Since Linkin Park announced Dead Sara frontwoman Emily Armstrong would be joining their band and taking on the role left by the singer late Chester Bennington, fan reception has been mixed. While some have fully embraced Armstrong, others see Bennington’s shoes as too big to fill.
But, as it turns out, Armstrong also found the idea of replacing Bennington difficult at first, with her struggling to make peace with it in the beginning.
During a discussion between Armstrong and co-singer Mike Shinoda on the band’s podcast “From Zero,” Shinoda noted how when Armstrong first joined the band he noticed how much she was doubting herself. Confirming Shinoda’s suspicions, Armstrong went on to admit a lot of what she felt was fear.
“Absolutely. Because it’s fear, you know? It’s such a big change that there was a moment where I was just like, ‘Oh my God, oh my God.’ It comes with all of the great things. When change happens, it’s not necessarily always…you have to look at every aspect.”
“There was a moment where I was just panicking a little bit, just being like, ‘Oh my God, oh my God. How do people see me?’ You know, not me being who I am. There’s gonna be more eyes on me. And it just kind of happened.”
“It was like a flood of these types of…it goes back to the identity thing, where it’s like, ‘My identity is changing. Are you ready for it, Emily? Are you fucking up? Do you want to be this person? Are you able to fill these shoes? Are you able to be this person?'”
Armstrong continued, saying that eventually she was able to overcome these fears.
“That’s a time where I feel like, as an artist, people back down, and they go, ‘I don’t want that. I don’t want that, I just want to be this artist. I just want to be this. I want to be that.'”
“That’s the fear base that happens that makes you not…it’s the devil on the shoulder that’s like, ‘Don’t, don’t, don’t. Don’t grow as an artist. Don’t do that.’ And you do the opposite, that’s what I’ve learned – do the opposite of that fear thing, because it’s all good.”
