Linkin Park’s secret 2019 reunion failed
Mike Shinoda opened up about the long and difficult journey Linkin Park faced before officially returning with new music and a new singer. In an interview with 105.7 The Point, Shinoda explained that after Chester Bennington’s passing, the band needed years to process their grief and figure out what the future might look like.
By 2018–2019, Shinoda released his solo album Post Traumatic and toured to work through his emotions. But when he came back and reconnected with bandmates Joe Hahn and Dave Farrell, their first attempts to write together and reunite stalled. “We tried again, no momentum,” he recalled.
“We thought about what a future version of the band could be like for years. I mean, in 2020 – after Chester passed – in 2020, like 2018-2019, I did a solo project to kind of get some of that stuff.”
“I had already been writing things, whether we had been planning to go on tour, and so I kind of had this void that, instead of like, hiding away, I felt like I needed to get out there and be with people and put some of those ideas, these things I was feeling and ideas that I had down on songs.”
“And so I went out and did this album and this tour called ‘Post Traumatic,’ and when I came home from that, I was really, really exhausted. And I recovered from that as I started talking to, in particular, Joe [Hahn] and Dave [Farrell] a lot more. And bit by bit, we tried to write some things, and it didn’t- there was no momentum. We tried again, no momentum. And we tried again.”
A major challenge was deciding who could step into Bennington’s role. They debated every possibility, male or female, older or younger, someone who sounded like Chester or someone completely different. Shinoda noted there were even tribute band singers who could mimic Bennington’s voice, but nothing felt right.
Linkin Park hired Emily Armstrong
Eventually, the group connected with Emily Armstrong, whose talent and creative energy impressed them. Shinoda said they sensed she hadn’t yet reached her full artistic potential, and together they discovered new creative heights while writing songs.
Shinoda described the process as gradual and emotional, requiring patience and deep trust. What began as years of uncertainty and false starts eventually led to the rebirth of Linkin Park, with Armstrong helping the band move forward while honoring the legacy of their late frontman.
“As we did that, we started talking about what would it be like – a male singer, a female singer, somebody older than us, somebody younger than us, somebody our age, somebody who sounded a lot like Chester, who sounded nothing like Chester. There were cover bands who have singers that sound like him, probably half a dozen or a dozen of them. There are lots of options.”
“We tried out a few things, had a few people in the studio. And I think the more we worked with Emily in particular, it was like, ‘Oh, she’s so, so talented. We all felt like she hadn’t even reached her full potential for as long as she’s been singing, which is as long as we’ve been doing it, almost.”
“It still felt like she had this ceiling that she hadn’t reached, or this thing above the ceiling that she thought she had. And we kind of helped discover it. I guess we kind of discovered it together while we made songs.”
