Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda and Emily Armstrong sat down with lyrics site and digital media company Genius to discuss the lyrics to From Zero's lead single "The Emptiness Machine." Armstrong and Shinoda break down the meaning of the lyrics line-by-line in the video, and also discuss some of the background behind the track and its writing. Give the video a watch below! Come and discuss your thoughts on their breakdown in our forums! Source: Genius, @Serious Dave
I like that Mike mentions how he thought about putting words in the first verse that sounded dangerous ("blades", "sharpened"). It crossed my mind before those words help build the tension of the song from the get go.
I always appreciated how the song was structured to ease you in to the new singer with having the familiarity first. I’m glad that was intentional, and not just baseless speculation from myself!
LP isn't a great pick for these things because the band's lyrics are nearly always intentionally vague
Yeah I kinda thought about this as they were going through it It was more of a look into the writing of the lyrics and song than it was about an actual lyrical breakdown. We need some more M. Shinoda bars to get a good Genius Verified breakdown. Show us what you got, Mike.
Yeah, but, on the other hand, a lot of those annotations are nothing but Wikipedia links - hell, one of them is even a link to his own Wikipedia page.
Honestly, this song is so clearly about online criticism, but Mike does not want to say it out loud: "Flashing your favorite point of view", "I know you're waiting in the distance, just like you always do" - he is almost anticipating the reaction to the new LP. "Already pulling me in, already under my skin" "I let you cut me open" - it's about how you almost look intentionally for the negative comments. The actual emptiness machine is social media and getting your validation from a good response. There Mike, not that hard
The fucking descriptions of the lyrics are as vague as the lyrics themselves sounds like they don't really know what the lyrics mean they just write words they think sound cool and convey a certain mood, but they aren't telling actual stories.
Well I do remember in one of their recent interviews—the Zach Sang one if I'm recalling correctly—one of them (probably Mike) mentioned something to the effect of "I know what informed the writing of the words and what they meant when I wrote them. But we're not going to tell that part of it so people can decide for themselves." So yeah, not telling a story directly, but it is generally based on a story I suppose. Which is the way it's almost always been. Mike would write lyrics generalized around Chester's experiences frequently, but pulled the lens back to be more vague, leaving just the emotional component.