If you thought all our songs today would be well-received, you’d be wrong!
[Video][Website]
[3.50]
Hannah Jocelyn: Hybrid Theory has really not aged well, but Linkin Park actually have some pretty great pop songs within the sameiness of their discography — “Breaking The Habit” is affecting, “Leave Out All The Rest” has a gorgeous chorus, and even that one weird time they tried to do a reggae-influenced song was not nearly the worst thing ever. So I didn’t know what to expect when I found out Julia Michaels was working with Linkin Park. And I really didn’t know when I found out Kiiara was singing a duet with Chester Bennington. The result is… it just sounds like another Julia Michaels song! With weaker lyrics! And really bad production! The one thing that they didn’t need help with was the melodic sense — in the songs I linked, while the lyrics aren’t fantastic in any of them, Chester has enough power to make the songs work by sheer force. Here, he sounds thin and whiny, especially with the equally thin instrumental behind him. Those songs had slick, polished production, but this stretches itself trying to be a pop song that still pays tribute to rock roots. The worst part is, this isn’t them ‘selling out’ — firstly, not only have they been on Warner Bros. for basically their entire career, judging from this video of the band doing the new song in the style of Hybrid Theory, “Heavy” is genuinely the kind of music they want to make. I would buy it if Chester co-wrote it with Michaels/Tranter for someone like Kiiara to sing solo, or if Chester did this song with like the Chainsmokers or something. But ultimately, the lack of real effort sinks this song.
[3]
Claire Biddles: Getting the gang back together for one last shot at the top ten with… a third rate Chainsmokers song?
[2]
Leonel Manzanares de la Rosa: Linkin Park trying their way with young Pop collaborators feels like the musical equivalent of Mr. Burns in Jimbo’s clothes, but i’m kinda glad Kiiara is getting some Modern Rock Chart checks now.
[4]
Katie Gill: I understand that artists in their 40s aren’t going to make the same music as artists in their 20s. But WOW, I was not expecting some exceedingly generic piece of traditional pop music from Linkin “crawling in my skin” Park. Likewise, I wasn’t expecting this from Kiiara, she of too many feels, none of which are probably this safe. The song itself isn’t bad, per se, just far too confusing. Are we sure these two didn’t lose a bet to get this reject from A Great Big World or another group like that?
[5]
Thomas Inskeep: This is so odd: LP have gone the M5 route and essentially turned into “lead singer making EDM/pop records.” “Heavy” is not only lightweight (the jokes write themselves, folks), it sounds nothing remotely like the Linkin Park of Hybrid Theory. It sounds like nothing at all, really, but a generic 2017 pop song with a male singer you may recognize. (Sorry, but Kiiara’s as generic as the track itself.)
[1]
Juana Giaimo: Chester Bennington’s affected voice in the chorus reminds us that even if Linkin Park is trying to come nearer to pop, this is still a Linkin Park song. Kiiara’s verses have the delicacy he wishes to have, and for that same reason, her part in the chorus sounds as if she was trying too hard. By the end of the song, the vulnerability of the beginning has been forgotten and it all seems to have turned into a competition of who sings and plays louder.
[5]
Jibril Yassin: I never thought I’d see the day where Linkin Park managed to make a song that made “Shadow of the Day” look like a crowning achievement in songwriting. After doing the angry loud guitar/electronica thing for so long, their cash-in moment only comes across as tepid.
[4]
Micha Cavaseno: As the music industry reshuffles itself like a deck of cards, definitions that had once been secure and obvious shift beneath us and become confounding. Mere listens become Album Sales. Labels become temporary galleries while PR firms do the strong-arming. Bands meanwhile are now more or less vehicles for hit singles a la DJ Khaled or Rich Gang where as long as the old star gets a piece, the younger Soundcloud-generation talent gets proper routing to the masses. “Heavy” is not a Linkin Park song in much more than Chester Bennington’s ever increasingly laughable straight singing voice and some whatever guitars clogging up a Kiiara song that is earnest and maybe a little hokey. It doesn’t matter, because she’s proven she can earn her own hits by herself, and didn’t need to help a bunch of decrepit hacks like Linkin Park stay relevant by leeching off her. We already have a frustrating pyramid scheme set-up in the music industry by way of star singers or their producers, but the last thing we need is the dinosaur rock bands getting in their way in their refusal to get out the way.
[4]