Linkin Park had quietly been tinkering with the band recently and auditioning people to replace the beloved, late singer Chester Bennington, who died in 2017. On Thursday, they revealed during a live performance that they found their new voice in Emily Armstrong.
In addition to bringing out a surprise new singer and a new drummer, Colin Brittain, the band unveiled a new single, “The Emptiness Machine,” and announced a new album, From Zero. The new-look Linkin Park, which still includes Mike Shinoda, Brad Delson, Phoenix, and Joe Hahn, will head out on the From Zero World Tour.
Emily Armstrong comes from the Los Angeles band Dead Sara, which she co-founded in 2005. In a new interview with Billboard, she reflected on how Linkin Park influenced her when she was entering the alt-rock space.
“I was in a band when [Hybrid Theory] came out. ‘One Step Closer’ was the song for me, and I was just like, ‘Holy s–t, that’s what I want to do. As a singer, I want to be able to scream,’” she shared. “That album was everything—I’ve listened to it a trillion times. I would skate to it. I would mosh to it.”
She’ll now get to play a part in the band she grew up listening to. In that same Billboard interview, founding member Shinoda said he was struck by Armstrong’s vocal range.
“Now that we’re getting ready to do some shows, it’s been better than I imagined,” Shinoda said. “Emily was always going to be able to hit the notes and scream the parts. It’ll be a question of, ‘How does it land with people?’ And I don’t know how it will. But I know that when I hear it, I love it.”
The band shared its full live performance on YouTube.
In regards to fan reaction, it’s been mixed, to say the least.
One X user shared a clip of the new Linkin Park performing “Crawling” and appreciating her efforts. Some people saw Shinoda’s vision of how seamlessly she fits in the band, noting her appropriately raw delivery.
Others were less enthused, saying she sounded “like a screaming child” and that “they are basically a cover band.” Mixed!
Then there’s the other side, which has seen some X users, like this one, gravitate to Armstrong’s past with Scientology and her apparent support for Danny Masterson during his rape trial.
It’s no surprise that people are passionate about the replacement of such a beloved artist.
A week after Chester Bennington’s passing, Kim Kelly explained his impact. “This band seemed to understand me, and why I was so angry, and made it seem like it was OK to feel that way,” Kelly wrote. “That was 17 years ago, and I still think about the way it felt to hear [‘One Step Closer’], and realize, for the very first time, and just for an instant, that I wasn’t alone.”
The post Linkin Park Shocks Fans With New Singer Emily Armstrong appeared first on VICE.
The post Linkin Park Shocks Fans With New Singer Emily Armstrong appeared first on VICE.
