“Heavy” by Linkin Park ft. Kiiara, Wednesday, November 13, 2024 (trigger warning: suicide, depression, mental health discussion)

 Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory was a musical philosophy the band has followed throughout their career. Hip-hop, hard rock, nu-metal, Alternative, folk, and electronic— all found their way onto Linkin Park albums. A band known for their cross-genre collaborations and for scoring Top 40 Pop hits, Linkin Park has always aimed to be music-forward. In 2017, the band released their most polarizing album, One More Light. The album more than any of the band’s previous efforts integrated current-sounding pop, a genre that Linkin Park had avoided even when their rock songs became pop hits. Critics and listeners didn’t know what to think of the latest from the band that defined the new millennium in rock music. It was a collection of songs that seemed lyrically honest but musically dishonest like much of the pop music of the late ‘10s.  

I DON’T LIKE MY MIND RIGHT NOW. Starting the album cycle for One More Light was “Heavy,” the lead single, released in February 2017. Working with the songwriting team of Julia Michaels and Justin Tranter, Linkin Park crafted their version of what they thought pop music sounded like in the late ‘10s. Joesph Hahn, the band’s DJ and programmer suggested that “Heavy” would sound good as a duet with a female singer opposite of lead singer Chester Bennington. Illinois-based singer-songwriter Kiiara Saulters talked about Linkin Park’s influence on her career with New Zealand radio host Zane Lowe after she had a big hit in 2015 called “Gold.” Through Lowe, Linkin Park connected with the singer who then recorded the song's second verse. When the song was released, the band and Kierra performed it on several late-night shows to promote their new single. Critics mostly called the song an imitation of both Twenty One Pilots and The Chainsmokers and Halsey’s “Closer.” Lyrically, the song was similar to the themes Linkin Park wrote about before. The song is about feeling unable to handle all of the hardships the world gives us.

I’M PRETTY SURE THE WORLD IS OUT TO GET ME. On May 19, 2017, Linkin Park released One More Light, and like the lead single “Heavy,” reviews were pretty negative. These made lead singer Chester Bennington so angry that he lashed out online. The band believed in their new sound and were trying to express their message in a new way. The band was, however, still in its prime and one of the biggest rock bands at a time when the genre seemed to be disappearing. Then on July 25, Bennington took his life. The singer had struggled with depression and substance abuse throughout his life, but he had seemingly come out of a dark time, surviving an attempt in 2016. Earlier in 2017, Bennington lost a dear friend and godfather to his children to suicide, Soundgarden and Audioslave’s Chris Cornell. Bennington sang Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” at Cornell’s funeral and expressed his deep sorrow for the loss. The Last Days Podcast looked into the details surrounding Bennington’s death, focusing on the parallels between Cornell and the Linkin Park frontman as well as the statements Bennington made about his mental health. Bennington told Rolling Stone in 2017: “I find myself getting into these patterns of behavior or thought – especially when I'm stuck up here [in my head]; I like to say that 'this is like a bad neighborhood, and I should not go walking alone.” Bennington hung himself in a hotel room where he was staying briefly when shooting a commercial. Perhaps the intrusive thoughts were too much. Perhaps it was the memory of Cornell. Bennington died on what would have been his fifty-third birthday. Whatever Bennington’s reasons, the 41-year-old was taken too soon. Chester had so much more to give the rock world or whatever genre he wanted to work in.
 

Read the lyrics on Genius.