"Choker" is a song written and recorded 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 April 30, 2021, as the second single from their sixth studio album, ''

Scaled and Icy ''Scaled and Icy'' is the sixth studio album by the American musical duo Twenty One Pilots, released on May 21, 2021, through Fueled by Ramen and Elektra. Its title is a play on "scaled back and isolated", a phrase frontman Tyler Joseph associa ...

'' (2021). A music video accompanied the single's release.

Background

Regarding the writing process of the track, Joseph described it as a "rash" for referring him to dig back into older songwriting habits and methods. He explained: "...It's another thing when songcomes up organically – almost like an old habit that is inevitably a part of who you are, and still makes up the fibres of who you are. It's mostly dormant, but every once in a while it flares up. That's what "Choker" is: a flare up of an old rash that we thought we cured. And we're proud of that rash! We like that rash. The rash is who we are. We had to itch it." In the same interview, Tyler recalled: "I remember when I locked into the writing of

he song He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

it just flowed; it was scary how easy that song was for me to write, and it was because I knew I was coming from a place, and I was in a realm that I had spent a lot of time in before. And I was comfortable there; I was familiar with my surroundings. And that's why it was such an easy song to write." He also stated that, although the band is evolving and maturing, he doesn't need to not look back to his old writing styles previously established on pre-''

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 ...

'' albums, such as ''

'', ''

Regional at Best ''Regional at Best'' is the second studio album by the American band Twenty One Pilots, and its first as the core duo of Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun. Self-released on July 8, 2011, it was the band's final independent record before being signed to ...

'' and '' Vessel''. "I think "Choker" is the beginning of me being okay with the entire body of work, and feeling like I don't have to steer away from some things that people would consider from our older records."

Music video

The video, directed by Mark C. Eshleman, was filmed at Big Fun, a toy store located in

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 ...

, the hometown of members

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

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 ...

. Joseph plays an anxious customer who is interested in a small blue dragon named Trash, inside of a display case, and Dun plays the emotionless shopkeeper. Joseph steals the toy leading Dun to chase him down, eventually capturing him with a net gun before transforming him into a toy by emitting blue rays from his eyes and mouth. As of April 11 2025, the video has garnered over 27 million views.

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Scaled and Icy''.

Twenty One Pilots

* Tyler Joseph vocals, guitar, bass, piano, keyboards, organs, synthesizers, programming, production *

drums, percussion

Additional musicians

* Matt Pauling violin, drum engineering

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2021 singles Twenty One Pilots songs Fueled by Ramen singles Indie pop songs Songs written by Tyler Joseph