Linkin Park is an American rock band from Agoura Hills, California. Formed in 1996, the band rose to international fame with their debut album Hybrid Theory (2000), which was certified diamond by the RIAA in 2005 and multi-platinum in several other countries. Last year, Linkin Park launched their new single Heavy after three years a gap. People all over the world had their own opinion regarding the song. Some said, "it's nice"; some added, "it's nice, but it is not like Linkin Park".
Will Rivitz, Co-founder and EIC of The Princeton LP, said, “Heavy” doesn’t really sound like a Linkin Park song. It’s too muted, the frantic despondency of Chester Bennington’s wail discarded in favour of sedate melancholy. Rather, its emptiness is more aligned with Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun. The Ohioans have mastered the particularly neutral form of angst shown here, with a discography chock-full of songs rendered potent by the emotional trauma buried shallowly under a veneer of calm. “Heavy” is trying to be relatable by bursting at its glassy seams with despair; that’s absolutely twenty-one pilots’ way of artistry. Which is why “Heavy” is such a disillusioning song. It’s misanthropy and angst, but it’s not their misanthropy and angst — or even a misanthropy and angst they can reasonably lay claim to as their own. It’s the deadened sadness of twenty-one pilots and the Insta-ready moodiness of Kiiara and Julia Michaels, nothing more. Before, when Linkin Park had dulled their rage, it was in a new direction, as with the early-2010s albums and their seething, mechanical ambience. Now, it’s in a direction already explored by other musicians — musicians who have, ironically enough, achieved their own success by taking a page from the originators.".
He added, "Of course, Linkin Park wasn’t the originators of their style — other bands had been tossing around rap-metal combinations for about a decade, with varying success — but they were the first ones to perfect the nu-metal formula. Korn was too weird, Slipknot was too aggressive, Deftones was too unapproachable. Linkin Park got it — their music was a perfect blend of accessibility, anger, simplicity, and catchiness. Theirs was a then-unique misanthropy which allowed the listener in, saying that the kid who stumbled out of the CD shop with the insectoid album cover wasn’t alone. The band’s particular blend of everything that gave nu-metal its heft was fiercely original. Their success blazed a path for legions of followers, all of whom would diversify and deepen the band’s perfect presentation of emotion."
There’s no space for Linkin Park’s older brand of angst anymore, so they need to create a new one. If that creation hinges too heavily on the work of those around them, the band might find that all the real estate is gone — and with it, what’s made them special over so many years. If their magic is really gone then it might be the time to bid farewell !!!