Mike Shinoda believes Emily Armstrong shares some musical traits with Chester Bennington.
Shinoda and Armstrong spoke on Linkin Park’s YouTube channel, where Emily asked Mike if there was any lesson from Chester that still influences his creative process.
Shinoda shared that Chester was skilled at trusting his instincts, adding, “It’s almost just like listening to your intuition or your inside voice.” Emily acknowledged the challenge of doing so, saying, “It’s not easy to do.” Mike agreed, noting, “Yeah and knowing when you’re like, ‘No, my gut says this’ and it’s very strong.”
Armstrong responded, “I love that. I’m going to try and do that. I will carry it into my space.” Shinoda then talked about the similarities he sees between Emily and Chester, saying, “There are things about you that have reminded me and I hope this isn’t creepy. There are things about you that reminded me of him since the beginning. Just certain things that you do in certain ways that you carry yourself and stuff.”
He added, “It’s not stuff that people would really… I don’t think see on stage or hear on the record but the way you’re magnetically attracted to get on the microphone and to hold people’s attention. It’s almost like hyping everybody up from the moment you show up.”
Shinoda continued, “Chester had that kind of energy. You have that kind of energy. It’s not everybody that can do that, to just like walk in the room and be like and everybody’s energy level just kind of goes like this [raising his arms].”
Emily joined Linkin Park in September 2024 as their new lead vocalist. Reflecting on her involvement, Shinoda previously said, “We talked about putting her voice on things we’d already written that only had my voice on them. Once we did that, we were like, ‘that sounds really good, we should try that on even more songs.'”
Mike further praised Armstrong’s authenticity, saying, “When she sings, it’s like the passion and she’s just 100% her, that’s the best part. She’s not trying to be Chester, she’s not trying to be anybody else. She’s her and that’s why it works.”
Linkin Park’s ‘From Zero’ World Tour will kick off on January 31 in Mexico City, followed by two more shows in Mexico before heading to Japan.
