"Chlorine" is a song by American musical duo

Twenty One Pilots Twenty One Pilots is an American musical duo from Columbus, Ohio. Initially a band, the group was formed in 2009 by lead vocalist Tyler Joseph along with Nick Thomas and Chris Salih, who both left in 2011. Since their departure, the line-up h ...

. It was released through Fueled by Ramen on January 22, 2019, as the fifth single from their fifth studio album, ''

Trench A trench is a type of digging, excavation or depression in the ground that is generally deeper than it is wide (as opposed to a swale (landform), swale or a bar ditch), and narrow compared with its length (as opposed to a simple hole or trapping ...

'' (2018). The track was written and produced by lead singer

Tyler Joseph Tyler Robert Joseph (born December 1, 1988) is an American singer, rapper, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is best known as the frontman for the musical duo Twenty One Pilots, alongside bandmate Josh Dun. Across his career he has r ...

and

Paul Meany Paul Meany (born July 2, 1976) is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, music director, and record producer. He is best known for co-producing and collaborating with much of Twenty One Pilots' work since 2017. He has also done p ...

of rock band

Mutemath Mutemath (sometimes styled as MuteMath or MUTEMATH) is an American alternative rock project founded by American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer Paul Meany. Originally co-founded as a band with Darren King in 2002, ...

. It is a

trip hop Trip hop is a musical genre that has been described as a psychedelic music, psychedelic fusion of hip hop music, hip hop and electronica with slow tempos and an atmospheric sound. The style emerged as a more experimental music, experimental var ...

rap rock Rap rock is a music genre that developed from the early to mid-1980s, when hip hop DJs incorporated rock records into their routines and rappers began incorporating original and sampled rock instrumentation into hip hop music. Rap rock is co ...

and

electropop Electropop is a popular music fusion genre combining elements of the electronic and pop styles. It has been described as a variant of synth-pop with emphasis on a hard electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a rev ...

song which discusses "how creativity can cleanse dark impulses but cause its own pain". "Chlorine" was well received by music critics, who highlighted its catchiness and musical restraint compared to the band's previous work. Despite becoming the band's fifth number one single on the ''Billboard''

Alternative Songs Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks between 1988 and 2009, and Alternative Songs between 2009 and 2020) is a music chart published in the American magazine ''Billboard'' since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-play ...

chart and the first track from ''Trench'' to be certified platinum, "Chlorine" did not enter the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. However, it achieved a peak position of number five on the

Bubbling Under Hot 100 Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Chart ...

chart. The song was sent to alternative radio on January 29, 2019, and to top 40 radio on March 19, 2019.

Composition

As with much of ''

'', "Chlorine" was written and produced by

, the lead singer of

, and Paul Meany of

, who also provided part of the voice for the track's opening lines. The songwriting process and recording took place in secret in Joseph's basement studio in Columbus,

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, while the track was mixed by Adam Hawkins and mastered by

Chris Gehringer Chris Gehringer (born May 27, 1962) is an American mastering engineer at Sterling Sound in New Jersey. Gehringer is known for having mastered recordings by popular artists such as AJR, Dua Lipa, Drake, Ed Sheeran, Gwen Stefani, Harry Styles, ...

Sterling Sound George Marino (April 15, 1947June 4, 2012) was an American mastering engineer known for working on albums by rock bands starting in the late 1960s. Biography Marino was born on April 15, 1947, in the New York City borough The Bronx. He attended ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. In an "Ask Me Anything" session on

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, Joseph wrote that "wrestling on trying to tackle what he was feeling in 'Chlorine' was exhausting." According to sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by

Sony/ATV Music Publishing Sony Music Publishing LLC (formerly Sony/ATV Music Publishing) is an American music publisher. Responsible for publishing the largest quantity of music, with over five million songs owned or administered as of end March 2021, it is part of Sony ...

, "Chlorine" is set in

common time A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates the ...

with a "melancholy" tempo of 90 beats per minute. The song is composed in the key of B♭ minor, with Joseph's vocals ranging between the notes of F₃ and D♭₅. It is an

and

song featuring a lowered voice found on the band's previous album ''

Blurryface ''Blurryface'' is the fourth studio album by the American musical duo Twenty One Pilots. It was released on May 17, 2015, through Fueled by Ramen. Lyrically, the album incorporates themes of mental health, insecurity, doubt, and religion. It con ...

'' and a "menacing,

Zaytoven Xavier Lamar Dotson (born January 12, 1980), known professionally as Zaytoven, is an American record producer from Atlanta, Georgia. He has released collaborative projects with artists including Gucci Mane, Usher, Future, Young Dolph, Mig ...

-esque piano twinkle". It has been described as a "menacing slow-burner" with an "annoyingly infectious" chorus comparable to the work of

Bastille The Bastille (, ) was a fortress in Paris, known as the Bastille Saint-Antoine. It played an important role in the internal conflicts of France and for most of its history was used as a state prison by the kings of France. It was stormed by a ...

Thom Yorke Thomas Edward Yorke (born 7 October 1968) is an English musician who is the vocalist and main songwriter of the rock band Radiohead. He plays guitar, bass, keyboards and other instruments, and is noted for his falsetto. ''Rolling Stone'' desc ...

DJ Shadow Joshua Paul Davis (born June 29, 1972 in San Jose, California, San Jose, California), better known by his stage name DJ Shadow, is an American DJ and record producer. His debut studio album, ''Endtroducing.....,'' was released in 1996. He uses l ...

and

Gym Class Heroes Gym Class Heroes was an American rap rock band from Geneva, New York. The group formed in 1997 when Travie McCoy met drummer Matt McGinley during their high school gym class. The band's music displays a wide variety of influences, including h ...

. Paige Williams of ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' suggested that the track was about cleansing your mind from dark thoughts, while Caryn Ganz of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' stated that it "describes how creativity can cleanse dark impulses but cause its own pain."

Release

'' was released on October 5, 2018. Chlorine was released as the fifth track of the album. On January 22, 2019, fans of Twenty One Pilots began speculating that a music video for the song "Chlorine" would be released the following day due to a series of teasers that the band posted on social media, including a short clip of a dirty swimming pool soundtracked by a drum beat similar to the one found on the track.

, the band's lead singer, also posted a message on

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which reads "there's someone i'd like you guys to meet. i'll introduce you to him tomorrow. his name is Ned. <>". However, the band later announced that they could not wait to share the video any longer and subsequently released the music video that same day. Just prior to this release, an image of a letter written by Clancy, the protagonist of the storyline of ''

'', was uploaded to the website dmaorg.info, which prompts the file name 17–35.4527, 17 and 35.4527 being the

atomic number The atomic number or nuclear charge number (symbol ''Z'') of a chemical element is the charge number of its atomic nucleus. For ordinary nuclei composed of protons and neutrons, this is equal to the proton number (''n''p) or the number of pro ...

and

atomic mass Atomic mass ( or ) is the mass of a single atom. The atomic mass mostly comes from the combined mass of the protons and neutrons in the nucleus, with minor contributions from the electrons and nuclear binding energy. The atomic mass of atoms, ...

of the chemical element

chlorine Chlorine is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Cl and atomic number 17. The second-lightest of the halogens, it appears between fluorine and bromine in the periodic table and its properties are mostly intermediate between ...

respectively. Additionally, on January 23, the letter was updated with the words "than" and "happened" being replaced by "that" and "happen" respectively. A

user later discovered that the letter changes spelled out the name "Ned", the name of the creature featured in song's music video. On January 29, 2019, "Chlorine" was serviced to alternative radio and then released to Top 40 radio on March 19, 2019. Finally on February 8, the " Alt Mix" version of the song, which cuts the song's intro and outro, was released on streaming services.

Reception

"Chlorine" pleased music critics, with positive sentiments being directed towards its catchiness and the band's increased songwriting maturity compared to their antecedent records. Joshua Copperman of ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...

'' complimented "Chlorine"'s musical restraint in comparison to the band's previous work and opined that it featured the "catchiest chorus on the record." Gary Ryan of ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' wrote that the track was one of the songs off ''Trench'' "strong enough to exist outside of any story," referring to the narrative found on the album. ''

'' writer Chris Payne found that the evolution of the band's musical style on tracks off ''Trench'' including "Chlorine" as "jarring." ''GIG Soup''s Jo Cosgrove expressed a similar sentiment, further adding that the song was "catchy" and "in-depth." David Hayter of ''411 Mania'' hailed the track as "delightful," ultimately concluding that it "is something both murky and spritely, psychologically wrought, but charmingly euphoric." Anne Nickoloff and Troy Smith of

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named the release the eighth best Twenty One Pilots song, deeming it the most accessible track off ''Trench''.

Music video

The music video for "Chlorine" was uploaded upon the song's release as a single on January 22, 2019, and was directed by Mark C. Eshleman of Reel Bear Media. It shows the duo filling up a dirty swimming pool and cleaning it while being watched by a small, white alien-like creature with small antlers, black eyes and hairy bat-like ears named Ned. When the duo finish cleaning and filling the pool, Ned dives into it and his antlers seem to grow in response. The video ends with Joseph sitting in an empty pool accompanied by the creature, whose antlers begin to shrink again, before offering it a cup containing an unknown substance, which Ned refuses to take. As of June 21, 2025, the video has surpassed 621 million views on YouTube. The creation of the character Ned was undertaken from mid-December 2018 using 3D VFX and physical stand-in mold. In an interview in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

during

The Bandito Tour The Bandito Tour (stylized as THE BANDITØ TØUR) is the sixth concert tour by the American musical duo Twenty One Pilots, in support of their fifth studio album ''Trench'' (2018). The tour began at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee o ...

, the band explained that Ned represents "this idea of creativity and trying to take care of it and trying to please it... or appease it."

19.4326° N, 99.1332° W version

"Chlorine (19.4326° N, 99.1332° W)" is a re-imagined version of the track released to streaming services on June 21, 2019. It is the first unplugged performance of a track from ''Trench'' to be released from the band's ''Location Sessions'' series, and is presumed to have been recorded at a private concert in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

, where the coordinates in the song's title points. Musically, it features Joseph singing "Chlorine" over a piano and a sparse beat.

Track listing

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Trench'' and Twenty One Pilots' official

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channel. Recording and management *Published by Warner-Tamerlane publishing Corp. ( BMI) and Stryker Joseph Music (BMI) *Recorded at

's home studio (

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

) and United Recording Studios (

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

) *Mastered at

(

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) Twenty One Pilots *

– lead vocals, bass, synthesizers, guitar, programming, keyboards, songwriting, production *

Josh Dun Joshua William Dun (born June 18, 1988) is an American musician. He is best known as the drummer of the musical duo Twenty One Pilots, alongside Tyler Joseph, but he has collaborated with other artists as well. His band has been nominated for ...

– drums, trumpet, percussion, backing vocals Additional personnel *

– synthesizers, programming, songwriting, vocals, co-production * Adam Hawkins – mixing *

– mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

* {{authority control 2018 songs 2019 singles Songs written by Tyler Joseph Twenty One Pilots songs American hip-hop songs Rap rock songs American pop songs Trip hop songs Songs written by Paul Meany Fueled by Ramen singles