Music as a Reflection of Contemporary Culture featuring "Stressed Out" by Twenty One Pilots

Music often reflects the ideas and opinions of their creators and the culture they live in.  Whether you are the hipster singing along with the Beatles that "all you need is love" or an old school Green Day punk "feeling so alone", chances are your musicians resonate in some way with your thoughts about the world we all live in.

One contemporary song that has caught my interest this past month is "Stressed Out" by Twenty One Pilots.  Twenty One Pilots is one of my favorite bands, because their music often features the odd combination of alternative/punk rock, indie pop, and rap.  Their style of music is not for everyone, but their lyrics are filled with interesting self reflection and commentary on contemporary culture.  

I went on Youtube to see what Twenty One Pilots song has gotten the most views, and "Stressed Out", released in 2015, currently stands at about 1.2 billion views.  This led me to ask two questions: 

1) What is it about this song that has given it more views than almost four times the population of the United States?  

2) How does this song reflect the contemporary culture the singers and we live in?

Watch and listen to the music video of "Stressed Out" and try to answer these questions for yourself.  Also, here a few more questions to answer that might give some insight into the song's popularity.

Who are the people that are sung about or featured in the music video?

What are the singers of Twenty One Pilots "stressed out" about?

Where are the singers of Twenty One Pilots at?  Where would they like to be?

When is the song taking place?  When would the singers of Twenty One Pilots like to be?

Why are the singers of Twenty One Pilots stressed out?

How can the singers of Twenty One Pilots stop being "stressed out"?

I'll share my answers to these questions in about a week.  In the meantime, don't get too stressed out over "Stressed Out".