"Fairly Local" served as the lead single of
Blurryface, and was an introductory track to the titular character. Its two verses are written to contradict each other almost word for word, creating a duality in
Joseph's personality between himself and the alter ego "Blurryface", represented in the second refrain through the use of a
vocoder, a reprise of the original refrain with deepened pitch. The song describes and recounts Joseph's experiences with troubled fans while touring for
Vessel, the third studio album, stating in an interview with
Paper: "Fairly Local" makes references to mainstream radio play extensively. In an interview with
Radio.com, Joseph explained, "We understand that there's a certain type of song that is aerodynamic enough to be on the radio. A lot of people would say that that's a good song. I guess we thought, man, do we have to write a record that has a bunch of songs that fall into what would be considered a radio song? That was something that I was kind of working through. Now I understand all these rules cause we've been around it one time. Do I have to obey them completely or can I just continue writing the way that I've always written? So, no, we're not rebellious about it. We don't think that the radio sucks or whatever. It was just something that we had to get off our chest." Within the song, the
fourth wall is broken as Joseph references the band's listeners, coining "the few, the proud, the emotional", later becoming a collective term for Twenty One Pilots fans. == Composition ==