Actually, he says "the" in the actual song. Listen to the acapella that released a week ago and you can hear it.
Yup. I assume it would be because he is singing throughout this song and having to play only the lead melody, which comes mostly in the chorus, would make it easier for him during the performance.
I asked just 'cause, watching the video, I couldn't tell if it was a guitar line being played by Shinoda or a synth lead part that was on playback
I think there are two layers to that lead bit. The main layer is played by Mike and the lower layer is being played by Joe. Cause I remember seeing a video where you could see Joe doing something during the lead melody.
I was actually talking about that lead melody lol I just thought I saw him concentrating a lot on playing that lead melody.
However it is they need to set it up so Mike can sing as good as he does during the final minutes of the song at the verses. He sounds awesome at the end of Rebellion and all throughout Final Masquerade. Get on it LP.