What does the song Polarize Mean?

Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun, Twenty One Pilots’ two members, begin “Polarize” with the chorus. Tyler sings, “Help me polarize, help me polarize.” Polarization is a process that causes sunglasses to only accept lightwaves that are coming straight towards the glasses, reducing glare from other reflective surfaces. Wearers of polarized sunglasses are able to see exactly what they are looking at more clearly than usual.

Of course, polarization is also the process by which things are “polarized,” or separated into two distinct groups. (Think of the north and south poles or the two ends of a magnet.) Based on these two definitions, Tyler wants his life streamlined and sorted. As polarized sunglasses sort between the directions of light waves and a magnet has a north and a south end, Tyler wants himself to be clear and organized so that his decisions can be well made.

In the pre-chorus, Tyler lists a few specific ways he’d like to improve his life: “I wanted to be a better brother, better son / Wanted to be a better adversary to the evil I have done.” He wishes he could have been better for his family and would have liked to have had the good in his life outweigh the evil. He wants desperately to be a good person.