Linkin Park & Kiiara and The Revenant

Today I have some new music for you which is a collaboration between two wonderful artists. This song is a completely new avenue for Linkin Park, and features the beautiful vocals of Kiiara. This song is very different from what we have heard from Linkin Park. The band has gone through a lot of musical evolution, but this is something completely different for the band. Now I know that because Linkin Park is trying something completely new, it won't be met with a lot of love from people. There are some who like it and some who don't, so I am throwing that disclaimer out there right now. What I find to be very interesting about this song is that the lyrics are very much Linkin Park's style. The lyrics in this song start out with the stereotypical Linkin Park cadence and length. The band tends to be very expressive and illustrative with their words, which is something we get to hear a lot of in their music. Now when we get to the chorus, we also get that Linkin Park kind of sound. The other verses though are more in the style of Kiiara's music. It has the lyrical content and style of more chill and lounge songs. That mix of lyrical content is really nice to hear because, with a lot of collaborations, it is all about the musical styles. Very rarely do we get to hear a collaboration of lyrical styles as well, and that is such a breath of fresh air. Speaking of musicality, I want to dive into what this sounds like. This is a song that is more geared towards Kiiara's style of music, and she carries the song very well because of it. I can tell you this definitely does not sound like Linkin Park's hard rock. At all. Now personally, I still don't know how I feel about that. On one hand, I love that the band is expanding outside its comfort zone and tried a new style. I just don't know how stoked I am to hear that the style picked is chillstep and borderline pop. I know, I dropped the word "pop." At one point, chillstep would have been a subgenre, one that wasn't very popular or well known. But now, that style of music has become wildly popular and is what I would consider as the new phase in pop music. So yes, this is more of a pop-driven song than rock. To be quite honest I don't really get a rock vibe from the song. But that is okay! It is nice to have a new style to explore and a new kind of music to really sift through. This is fundamentally a dance-pop track. There is minimal band work, and what does show up is mainly just the drums keeping some kind of percussion rhythm. But even then, we can hear how drum pad heavy the track is rather than live drumming. This is something very new for Linkin Park and for us as fans because we are so accustomed to hearing Linkin Park use its entire instrumental dossier. Instead, we get a track that is definitely more synth heavy (totally unintended). Again, this is why I don't really know how I feel about this. It is good to see Linkin Park still evolving and trying new things. However, this is a song that really challenges Linkin Park fans because of how vastly different it sounds in comparison to what made us fall in love with the band in the first place. What are your thoughts? Are you happy with this song or want to hear more of Linkin Park's rock based music? Let me know in the comments below! Today's instrumental song is from the movie The Revenant. If you haven't seen the film, it is one that I highly recommend. This is a film that is intense and unsettling at times. But the film is so incredibly well done and the cast is phenomenal. The story itself is one that is riveting and dynamic and full of this interesting array of emotions. The score reflects this strange mix of emotions and thoughts. This piece in particular also conveys the overall mood of the film- one that is melancholy and seemingly dark. The piece is just so beautifully composed though, you can't help but want to listen through the end. I hope you enjoy the music and please feel free to comment!