It is getting increasingly difficult to claim ownership over media. Either pieces are not released as physical media that you can lord over, or, as is more common, digital media is released and never truly owned by one singular person. There is a weird, no win situation here. Of all bands, Ohio’s own alt-rock duo Twenty One Pilots is tackling this issue. In 2024, Twenty One Pilots released “Clancy: Digital Remains,” alongside the seventh studio album. It was available to purchase for 24 hours, made only for digital and included live recordings of four “Clancy” singles and a booklet about the making of the album. To this day, anyone who missed the original purchase window is out of luck. “Clancy: Digital Remains” is not available on streaming, but there haven’t been many calls for its release. It is a nice token for true fans and not much else.
In Sept. 2025, Twenty One Pilots reran their experiment in digital exclusivity. They released their eighth studio album, “Breach” on Sept. 12, 2025, along with a deluxe edition “Breach: Digital Remains” on the same day. The deluxe edition was entirely the same, aside from one difference: the inclusion of a new song “Drag Path.” It is a short track about reminiscing about one’s past in the face of depression, featuring raw vocals and grand instrumentation. “Drag Path” packs an emotional punch. Fans had one week to purchase the deluxe edition before it was gone forever. This go around, the response to the exclusivity was explosive: “Drag Path” blew up.
These calls for release are not just coming from Twenty One Pilots fans. Since September, it has become a popular TikTok sound. More basic forms of these videos are edits of solemn scenes set to the track. Other TikToks follow the format “A drag path but it’s …” some tragic thing the creator misses dearly, something that haunts them. Even after months of somber yearning, these videos hold strong.
In a way, it was a fitting way to immortalize the song. Sure, there were ways to find the song in full if you tried hard enough, but for the most part, the average person could only catch bits and pieces as the setting dressing to a devastating TikTok. Only the ghost of “Drag Path” could be felt throughout the internet, that was, until Twenty One Pilots announced the release of the song on streaming on Feb. 17.
In a complete turn around from the original intent of the art piece, “Drag Path” is now available on streaming, alongside a new music video. In an effort to honor the people who originally purchased the exclusive track, Twenty One Pilots have said that they changed the production of the song to create a new product. I will admit, I thought this would be a hollow claim, but the duo really did make these changes. The streaming version is shorter, cutting the original outro and the first verse entirely. Instead, the second verse is moved up and a new pre-chorus is inserted. The instrumentation and production have minor tweaks but keep the same emotional feel. Notably, the chorus and bridge, which is what went viral in the first place, is largely unchanged. Overall, the changes are noticeable enough to honor the original purchasers, but fans of the song likely won’t be disappointed. I certainly wasn’t.
The re-release of “Drag Path” is complicated. Though some online are upset about the changes, or that it was re-released at all, it is important to stay out of the needlessly-negative online discourse. Many, like second year Anusha Manoj, are happy the song is on streaming. “I like that song,” said Manoj, “I’ve been listening to a cover because I couldn’t find it.” Second year Margaret Ozar agrees, saying, “I am excited! I think that it will allow more people to experience the song even though it was fun to have the more exclusive release as well.” In the end, Twenty One Pilots did what they could to satisfy as many people as possible. Now, “Drag Path” can forever be etched into our digital history.