
I think LAVISH may be a play or hint towards a potential future album and story line. If you listen to the opening words it says this is just the beginning of LAVISH. Idk
Been listening to them since the Vessel album, so a long time and through many albums. This is one of my favs, which I didn’t expect, at all. The way they touched on things made me feel like they were giving a nod to their old sound but still being so creative and changing up the sound as well. Time for a 5th TOP tattoo 🤣❤️
Three lights are lit, but the forth one's out. The whole narrative and story is out of order, intentionally... Tyler makes it (No Chances) and becomes unified by his former selves; Blurryface (Father), Clancy (Son), and Tyler (Holy Ghost) as each one of them sings one part of the last line, FEW, PROUD, SO EMOTIONAL as they stare down from a Dema tower of silence, as all the Banditos below are fighting one another, some of them wearing the Rebel red tape from Overcompensate and others wearing Trench yellow. Listen to The Judge's intro, that is literally Tyler hearing Nico in a room who is actually Tyler, becoming what he has hated in this self-defeating cycle. Flying by the dangerous bend symbol every time, using the "commandeered hot ride" from Heavydirtysoul which shows swerving and movement like Next Semester does where Tyler thought of the yellow tape as it appears just like the yellow dashes in the road. There is also Taxi Cab/A Car, A Torch, A Death is the prequel to all of this, talking about the Torchbearer and what I think is an unknown female character (Could also be the same one, a citizen's perspective of Dema in Redecorate?) who in the lyrics, helps pack his car and buckle up his heart, given a map (Dema?) and he also dies and after saying he'll take the grave, send them his way. Now he must put his money where his mouth is. It's a new adaptation. He found a way to break the cycle though. I believe the scrapped song "Drag Path (Devil Eyes)" in the Digital Remains bonus material, details himself leaving clues and evidence for Tyler to find, just like the I Am Clancy talks about the drag path, it's a way to dig your heels in and the references to shoes (sure-footed, feet planted on grip tape, benefit from a shoe with no lace) is like a metaphor for grounding yourself to analyze the cycle, and the Devil Eyes are probably a reference to Blurryface who has red eyes, unlike the yellow eyes of the Bishops...
I’m asking because I legitimately don’t know… but has Tyler done any interviews since the album was released? Cause I keep seeing only Josh. Maybe it’s a stretch, but did he get kidnapped by Nico and taken to a prison? Hopefully he left a Drag Path for Josh to follow…
I agree with almost everything, except for Midwest Indigo. I don't think it is just about how Ohio is cold. It traces a parallel with how we can be just as cold when we're dealing with mental health issues. And how Dema is cold (physically, but most importantly, metaphorically). It reminds of Hometown and Mulberry Street ("where we're from there's no sun" + "keep your sunny days, leave us in the rain" -> "I want love and sunny days"). "I'm a bit too old to run away. You make me sad and second guess myself" -> Dema makes Clancy sad and second guess himself, but he's gone too far to run away (as in Paladin Strait: "I'm past the point of no return"), so he has to return to the city and fight instead.
I was thinking it's about a suicide attempt... Next semester...i interpret it as a talk of a suicide attempt until a random passer by snapped him out of it, and gave him motivation. Routines in the night i interpret it as while everybody's asleep he can't sleep because of racing thoughts. He talks a lot about backsliding. It sounds like he's doesn't want to, but in snap back he says it's a backslide. Navigating the things that stood out to me the most is in navigating my head give me some advice in waisting precious time.... To me that's a call out for help. He wants help also with backslide he says there's no chance I'll shake this again because i feel the pull waters over my head strength enough for one more time reach my hand above the tide I'll take anything you have if you could just throw me a line. To me he's saying if he backslides he won't make it out. So maybe dema is death I also feel like no chances fits somewhere but haven't figured it out yet.
He is doing something for someone else, there is more then one story in the album, its a end to the last story, which was a drug indused Disneyland trip, then it leads into the new story, but it is all about balance, then there is the love story of jenna and himself, then Palidin Strait is the end of the chapter but it leads into the next one, its his never ending story, but it ends at the top of the dark tower and a door opens and pennywise walks in in his spider form cause you can hear the steps by his feet, and he says the few the proud the emotional, hello Clancy. He is talking to Tom Clancy its all of the stories he read as a child and teen all in one, that was what the dark tower was to Stephen King. But some of the songs he worked on with some people like someones old friend and a beloved ex that are teying to save someone that has gone to the point of no return or maybe has evolved beyond so many others and has to do something out of anyones control.
I don't like that you speculate substance abuse. Remember when he said in Mulberry street: "Keep your bliss there is nothing wrong with this, we just wanna feel it all, keep your pills save your breath...". Clancy is actually about mental health cycles and accepting your dark side, not about fighting substance addiction. I think your analysis was too harsh.
How was I harsh? Not once did I mention substances or try to speculate the form of addiction Tyler writes about. I even provided the disclaimer that it’s none of our business what form of addiction he’s referring to. I simply outlined the themes that are present within each track.
If you found out that Tyler was in fact struggling with substances, would that change your opinion of him? Your comment is exactly why people are afraid to talk about drug addiction, and then don’t get the help and support they need as they feel ostracized.
Honestly I’d be fine with there being no lore if Tyler hadn’t set it up as the most lore-focused album before Clancy dropped. I have no idea why he hyped it up so much in the way he did.
Three lights are lit, but the forth one's out. The whole narrative and story is out of order, intentionally... Tyler makes it (No Chances) and becomes unified by his former selves; Blurryface (Father), Clancy (Son), and Tyler (Holy Ghost) as each one of them sings one part of the last line, FEW, PROUD, SO EMOTIONAL as they stare down from a Dema tower of silence, as all the Banditos below are fighting one another, some of them wearing the Rebel red tape from Overcompensate and others wearing Trench yellow. Listen to The Judge's intro, that is literally Tyler hearing Nico in a room who is actually Tyler, becoming what he has hated in this self-defeating cycle. Flying by the dangerous bend symbol every time, using the "commandeered hot ride" from Heavydirtysoul which shows swerving and movement like Next Semester does where Tyler thought of the yellow tape as it appears just like the yellow dashes in the road. There is also Taxi Cab/A Car, A Torch, A Death is the prequel to all of this, talking about the Torchbearer and what I think is an unknown female character (Could also be the same one, a citizen's perspective of Dema in Redecorate?) who in the lyrics, helps pack his car and buckle up his heart, given a map (Dema?) and he also dies and after saying he'll take the grave, send them his way. Now he must put his money where his mouth is. It's a new adaptation. He found a way to break the cycle though. I believe the scrapped song "Drag Path (Devil Eyes)" in the Digital Remains bonus material, details himself leaving clues and evidence for Tyler to find, just like the I Am Clancy talks about the drag path, it's a way to dig your heels in and the references to shoes (sure-footed, feet planted on grip tape, benefit from a shoe with no lace) is like a metaphor for grounding yourself to analyze the cycle, and the Devil Eyes are probably a reference to Blurryface who has red eyes, unlike the yellow eyes of the Bishops...
