The Deeper Meaning of Heathens

The song Heathens, written by Twenty-One Pilots, might sound like a normal rock song that was made for a movie, but there is so much meaning in only three minutes of song.  The definition of a heathen is someone who doesn’t practice the common norm, which could be a person who doesn’t believe in any religion.  The song tells how more people than we think have doubt and pain inside their mind and bodies.  “You’ll never know the psychopath sitting next to you, You’ll never know the murderer sitting next to you” talks about not only looking at the outside appearance of someone.  The band is trying to tell the audience that we can’t “judge a book by it’s cover” because as stated, we don’t know who the real person is under the mask.  The song also talks about abuse and what the victims feel and how they could respond.  The group wanted the audience to understand that people who are abused have a hard time responding to a normal society setting.  People that suffer from abuse are very tentative and very protective of themselves.

The second issue other than our own issues that I see talked about in this song is the subject of new fans.  He sings, “Please don’t make any sudden moves” and “Watch it” to tell the old fans that they would be hypocrites if they attack the new fans.  Heathens addresses many different topics, but the two important ones I saw are to not judge a book by it’s cover and to be respectful to the new fans, while being glad that the band is so popular.