There is a hidden reference to Chester Bennington in Emily Armstrong’s scream, which Mike Shinoda has revealed
In order to discuss the album ‘From Zero,’ Mike Shinoda and Emily Armstrong engaged in a conversation with ALT 98.7 FM. Shinoda provided an explanation regarding the production of “Heavy Is the Crown,” during which he disclosed that the scream was shortened in order to show respect for Chester Bennington’s 17-second scream throughout the course of the conversation.
“So, on the song ‘Heavy Is the Crown,’ we had this idea for the scream in the bridge, and it was going to be this long thing. For those who are extremely dedicated to Linkin Park, I did time that moment. I took the timer out of its drawer and asked myself, “How long is this section going to take?” Shinoda elaborated on the matter by saying, “It’s about 17 seconds, okay, because that’s a thing, that’s a number in the lore of Linkin Park.” “So, we did it, and I should say that we wrote it and we planned it, and it’s like, ‘Okay, here’s how the part goes,’ I suppose you could say that.”
It would appear that Shinoda did not have faith that Armstrong would be able to perform the scream on the very first take. Then Emily enters the booth, and she says, “I believe I have a good idea of what’s going on. The very first time I try, I’m going to be successful. To which she responded with a mocking “Okay, all right, go for it big guy,” and she did it without hesitation. Quite a few takes were taken of it by us. There were a lot of versions that we liked, but the verse one was the one that stood out to us. It turned out to be slightly under 17 seconds, and it was approximately 16 and a half seconds. This was a fantastic thing to happen. While we were going through the various takes, we found that the longer ones did not sound as well as the shorter ones. It was bizarre when they kind of ended over the top of the vocal that was coming up next.
“So, one thing about preserving the shorter one is that it was wonderful, and it was like in a sense it respects Chester’s 17-second scream. That was good. He continued by saying, “It’s like, yeah, that one is still the long scream, but by the way, she can kick you in the rear end as well.” Linkin Park have announced the release of their long-awaited album on November 15 of this year. Shinoda finally “tricked” his comrades into hiring Armstrong for the band, despite the fact that the band had not initially intended to get back together with another singer or release another album.
I was a bit more of a believer earlier because I spent the most time with Emily, so I was like, ‘Yeah she’s good,’ and I think the guys are going to enjoy her, but I don’t want to be pushy about it. I was a little more of a believer before. My intention is to just share what I believe I know and then wait for their response. Recently, we have begun conducting some sessions, and I have been playing them. According to his explanation, which he provided during an interview with Zach Sang Show, “I even made them like a little very short Dead Sara playlist.”
After that, Shinoda continued, “It was just me, Joe, and Dave Farrell, and Joe Hahn was like, ‘Do you think Emily would just sing?'” Would it be possible for us to simply have her sing everything? He wasn’t joking around; he was acting very serious actually. He asks, “Do you think it would be possible for us to demo her voice as the lead on certain songs, just her on the entire song, just to get a feel for what that sounds like?”
Linkin Park is conducting a tour in order to promote their newest album at the moment. Tonight is said to be their most recent performance in Saudi Arabia.