{"id":5822,"date":"2025-07-18T15:51:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T15:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/5822\/"},"modified":"2025-07-18T15:51:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T15:51:08","slug":"people-lashed-out-because-she-wasnt-a-guy-linkin-park-on-nu-metal-nostalgia-and-their-new-frontwoman-linkin-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/5822\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018People lashed out because she wasn\u2019t a guy\u2019: Linkin Park on nu-metal, nostalgia and their new frontwoman | Linkin Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been almost 25 years since Linkin Park<\/a> released their debut album, Hybrid Theory. An irresistible fusion of metal, hip-hop, electronica, industrial rock and infectious pop melody, it established the Californian sextet as instant nu-metal icons and laid the groundwork for the group to become, by many metrics, the biggest US rock band of this millennium: Hybrid Theory ended up the bestselling album of 2001; its follow-up, Meteora, would also go on to rank as one of the bestselling albums of the 21st century.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been just 36 hours, however, since the band played their biggest headline gig to date, at a steamy and rapturous Wembley stadium. Outside, it\u2019s still scorching, but in an icily air-conditioned hotel overlooking the Thames, Linkin Park\u2019s co-founder, co-vocalist and chief songwriter, Mike Shinoda<\/a>, is reflecting on the show. \u201cFor any band that\u2019s been around a long time, it\u2019s really easy to start heading into heritage territory,\u201d says the 48-year-old. \u201cYou\u2019re just playing that old stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Linkin Park did of course play the old stuff, crescendoing with a stone-cold triad of belt-along hits \u2013 Numb, In the End and Faint \u2013 that have 6bn Spotify streams between them. But this was no greatest hits showcase. The band\u2019s eighth album, From Zero<\/a> \u2013 which reached No 1 in 13 countries (including the UK) last November \u2013 also received an ecstatic response, and its lead single was one of the very rare hard rock songs to reach the UK Top 5. \u201cThis tour and this album are one of our most successful of all time. That, for me, is insane,\u201d marvels Shinoda. \u201cThat is way beyond my hopes and dreams for what this whole thing could be.\u201d<\/p>\n

This triumphant second act is all the more miraculous considering Linkin Park are not the band they used to be. In 2017, the group\u2019s lead vocalist, Chester Bennington, took his own life<\/a>, having struggled with depression and addiction for decades. Sitting next to Shinoda today is 39-year-old Emily Armstrong, who now fronts Linkin Park alongside him (she sings, Shinoda raps).<\/p>\n

Bleach-blond hair, dark shades, an acid yellow oversized jersey and a voice that travels from pop croon to gruff, guttural scream: on stage, Armstrong appeared every inch the nu-metal maven. Yet while performing to 75,000 adoring fans would be the ego trip of a lifetime for most rock stars, as Bennington\u2019s replacement, it\u2019s not quite the same. On songs such as the Grammy-winning Crawling, Armstrong\u2019s role was more singalong facilitator than central attraction. \u201cThere\u2019s so many fans that have been wanting to see Linkin Park<\/a> for so long, you know?\u201d she says, brandishing an enormous bottle of electrolyte-orange water. \u201cSo I look at it as: this is your moment to sing. And you sing it better than I do at this point!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Introspective\u2019 \u2026 Linkin Park in 2017. Photograph: Everett Collection Inc\/Alamy<\/p>\n

After Bennington\u2019s death, Shinoda paused Linkin Park and found refuge in Post Traumatic, a raw and emotional solo album that detailed his struggle to process his grief. Bennington died two months after the release of the band\u2019s seventh album, One More Light, which they were about to take on tour. Shinoda partly \u201cwanted to make Post Traumatic as a diary of how I felt for myself\u201d, but also had the urge to play live \u201cto provide an area for fans to commune and go: \u2018Oh, Mike is still here. We didn\u2019t lose everybody.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The Post Traumatic tour was cathartic \u201cin the beginning\u201d, he says. \u201cAnd then towards the end it was exhausting. I had started to \u2026 I don\u2019t want to say move on. \u2018Move on\u2019 to some people means not looking back and forgetting \u2013 that\u2019s completely not how I felt. I felt like I was coping well and I was able to get up in the morning and not think about it, and I was evolving from the terrible stuff that had happened. Then I would go to the show and spend 90 minutes with half the crowd crying. And I\u2019m like, this is fucking exhausting. You know how therapists see patients all day and help them, but then they need therapy themselves? That\u2019s how I felt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shinoda founded Linkin Park at 19, alongside his schoolmates Rob Bourdon (drums) and Brad Delson (guitar). His college friends Dave \u201cPhoenix\u201d Farrell (bass) and the turntablist Joe Hahn joined soon after; Bennington was a later addition after a record label executive insisted they recruit a new vocalist. After Post Traumatic, Shinoda spent the next half-decade figuring out how to bring back the band that had defined his entire adult life. \u201cI sort through information very logically,\u201d he says. He approached the group\u2019s future \u201cfrom a puzzle-cracking point of view\u201d, he explains, entertaining options like hiring a mini choir for live shows or relying on a rotating cast of famous vocalists.<\/p>\n

To begin with, Shinoda invited a few musicians \u2013 including some big names, such as the viral soul singer Teddy Swims \u2013 down to the studio to write material. He didn\u2019t tell them this was part of a potential Linkin Park comeback, and things could get awkwardly vague. \u201cTwo hours into the session, they\u2019d be like: \u2018Hey, can I ask you a question? What\u2019s going on here? Who are we writing for?\u2019 And we\u2019d be like: \u2018Yeah, we don\u2019t know.\u2019\u201d Sometimes it felt like these collaborators were \u201cangling\u201d to be Linkin Park\u2019s new vocalist. \u201cLike, \u2018look how good I can sing!\u2019 It was such a turn-off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Armstrong was the tunefully raspy frontwoman of Dead Sara, a bluesy LA punk outfit who were initially hyped (in 2013, Dave Grohl insisted they \u201cshould be the next biggest rock band in the world\u201d) but never really made it. She got an invite too. Those sessions never felt like a \u201cLinkin Park tryout\u201d, she says; she was simply \u201cexcited to write with Mike Shinoda\u201d.<\/p>\n

He laughs: \u201cI love when you use my full name.\u201d The first time she met the band was in 2019, but it wasn\u2019t until she returned to the studio in 2023 that something clicked. Performance and personality-wise, Armstrong \u2013 who has sassy little sister energy around Shinoda \u2013 seemed like a natural fit.<\/p>\n

Shinoda also felt reassured that Armstrong and the drummer Colin Brittain \u2013 who replaced Bourdon around the same time \u2013 weren\u2019t just using Linkin Park to grow their profiles. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people for who it\u2019s all about follower count. It\u2019s a very greedy way to live. And these guys aren\u2019t that way.\u201d He appreciates that the pair never took any \u201csneaky pictures\u201d of Shinoda\u2019s home studio for clout.<\/p>\n

A new legacy \u2026 Linkin Park today. Photograph: Warner Records<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a high level of respect,\u201d nods Armstrong, before stifling a smile. \u201cWe did have a high level of respect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shinoda looks mock-wistful. \u201cAh, to go back to those days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Armstrong was never going to turn down the opportunity to front Linkin Park. \u201cI\u2019ve been in a band for 20 years and I could only dream of this kind of success,\u201d she says, then makes a face. \u201cThat sounded lame.\u201d But she was scared at the prospect of stepping into such big shoes. \u201cWhy do I think I can do this?\u201d she wondered, telling Shinoda that she didn\u2019t want to \u201cruin\u201d Linkin Park. \u201cI\u2019m like, you guys are a legacy band \u2013 you guys are so important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shinoda drolly encourages the ego massage: \u201cOh, go on \u2013 tell me more!\u201d<\/p>\n

Once the new lineup was complete and From Zero finished (much of it was already written when Armstrong joined the band), it was time to tell the world. The response wasn\u2019t entirely positive<\/a>. Bennington\u2019s mother said she felt \u201cbetrayed\u201d by Shinoda\u2019s decision to reform the band without consulting her, while Bennington\u2019s son expressed dismay at Armstrong\u2019s links to Scientology and her attendance at a hearing in support of Danny Masterson<\/a>, an actor and Scientologist who was eventually convicted of rape \u2013 something that was also widely reported in the press and discussed by fans. I have been told that Armstrong will not discuss Scientology today. She did, however, release a statement at the time, explaining that she had severed all ties with Masterson and condemned his crimes.<\/p>\n

Chester Bennington in 2008. Photograph: Kevin Winter\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Was Armstrong braced for that kind of reaction? \u201cNot this. No, not this,\u201d she says quietly. \u201cI was a little bit naive about it, to be honest.\u201d Even pre-Linkin Park, she tended to avoid social media \u201cfor mental-health purposes\u201d, and coped with the clamour by getting offline. \u201cIf there was something really, really pressing, I think our PR would talk to us about it. But I\u2019m old enough to know the difference between real life and the internet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shinoda takes a different tack to public criticism, but ends up in the same place. After the Wembley show, he posted a picture of himself in a T-shirt emblazoned with the opening lines of a snide news story about the band\u2019s decision to downsize the venue of their LA show. \u201cThere are times when I\u2019m not above being a little petty,\u201d he grins. The T-shirt was \u201cnot meant to be mean at all\u201d, he clarifies, and the music outlet in question \u201care not the only ones who\u2019ve said it. Lots of people have said this band is fumbling: \u2018Look how stupid they are, look how bad they\u2019re doing.\u2019 Well, according to the data, we\u2019re not, but you can believe whatever you want to believe.\u201d<\/p>\n

When it came to Armstrong, Shinoda felt people\u2019s complaints were also disingenuous. \u201cThere were people who lashed out at Emily and it was really because she wasn\u2019t a guy.\u201d Fans, he thinks, were \u201cused to Linkin Park being six guys and the voice of a guy leading this song. They were just so uncomfortable with what it was that they chose a ton of things to complain about. They\u2019re pointing in 10 different directions saying: \u2018This is why I\u2019m mad, this is why the band sucks.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

In the months since Linkin Park 2.0 launched, the reaction from fans has softened and Armstrong has been widely embraced. But devotees are still clearly looking for traces of Bennington in the band\u2019s work. Many interpreted Let You Fade, a bonus track on From Zero\u2019s deluxe edition, as a tribute to the singer, but \u201cit wasn\u2019t written that way,\u201d says Shinoda. \u201cPeople even pulled out the fact that there\u2019s numbers in the song [that align with] Chester\u2019s birthday. I was like: whoops. That\u2019s not intentional.\u201d<\/p>\n

At any rate, From Zero does hark back to the band\u2019s original sound: rock-rap fusion vocals, hip-hop record-scratching, highly accessible melodies and enough gristle (grinding guitar and screaming; anxious and indignant lyrics) to both intensify and offset them. Serendipitously, nu-metal is back in a big way, \u201cthanks to TikTok, the Y2K revival and, of course, enduring teenage angst\u201d, as per the New York Times<\/a>, with bands such as Deftones enjoying a massive resurgence and acts including Fontaines DC, 100 gecs and Rina Sawayama incorporating the genre into their work.<\/p>\n

\u2018We did this first!\u2019 \u2026 Emily Armstrong performs during the From Zero tour. Photograph: Variety\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

For millennials such as Armstrong, the sound of nu-metal provides nostalgia-coated comfort. She was a fan in her early teens, and feels \u201clike a child again\u201d when she performs Linkin Park\u2019s old tracks. The era\u2019s garb \u2013 voluminous shorts, pulled-up sports socks, chunky jewellery, wraparound sunglasses \u2013 is also back in style, which reminds Armstrong of her teen self\u2019s beloved Adidas T-shirt and camouflage combats combo. \u201cWe did this first!\u201d she laughs. \u201cI\u2019m old as shit!\u201d<\/p>\n

But Shinoda doesn\u2019t look back with rose-tinted spectacles. In the early 2000s, Linkin Park did \u201ca bunch of metal tours and played with Metallica \u2013 the energy there was very masculine, bro energy. We were immersed in a culture where it was like an arms race for who could make the most macho music.\u201d<\/p>\n

With peers including Korn, Slipknot and System of a Down, the nu-metal cohort was novel and outrageous enough to precipitate a mild moral panic \u2013 yet sexist lyrics in the work of groups like Limp Bizkit really were a problem. Linkin Park always seemed less aggressive and intimidating than their peers, and Shinoda always disliked the macho aspect. \u201cChester connected with it a little more than the rest of us did, but not by much.\u201d His band, he feels, featured \u201cmore lyrics that were introspective. It wasn\u2019t like: \u2018Hey, I\u2019m gonna kick your ass.\u2019 It was like: \u2018Somebody kicked my ass and I\u2019m so frustrated.\u2019 In high school, I wasn\u2019t kicking anybody\u2019s ass. That was not happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nowadays, nu-metal\u2019s aesthetic has been freed from its more unsavoury elements by a streaming generation who simply don\u2019t remember it; it\u2019s just another fun retro style to rehabilitate. Even Shinoda is less disgusted. \u201cGenres are so blended and music is so all over the place, I don\u2019t hate nu-metal any more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether down to this defanged nostalgic comeback, the quality of the band\u2019s back catalogue or the incredibly catchy new material, it\u2019s clear from the Wembley show that Linkin Park have a whole new generation of obsessive young fans. The delight in the crowd was palpable \u2013 an energy Shinoda is deliberately cultivating, especially after the mental exhaustion of the Post Traumatic tour. \u201cI think we all wanted our show to be really good vibes,\u201d he says. \u201cI want you walking away feeling like, this was such a wonderful, special, fun night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inevitably, this means certain songs are off the setlist. There are a couple that Shinoda would \u201cfeel weird playing\u201d, including One More Light, the title track of the band\u2019s last album with Bennington. It was originally written \u201cfor a woman at the label that we worked with who passed away. Then after Chester passed, the world decided that it was about him. And so that\u2019s just too sad to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Linkin Park tour the US from 29 July<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s been almost 25 years since Linkin Park released their debut album, Hybrid Theory. An irresistible fusion of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5823,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[49,48,361,75],"class_list":{"0":"post-5822","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-celebrities","11":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5822\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}