Too many people think this album is about the death of Chester Bennington This album is about the life of Mike Shinoda While grief is explored in this album, and is the instigator of the crisis Mike describes going through, the central theme of this album is deeper than that. He lost a close friend and creative collaborator, and that was devastating, but he also as a result lost his own sense of who he is. His life was so tied up in his work, and Chester was so tied into that, that Mike literally didn't know what his life could be about if that was all over. This album is Mike trying to find himself.
I absolutely love this record exactly for the reasons you brought up at the start. It's very raw, honest and a bit unpolished, but it's the closest we ever got to seeing Mike for who he is. And this is record is less about music, but more about following him through his journey. Place To Start - Basically waking up from a nightmare and coming back to reality which you still can't really connect to. Over Again - pure anguish and regret, confusion and anger. The music video for this one hits even harder knowing when and where the footage for the first verse was taken. Watching As I Fall - less aggressive, but still very much negative and sarcastic. Still very hostile tone, still very distant. Nothing Makes Sense Anymore - The anger subsides, and now you're just left with bitterness and don't understand what this life even is. About You - Speaks for itself, really. You'd like to get your mind off your trauma, but reminders are everywhere you look. Brooding - That necessary pause to just sit and reflect. Breathe. You're still hurting, but now it almost feels like you can think again. Promises I Can't Keep - Entering the stage of acceptance. Looking back at the lessons learned and trying to take the first steps into what is now your life. Crossing The Line - This one is indeed pretty boring musically, but it was one of the first singles off the album and is a message to the Linkin Park fans. "I don't know what's next. I don't know if the band you loved so much will ever be back. I don't have any answers, but I do have faith. Give me time. Let me do my thing. And it would be great if you stuck around". Hold It Together - Also very self-explanatory. Ghosts - You can finally enjoy life again. This has a very cute music video, at the start of which Mike says something like "You know, if I want to have fun, I shouldn't feel guilty about it". Only at this point he can finally start letting go of the pain and let something else take its place. Life moves on without those we lost. But their "ghosts" - our memories of them - are always with us. There but never there. Make It Up As I Go - We were never given an instruction for how to live life. Especially after something as tragic as loss. But we can write one for ourselves. Lift Off - Enough idling. Back to business. I. O. U. - Back to my roots. Running From My Shadow - "I love you, but I know I gotta let you go." World's On Fire - Just a big heartfelt thank you to Mike's wife Anna who stuck with him through all of this and supported him at every step of the way. Can't Hear You Now - I'm moving on. Leaving all the negativity and hate behind me, everyone who never believed and wanted me to fail. I'm on my own now, but I can make it. Just watch. Totally get why musically this wasn't really your cup of tea, but again, music wasn't the point. Emotion was. This album has it in abundance and it was incredibly effective for most people who grieved Chester. It was to let them know they weren't alone. It worked for me.
Thank you SO MUCH for sharing your review! You make very good points. You got exactly what I meant by getting close to the message, and not necessarily the music aspect of it.
"About You" is specifically talking about how he kept writing lyrics expressing his own feelings and talking about his own struggles, and no matter what he would write, he would realise that anyone who listened to it would think he was talking about Chester's death. This is an extension of a problem he had for years, where he would write lyrics expressing his deepest feelings, and then Chester would sing those lyrics, and everyone would think Chester wrote those words, and that they were about Chester's feelings rather than Mike's. That only intensified after Chester died, and people started going back through all the songs Chester sang, that Mike wrote, and reading into those lyrics a different meaning, that they were a "cry for help" from Chester. So at this point, Chester was gone, and Mike was still writing, and he knew people were going to twist every word he wrote to be about Chester. And he was right, because they did. He even wrote a song called "What The Words Meant", which was about when he listened to Phantogram's album "Three", and then talked to the songwriter about the meaning of the lyrics and learned they were deeper than he initially thought. And when he dropped that song as a bonus track to "Post Traumatic", people immediately read it as Mike saying he only came to understand the meaning of Chester's lyrics after his death. Not at all what he was talking about, but people made it mean that in their own heads. I believe he said that "Crossing A Line" was about when he was thinking about putting out this solo music and he was worried if the rest of the band would be okay with that or think it was appropriate at that moment to make music without them. So he had to work past that worry and put it out there that he needed to do this.
Aside from the guest vocalists, this is all Mike, including production. And you may be surprised to learn how much Linkin Park production you thought came from Joe actually came from Mike. The sounds you're recognising here from LP are all Mike, both here and in LP.
Over Again is so raw, so powerful, so full of pain and angst.
I'm so glad they're fucking back! Mike deserves this!
Too many people think this album is about the death of Chester Bennington
This album is about the life of Mike Shinoda
While grief is explored in this album, and is the instigator of the crisis Mike describes going through, the central theme of this album is deeper than that. He lost a close friend and creative collaborator, and that was devastating, but he also as a result lost his own sense of who he is. His life was so tied up in his work, and Chester was so tied into that, that Mike literally didn't know what his life could be about if that was all over. This album is Mike trying to find himself.
Yes!! People miss the point all the time.
@ronaldosborn8691 "Even when it's not about you..."
Beautiful and sad album, mike is so good with his lyrics, very emotional, thanks for your reaction 🤗🫶❤️
I absolutely love this record exactly for the reasons you brought up at the start. It's very raw, honest and a bit unpolished, but it's the closest we ever got to seeing Mike for who he is. And this is record is less about music, but more about following him through his journey.
Place To Start - Basically waking up from a nightmare and coming back to reality which you still can't really connect to.
Over Again - pure anguish and regret, confusion and anger. The music video for this one hits even harder knowing when and where the footage for the first verse was taken.
Watching As I Fall - less aggressive, but still very much negative and sarcastic. Still very hostile tone, still very distant.
Nothing Makes Sense Anymore - The anger subsides, and now you're just left with bitterness and don't understand what this life even is.
About You - Speaks for itself, really. You'd like to get your mind off your trauma, but reminders are everywhere you look.
Brooding - That necessary pause to just sit and reflect. Breathe. You're still hurting, but now it almost feels like you can think again.
Promises I Can't Keep - Entering the stage of acceptance. Looking back at the lessons learned and trying to take the first steps into what is now your life.
Crossing The Line - This one is indeed pretty boring musically, but it was one of the first singles off the album and is a message to the Linkin Park fans. "I don't know what's next. I don't know if the band you loved so much will ever be back. I don't have any answers, but I do have faith. Give me time. Let me do my thing. And it would be great if you stuck around".
Hold It Together - Also very self-explanatory.
Ghosts - You can finally enjoy life again. This has a very cute music video, at the start of which Mike says something like "You know, if I want to have fun, I shouldn't feel guilty about it". Only at this point he can finally start letting go of the pain and let something else take its place. Life moves on without those we lost. But their "ghosts" - our memories of them - are always with us. There but never there.
Make It Up As I Go - We were never given an instruction for how to live life. Especially after something as tragic as loss. But we can write one for ourselves.
Lift Off - Enough idling. Back to business.
I. O. U. - Back to my roots.
Running From My Shadow - "I love you, but I know I gotta let you go."
World's On Fire - Just a big heartfelt thank you to Mike's wife Anna who stuck with him through all of this and supported him at every step of the way.
Can't Hear You Now - I'm moving on. Leaving all the negativity and hate behind me, everyone who never believed and wanted me to fail. I'm on my own now, but I can make it. Just watch.
Totally get why musically this wasn't really your cup of tea, but again, music wasn't the point. Emotion was. This album has it in abundance and it was incredibly effective for most people who grieved Chester. It was to let them know they weren't alone.
It worked for me.
Thank you SO MUCH for sharing your review! You make very good points. You got exactly what I meant by getting close to the message, and not necessarily the music aspect of it.
"About You" is specifically talking about how he kept writing lyrics expressing his own feelings and talking about his own struggles, and no matter what he would write, he would realise that anyone who listened to it would think he was talking about Chester's death. This is an extension of a problem he had for years, where he would write lyrics expressing his deepest feelings, and then Chester would sing those lyrics, and everyone would think Chester wrote those words, and that they were about Chester's feelings rather than Mike's. That only intensified after Chester died, and people started going back through all the songs Chester sang, that Mike wrote, and reading into those lyrics a different meaning, that they were a "cry for help" from Chester. So at this point, Chester was gone, and Mike was still writing, and he knew people were going to twist every word he wrote to be about Chester. And he was right, because they did. He even wrote a song called "What The Words Meant", which was about when he listened to Phantogram's album "Three", and then talked to the songwriter about the meaning of the lyrics and learned they were deeper than he initially thought. And when he dropped that song as a bonus track to "Post Traumatic", people immediately read it as Mike saying he only came to understand the meaning of Chester's lyrics after his death. Not at all what he was talking about, but people made it mean that in their own heads.
I believe he said that "Crossing A Line" was about when he was thinking about putting out this solo music and he was worried if the rest of the band would be okay with that or think it was appropriate at that moment to make music without them. So he had to work past that worry and put it out there that he needed to do this.
Aside from the guest vocalists, this is all Mike, including production.
And you may be surprised to learn how much Linkin Park production you thought came from Joe actually came from Mike. The sounds you're recognising here from LP are all Mike, both here and in LP.
And for me, this album is far more musically beautiful than the two LP albums before it, or indeed the one after.
"Excuse me while I kiss the sky" is a Method Man and Redman reference, and kind of a Hendrix reference.
I've got a video on Mike's hip hop references.
The line you singled out, about getting it tattooed,
"Excuse me while I kiss the sky", is from Jimi Hendrix's Purple Haze
The more you know! Thanks for sharing.
And the way he sang it is a reference to "How High" by Method Man and Redman.
Why would you listen to LP if you're not into rap?