Emily Armstrong talked about how she approached replacing the band’s late singer Chester Bennington and addressed what she thought about the early criticism of her joining the band.
“These are some very big shoes to fill. Making [From Zero], you don’t think that you’re going to be replacing somebody, because he obviously can never be replaced,” Armstrong said. “You never want to try and sound like him, but what you want to do is emulate the emotion, do your part as a singer. It’s the emotional side of it—my strong suit of being able to bring it out as he did.”
“First off, I know who I am, and what I can contribute. Second off, I am happy it wasn’t a male. It’s easier because if you’re a male, you’re going to be constantly compared,” she added. “It wasn’t something that was like, we’re looking for a girl. We didn’t do this to make a point, so all the criticism was like, ‘Yeah? If you’re going to be upset, I can’t help you.'”
The singer’s remarks arrive roughly two years after she was first unveiled as the band’s new co-vocalist, a moment that reset Linkin Park’s history and reopened a debate about how any singer could follow Bennington.
Linkin Park announced on September 5, 2024 that it had reunited, seven years after the 2017 death of frontman Chester Bennington, with plans to tour and release a studio album that fall. The group’s new singer was Emily Armstrong, previously known as a member of the Los Angeles rock band Dead Sara. The band revealed its new line-up ahead of the launch of the album From Zero and a supporting world tour, while the livestream event also introduced songwriter and drummer Colin Brittain in place of Rob Bourdon.
The announcement was not met with universal celebration. Armstrong faced immediate backlash that included criticism tied to her past Scientology links and the Danny Masterson controversy, alongside misogynistic reactions from some fans. In the same interview, Mike Shinoda pushed back on the nature of that response: “There were people who lashed out at Emily, and it was really because she wasn’t a guy.”
Armstrong addressed Bennington’s legacy directly in the days after her debut. She said she would “love to do him proud,” framing her role as a tribute rather than a replacement.
The album itself arrived on schedule and with commercial weight behind it. From Zero was set for release on November 15, 2024, with Armstrong on vocals alongside founding member Mike Shinoda, marking the band’s first album since 2017’s One More Light. The rollout was described as a major comeback, and the accompanying tour spanned cities including New York, Hamburg, London, Seoul and Bogotá.
