A Drag Path: the lingering physical or emotional marks left behind by people, experiences, or losses. A drag path symbolizes evidence of a struggle, a memory, or a lasting impact, such as a scratch mark from a passed pet or a heartfelt note.
In September of 2025, Twenty One Pilots released an album titled “Breach: Digital Remains.” There was a bonus track called “Drag Path”; however, initially, it was only intended for listeners to buy. After a recent TikTok fad and the artists Tyler and Josh “actually liking the song now,” they’ve decided to calm many fans’ nerves and make the song available to everyone. Now, there are a couple of changes: the original five-minute song was cut down to three; a few new instruments accompany the already breathtaking ensemble; and a music video.
Fans are absolutely freaking the freak out because they decided to release this on some random Tuesday in the middle of February; regardless, everyone’s ecstatic. After having watched the music video and listened to both versions of the song (what feels like a million times), I feel at least a little bit qualified to analyze and explain the music video.
I’ll start by saying that it’s not technically theirs to begin with. Josh and Tyler actually got the rights to a short stock motion film about a family of rabbits and the fleeting life of… well… everything. It begins with a man in a black suit before switching to the iconic “Drag Path” font and title. What follows is a sequence of trees and ethereal landscapes that spark a sort of nostalgia within a person. We then see a quaint, felt rabbit fixing his tie as he makes his way to the family table with elegant party lights above him.
When he sits down, we see his reflection on the plate lying in front of him, and then we move to the rest of his family. There’s a group of older-looking rabbits, one of them with a monocle, one playing cards, and another looking rapidly through an old photo album. We cut to a dark tree with two pairs of scissors embedded in its withering trunk and then to a wolf… or a dog, it’s kind of unclear which it is. We’ll go with “dog.” The animal is watching the family of rabbits with a terrifying look in its eye. We cut back to the rabbit family, who are laughing at the small child because he’s taken a sip of wine and made a rather disgusted face. The smaller rabbit looks frightened at first, probably afraid of punishment for drinking the liquid, but that fear turns into a smile once everyone begins laughing. It’s almost as if he’s just happy he could make them smile.
As the family giggles and looks through old photos, playing cards, and truly bonding with one another, we see the dog again. This dog is running toward the rabbit family, but nobody takes notice. Then we’re back with the bunnies, who are still enjoying themselves. The dog cuts the power. Somewhere between the sequences of flashing lights and pitch-black screens… We see blood.
The dog has absolutely massacred the rabbit family.
Next, we see the smallest rabbit, the only survivor, who’s watching the scene in terror. His eyes are on the dog, and he’s frightened and sad and probably wishes someone were there to protect him… The dog soon notices that he’s missed one. Leaving the cadaver, he pounces on the small rabbit, who struggles out of his chair and begins running while looking frantically around for help. Looking at the moon for help. It seems as though, for these bunnies, the moon is a sort of God to them. It can represent real-life religion and how God is always there, he’s always watching, and willing to help those who believe in him. This is further proven with the lyrics, “When I see the devil’s eyes//I’ll look away and smile wide//You found me//Then I’ll know you’re// also there// ‘Cause proof is in the adversaire// You found me.” This rabbit is watching, he’s waiting for something to happen, he’s… testing his faith. Trying to discern whether this “God” he’s been taught about his entire life is really there.
Just when the bunny thinks he might be getting away, he trips. He stumbles, he falls. The rabbit turns around and comes face to face with this dog, who has just killed his whole family. He’s scared beyond belief; he doesn’t want to die, he’s just a rabbit—just a kid—and what has he done with his life?
The dog cowers. The moon glows brighter, and the dog backs away, leaving the rabbit alone. Instantaneously, a hand reaches out through the moon. An arm covered in a black suit, he takes the rabbit, having witnessed all of this horrific trauma, by the ears and magically… pulls him out of a hat. The audience applauds as the animal continues to stare, petrified but also.. Relieved?
He’s been saved. But really, at what cost?
The music video ends.
A lot of people think that the magician was supposed to be a sort of symbolism for God. While I definitely see that concept, and think it’s a completely valid thing to think about, I also can’t help but think it’s a bit odd that their “God” would pull this innocent little rabbit out of his magician’s hat and out onto display for hundreds of people, merely moments following the grotesque loss of his entire family.
This could represent how sometimes things just happen, these horrible, off-kilter things, but we have to find a way to bounce back. If something terrible happens, you can’t spend the rest of your life wallowing away; sometimes you’ll be thrown right back out there, back into the wolves, or another situation that’s a bit more difficult to handle. Now, I could be completely wrong, but I also believe that most music is more up to your own interpretation. Given almost anything, perception is key. Everyone can perceive things differently; for some, this music video may be beautiful, while for others, it may be just tragic, and it could even be both. It all depends on the kind of person they are. For example, Sophomore, Emily Nkiinzi says on the topic of analyzing this song;
“I feel like the music video and song itself both have so much symbolism. The way everything happened to the rabbit, and then he was just pulled out of the hat for the audience, was crazy. I can see it as going through a near-death experience or something completely life-altering and then either having to put on a brave face, forced to perform with fresh trauma, or finding salvation through the performance.”
The warm lights and harsher angles in the cinematography almost seem to tell a story in themselves, and I find that quite fascinating as well…
I personally believe that this music video effectively represents themes of love and loss, weaving them in between tragic felt bunny rabbits and a rabid “I don’t know why I bite” dog. There’s a lyric from another Twenty One Pilots song, Heavydirtysoul: “Death inspires me like a dog inspires a rabbit.” Many TØP fans have speculated that this music video was a subtle reference to that, though the original “Out of the Woods” animation came out long before Drag Path and Heavydirtysoul. Some believe that these songs and their music videos are drag paths in and of themselves, and that Twenty One Pilots was initially inspired by this music video, and that’s where “Death inspires me like a dog, Inspires a rabbit” and the new music video are derived from.
Honestly, there’s so much about this music video that brings newer, untalked-about topics out of the woodwork. A Reddit user stated, “The concept highlights the cyclical nature of mental health and the evidence left behind during these struggles.” I think they nailed it with this comment. Drag Path is about mental health; it’s about being pushed down and getting back up again, it’s about being in a terrible place but still managing to find the light in even the darkest of them. While yes, it does have themes of religion and God woven in, the whole point of this song, of the music video, is so much more.
