what a catch, donnie // fall out boy

What A Catch Donnie
Northern Downpour
All of twenty one pilots’ discography

The Ultimate Mania Theory

Hey, so I’ve had this theory for a long time, and my friend told me I should post it because they think it’s much more believable than the theories they’ve seen, but give me your thoughts?

I THINK MANIA COULD BE PATRICK’S FOLIE À DEUX… HERE’S WHY.

1. Folie à Deux

So, let’s start with explaining Folie à Deux’s back story. Now I’m sure we all know what Folie à Deux’s concept is, but in case you don’t, I’ll clarify and explain it really quick.

As most of us likely know, Folie is Pete’s promise to Patrick he won’t lose himself.

The first mention of this significance is What a Catch, Donnie.

Now Donny Hathaway was a musician who killed himself after claiming people were going to hook his mind up to machines and steal his ideas, which is why the song is called What a Catch Donnie.

Roberta Flack is a woman that Donny got famous doing collaborations with.

In What a Catch, Patrick plays the role of Flack, while Pete plays Donny.

This story also seems to bear mention in other tracks within the album, such as 27.

“My mind is a safe and if I keep it then we all get rich.”

Furthermore, on the cover of Folie, there is a man in a bear suit supporting the weight of a bear upon his shoulders. This is supposed to be representative of Patrick holding Pete up, and Patrick being in the suit showing that Pete isn’t alone or crazy, but they’re alike.

This is also why the album is entitled Folie à Deux.

The madness of two.

2. Truant Wave

Shortly after Folie à Deux’s release, Patrick Stump pursued a solo career. In this time he released an album (Soul Punk), but he also released a lesser known EP, entitled Truant Wave.

Now while this isn’t the main point of me bringing up Truant Wave, it does seem worth mentioning that this album also has a song called Porcelain in it- Which seems to follow an underlying theme that Mania shares- feeling fake to his audience.

More importantly however, there is a song called Big Hype that’s also on the EP, which while it could easily be taken as Patrick showing distaste for Folie à Deux getting such negative feedback, it also seems to speak of a sort of sporadic mood change.

“Big hype,

Big letdown.

Though it’s easy to forget if you keep it on the ground.”

And though, while I don’t think it’s extremely likely it was unintentional, but Patrick does have synthesia, the album’s art also consists of a certain color that is acknowledged as the awareness color for bipolar disorder; Green.

3. Mania, and how it all connects.

In the lyrics of Hold Me Tight Or Don’t, Patrick sings the line

“And when your stitch comes loose,

I wanna sleep on every piece of fuzz,

And stuffing that comes out of you.”

Now, referring back to our knowledge of what the Folie album cover stands for, this could be paying tribute to Patrick’s suit he’s depicted in. Saying that if Patrick falls apart, Pete will be there for him, just as Patrick always was.

Now, in the album Mania, it consists of a very sporadic sound. Very dependent on quick pace changes and mood swings. Representative of no other than Mania, or Manic Depression, or Bipolar Disorder. As is seemingly capable of being correlated to- you guessed it- Big Hype.

If this seems like a stretch, however. Let’s refer to MANIA’S album cover. It’s a wave.

Like Truant Wave.

This is why Young and Menace is so slow paced and then fast all the sudden, why the chorus to Hold Me Tight is a contradiction in and of itself, and why so many other songs on the album seem to follow this narrative.

That is why I think of Mania as Patrick’s Folie à Deux. Patrick’s promise to Pete. A note to Patrick’s mentality instead of Pete’s.

If you enjoyed this (if anyone even read it),I would be more than happy to write more, I have plenty other theories to share! (Soul Punk, Allie, Headfirst Slide, Saturday, etc., etc) Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!

-Allie