Nico and the Niners

Lore & Background

In the world of Twenty One Pilots, Dema is a city built on fear and enforced by nine bishops, with Nico as their unblinking leader. 'Nico and the Niners' is a direct transmission from the Banditos—a resistance movement that uses coded language to outwit the bishops. The phrase 'east is up' is their compass: 'east' points toward hope beyond the city walls, and 'up' lifts the spirit from the trenches of despair. The lyrics are a cipher, designed to guide followers while flying under Nico's gaze. The song also maps the nine bishops as suppressors of individuality, with Nico embodying both external authority and the internal voice that traps people in cycles of self-doubt. The Banditos, by contrast, are the underground network that weaponizes music and cryptic signals to unite and break free. This track marks Clancy's shift from prisoner to prophet—a turning point where the rebellion finds its voice. It's a battle cry that doesn't just describe the fight; it ignites it. Fans read it as a metaphor for mental health struggles, with Dema as depression and the bishops as the negative thoughts that keep you locked inside your own head.

In Their Own Story

The air in Dema is thick with smoke and the weight of a thousand unheard screams. A figure in yellow tape and a black beanie slips through the alleys, humming a tune that scrapes against the concrete. 'East is up,' they whisper to a stranger, who nods—a flicker of recognition—and passes the code along like a live coal. Nico, the bishop with the sternest gaze, watches from his tower, but the message spreads faster than his reach: a promise of escape, a map drawn in breath and rhythm. The Banditos move in shadows, their hearts beating with the pulse of a new dawn, each step a refusal to stay buried.

Reader's Guide

The arc begins with the release of 'Nico and the Niners' as a single, unveiling the secret lexicon of the Banditos. The music video shows Clancy (played by Tyler Joseph) in a yellow-taped jacket, sprinting through a desert as masked figures emerge from the dust—symbols of a resistance that refuses to stay hidden. The lyrics detail the escape plan: head east, a direction that becomes a recurring compass in the lore. Key events include the revelation of the nine bishops—Nico as the primary antagonist—and the cementing of the Banditos as a force to be reckoned with. The impact is seismic: it deepens the world-building of the Trench era, linking back to 'Blurryface' through shared themes of control and liberation. The song's call to action turns fans into participants, with 'east is up' echoing in concert crowds and online forums as a rallying cry. This arc sets the stage for the Dema saga's climax, feeding into later releases like 'The Outside' and 'Scaled and Icy,' where the battle between captivity and freedom reaches its fever pitch.

Did You Know?

• The phrase 'east is up' is a coded instruction to escape Dema—'east' points toward hope, and 'up' lifts you from the trenches of despair.
• Nico is named after a figure from the band's earlier lore, likely a nod to the controlling force in the 'Blurryface' era.
• The song's music video hides the band's logo in the yellow tape pattern on Clancy's jacket—a subtle seal of the Trench era's visual identity.
• Fans have decoded the lyrics into a map of Dema, with each of the nine bishops tied to a specific location in the city, turning the song into a cartographic key.

Composition & Musical Identity

"Nico and the Niners" stands out within the Trench catalog as the very first track the duo finished writing and recording for their fifth studio album. Released on July 11, 2018, as the second lead single alongside "Jumpsuit," the song carries a distinctly eclectic sonic fingerprint. At three minutes and forty-seven seconds, it weaves together reggae rhythms, rap cadences, rock energy, and psychedelic textures into a single compact arc. For a band known for genre-hopping, this track crystallizes that approach: no single style dominates, and the blend feels intentional rather than accidental. The song's position as the album's first completed piece suggests it may have served as a tonal anchor or creative spark for the rest of Trench's sessions, setting a precedent for the album's willingness to mix moods and tempos within a single track.

Music Video & Narrative World

The visual companion to "Nico and the Niners" dropped on July 26, 2018, and was helmed by Andrew Donoho, who directed every music video in the Trench trilogy. The production was shot on location in Kharkiv and Kyiv, Ukraine, lending the footage a gritty, Eastern European texture that suits the album's dystopian storytelling. In the video, Tyler Joseph portrays Clancy, who is seen packing a backpack before encountering Josh Dun's character, the Torchbearer, in what is described as Dema's faded city square. The two shake hands and then merge with a band of rebels wearing yellow, collectively known as the Banditos, to perform the song. Intercut with this thread are scenes of sinister red-hooded, robed figures referred to as the bishops. The video closes on a haunting image: two children stumble upon a Bandito's abandoned gear, only to turn and watch the nine bishops—the self-styled leaders of Dema—march toward them in silence.

Commercial Performance & Chart Trajectory

Its ceiling on the main Hot 100 came at number seventy-nine, a respectable but not breakout placement for a second single. However, the track found stronger footing in the rock-oriented charts, ultimately peaking at number seven on Hot Rock Songs, which underscores its resonance with the band's core audience. Internationally, the song crossed the Atlantic to reach number eighty-eight on the UK Singles Chart, indicating a degree of transatlantic appeal beyond the American market. Taken together, the chart data paints a picture of a song that performed solidly within Twenty One Pilots' established fanbase and rock radio audience while not achieving the kind of mainstream pop crossover that some of the duo's other singles have managed.

Production & the Duo's Division of Labor

As is typical for Twenty One Pilots, the recording credits for "Nico and the Niners" reflect a heavily hands-on approach by the two members. Tyler Joseph is listed across an extensive range of roles: lead vocals, keyboards, bass, synthesizers, guitar, programming, ukulele, production, and songwriting. Josh Dun contributes drums, percussion, and backing vocals, anchoring the track's rhythmic foundation while Joseph layers the melodic and textural elements above. The only additional credit goes to Adam Hawkins, who handled the final mix. This lean personnel list—just three names for a song that blends reggae, rap, rock, and psychedelic elements—highlights how much of the sonic architecture was built in-house by the duo before it reached the mixing stage. For a band that has never relied on large session ensembles, the track exemplifies their signature model: two people, a wide palette of instruments, and a production process that keeps creative control tightly in their own hands from first sketch to final master.