"New Divide” by Linkin Park, Friday, September 22, 2023
In 2007, despite being toward the end of the second Bush term and being in the middle of a war and high gas prices, the world felt more optimistic than today. It was a simpler time when you thought you could trust the summer blockbuster. But then we learned 1) Michael Bay is obsessed with close up details that disorient the audience. 2) While Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox’s performances were comedically entertaining, neither actor could carry the weight of a 2 hour 24-minute film, and coupled with Bay’s action sequences felt ten times as long. 3) that not every movie based on a nostalgic toy produces a fond memory. While the American public loved Transformers, Hollywood was entering its “exploit the sequel” phase, bombarding us with the same formula two years later.
GIVE ME REASON TO PROVE ME WRONG. Meanwhile, in 2007, Linkin Park had not released an album since their 2003 critically acclaimed sophomore album Meteora. The lead single from their third album, Minutes to Midnight, “What I’ve Done,” was also the lead single from the summer blockbuster Transformers. The song offered reprieve from the band’s bleak third record and served as the end credits song for Transformers. Then came 2009. Linkin Park had begun work on their fourth studio record, which would be released in 2010. Whereas Minutes to Midnight started where the previous Linkin Park had left off dealing with depression and anxiety, the album began to touch on political and social themes. The title referenced the Doomsday Clock, but it is not widely considered a concept album. But 2010’s A Thousand Suns was a concept record, digging deeper into the theme of humanity destroying itself with nuclear weapons. But between Minutes to Midnight and A Thousand Suns, the band worked with composer Hans Zimmer to score the sequel to Transformers.
FILL THIS HOLE; CONNECT THE SPACE BETWEEN. Unlike “What I’ve Done,” “New Divide” doesn’t appear on a Linkin Park studio record. There was no place for it on the concept album A Thousand Suns. And while critics didn’t quite appreciate Linkin Park’s efforts at expanding their lyrics to political commentary in 2007, they praised “New Divide.” The critics, however, panned the film for which the song was commissioned, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen: Repackage the same film with more Michael Bay disorientation, bank on the awkwardness of Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox’s awkward love story working out. Use the same band to deliver a calculated effect among film goers. Of course the movie made enough money to keep up the franchise, but there was even a difference between the quality of Linkin Park songs between the first and second film. Lyrically, “New Divide” is one of the weakest Linkin Park songs before 2014’s The Hunting Party. The song has several hooks, and singer Chester Bennington delivers the lines passionately, but ultimately the song sounds derivative of their 2007 song for the same franchise. Grammatically, the song lacks coherence. Thematically, it lacks a clear subject, but not in an interesting ambiguous way. The song feels like it was written to support a flat movie. So what is the “New Divide”? It predates mainstream discussion about political division, and including a song about wealth disparity on a soundtrack about robots that try to obliterate each other feels like it's reaching. Perhaps the song is all vibe, and sometimes that’s okay. Linkin Park certainly didn’t lose it in terms of inspiration after today’s song.
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