Twenty One Pilots Drop 'Next Semester', Confirm 2024 Aus Tour

Twenty One Pilots have released the second single from their upcoming Clancy album, Next Semester, alongside confirmation of an upcoming Australian tour.

The new track marks a tonal shift from their previous single, Overcompensate, embracing a sound inspired by ‘90s indie and surf-rock. Its palette features dry, fuzzy guitars, atmospheric keys and bright vocal harmonies – a sound the band teased out on 2021’s Scaled And Icy album, but hadn’t fully leapt into until now.

Next Semester arrives alongside a music video directed by Andrew Donoho, with whom the band have collaborated frequently since 2016 (he’s also helmed the clips for Heathens, Heavydirtysoul, Jumpsuit, Nico And The Niners, Levitate, The Hype, Saturday and The Outside). Have a look at the video below:

Alongside the new single came the confirmation that Twenty One Pilots will tour Australia later this year, following teasers from the band yesterday (March 27). The local leg of their sprawling world tour will kick off in Melbourne (Naarm) on Tuesday November 19, when they take over Rod Laver Arena. They’ll head to Brisbane (Meanjin) next, playing the Entertainment Centre on Thursday November 21, before wrapping up at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney (Eora) on Sunday November 24.

Tickets for all three shows go on sale at 10am local time next Friday (April 5) following a Live Nation presale that kicks off at the same time a day earlier (April 4). Head here for more info on both sales.

Clancy is slated for release on May 17 via Fueled By Ramen, serving as the final chapter in a series of concept albums that began with 2015’s Blurryface, then continued with 2018’s Trench (where the titular character was introduced) and Scaled And Icy.

In a middling review for TheMusic.com.au, Alex Sievers opined that Scaled And Icy was “overly safe and uninteresting”, and leaves “an extremely average mark on the duo's mostly stellar track record”. He spotlit the tracks Shy Away and Choker as “two bonafide massive new hits” and called Redecorate “one of my favourite songs of not only Twenty One Pilots' career but the whole goddamn year”, but altogether said the album “is the mixiest of mixed bags”.

Reviewing the Perth (Boorloo) stop of the Bandito tour in 2018, Mark Beresford wrote that Twenty One Pilots are “a live act who only care about one thing when performing, which is to outshine even the loftiest expectations, and based on the deafening screams from the Perth fans, they’ve nailed it.”

TWENTY ONE PILOTS

2024 AUSTRALIAN ‘CLANCY’ TOUR

Tuesday November 19 – Naarm/Melbourne, Rod Laver Arena
Thursday November 21 – Meanjin/Brisbane, Entertainment Centre
Sunday November 24 – Eora/Sydney, Qudos Bank Arena

Tickets: livenation.com.au