About Alternative song, Cancer By Twenty-One Pilots, Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun

Twenty-One Pilots, Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun, in their Alternative song, Cancer, talks about a patient that is suffering through cancer. Twenty-One Pilots sang Cancer as a cover in 2016. The original writers of cancer are Bob Bryar, Frank Lero, Ray Toro, Mikey Way, and Gerard Way. This song was written to inform the importance of this disease and spread awareness. Anyone can listen to this song and take something from it because there is no intended audience. There is some slang in the verses and the word choice is chosen carefully to explain the significance of how deadly the disease is. In the song Cancer, sang by Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun in 2016, successfully expresses the sorrow, pain, and final wishes of the patient. In this song, there are different verses of the song that describes how the patient is feeling.

The song is written in the first person to show how the patient truly felt. The patient does not want to be seen because he has to leave his family behind and he does not want them to remember him that way. He wishes to say goodbye to his friends and family, representing that he doesn’t have much time to live. When he mentions gathering all his things, he is accepting his fate and wants his family to take away one of the last parts of who he is. The patient wants to be buried in all his favorite colors and things so that people may remember who he was even before he had cancer. When he tells his family and friends that he will not kiss them, he doesn’t want to indulge in the happy things because it makes it harder for him to leave and say goodbye. He wants to reject all things pleasant because his life is full of pain and sorrow.

The writer is explaining that leaving those you love and cherish is the hardest part of dying. From the perspective of his loved ones, it is hard to see him sick because they know they don’t have much time left with him. In the verse, “Cause I’m awful just to see and all my hairs abandoned all my body,” implies that the patient finds himself in a horrific state and does not want his loved ones to see him weak and sick. He knows that he will never marry or experience the rest of his life and this leaves him in despair. In his distress, he is nearing death and it pains him to think of the things he would have had. “I’m just soggy from the chemo,” mainly means that the patient is suffering from the symptoms of the treatment, but in this case, the writer most likely meant the mental effects. The lyrics, “Counting down the days to go,” suggests that he will not survive through cancer. The patient knows he is going to die because he has reached a stage where his disease is not curable.

All that is left is to wait until he dies and try to enjoy the last moments of his life. “It just ain’t living,” states that the patient is tired of just surviving, he wants to live and experience new things. Surviving is not the same as living and he knows this. At the end of the song, he says, “Cause the hardest part of this is leaving you”, which expresses how he is not ready to say goodbye to everyone he cares about. The writer appeals to his readers’ emotions and empathy towards the patient. This is an appeal to pathos because when people think of cancer, they often associate it with pain and loss. The author wanted to make sure that this song was focused around the emotions of the audience so that there was an understanding of what the patient is going through. When listening to this song, it is as if the songwriter was in agony and angry because of cancer.

The song is also an appeal to ethos because the writer made it convincing so that people would listen to the song. The patient of the song is likable and one who people can empathize for. The songwriter supports his ethos by making an impression on the audience and writing about a patient that can earn the respect of many. This song expresses the patient’s guilt in leaving behind his family and it pains him to think of the things he would have experienced. Overall, Twenty-One Pilot’s song Cancer uses emotion and credibility to explain the sorrow of a cancer patient.