Oh boy. So much to say on this one Mike different vocal approach in the verses is great. Reminds me of Turnstile, and he's a fan of the band, so I could picture it Starting verse 2 the same way as verse 1 before switching to a rap verse is a cool twist Bringing back the rap verse in the outro makes it less like a random add-on, and more like a consistent feature of the song I though Mike sounded soooo "nu-metal" on that rap-verse (P.O.D), but I really don't mind Guitar work combined with the shoegazy elements gives off big Deftones vibes Once again, Mike and Emily vocals combine seamlessly. A strong characteristic of the FZ era Emily vocals are really good, but Mike is the one shining the brightest here The pre-chorus is poppy and catchy, adds more colors to the song The bridge is beautiful, raw, intimate. And I like how it switches to being a more atmospheric piece when Emily vocals come in Great soft-loud dynamics. Heaviest Linkin Park ballad, or LP most atmospheric heavy song? Hard to say, and it doesn't really matter. But it's a great combo Touching lyrics, however you interpret them If you don't want to read all the above : Awesome song
Glad I'm not the only one who thought this. There's a real nu-metal bounce to the final chorus and I was trying to pinpoint why.
I love how the chorus is different everytime: The first one being the regular/standard The 2nd changed to the pre-chorus half way through And the 3rd one is like an outro with the vocal overlaps Papercut style
I heard this mentioned elsewhere, but - tinfoil hat theory or is the line "Twenty hours no sleep / three o'clock in the morning" a nod to Chester's birthday (03/20)? I'm not saying it's about him, but those new numbers feel too coincidental considering the subject matter.
Intro: opening the song with a somber atmosphere only to abruptly launch into one of their coolest new riffs was an awesome decision. The opening chord is also identical to the one in Lost in Paradise by Evanescence, which is definitely a coincidence but cool. First verse: Mike's vocals leave something to be desired here for me. He actually seemed to sound better in the live debut of the song. There's just something missing about his performance in the studio version. Pre-chorus: This is rhythmically interesting due to only being 3 bars long rather than the usual 4. So the jump into the chorus feels fresher than it would otherwise. There's also some nice ambient synth stuff going on underneath. However, the pre-chorus melody itself is really boring and repetitive to me. It doesn't grab me at all and doesn't go anywhere. First chorus: The guitars are what really make this for me. There's a really cool ascending line during the 2nd and 4th bars, which is not noticeable unless you're listening on headphones. The guitars sound really full. Fantastic production. A couple of cool vocal harmonies as well. Second verse: Love the start when the drums cut out and everything is all muffled, only to immediately open back up. The second half is far my least favorite thing about the song though, I do NOT like how Mike just randomly switches to rap instead of continuing to sing. It sounds shoe-horned in and does not fit at all. Second chorus: Another part where they repeat the pre-chorus melody, which again, I find pretty boring. Bridge: best part of the song by far. Reminds me of Rest by Foo Fighters, as well some more somber songs by Coldplay. I think this is the first time Mike has ever sung in this sort of vocal register on a Linkin Park song? Considering how much he struggled with the low notes on Massive (which I assume was recorded in 2003), there's a world of difference in his vocal range now, he sounds quite natural during these low notes. Final chorus: I'm not sure why, but the rap actually works here for me. Final thoughts: the song is good, but highly overrated by the deeper fanbase. It's supposed to be really emotional but to me none of the melodies nor the chord structure have any sort of emotional impact. It feels like they pigeonholed themselves into working around only 2 chords, which leads to the whole thing feeling incomplete and unsatisfying. The lyrics are good, but without the music itself eliciting any sort of emotional response from me, they're kinda left on their own without proper context to make me feel anything.
The 2 chords repetition sets the base structure from where some of the subtle ambient atmospheric goodness can develop. It's what gives the song a somewhat hypnotic tone. I feel more chord variations could have distracted too much from that drone, even-waves effect. I love it, but yeah, it's a vibe, and when experienced live, you can feel it lacks that anthemic sing-along quality most of their hits have. Personally, I'm super glad they went for something different.
Unrelated to the above discussion, but I marathoned an 80-hour playlist I made to listen to how grunge fragmented and gave way to radio-geared post-grunge in chronological order. Somewhere along the way, I heard this song one time shortly after Puddle of Mudd's Come Clean, and for whatever reason I can't get the idea of Mike's first verse being delivered grunge-style out of my head. But I kind of like the idea