Mike Shinoda thinks Emily Armstrong has similarities to Chester Bennington musically.
Shinoda and Armstrong chatted on Linkin Park’s YouTube channel and the singer asked Mike whether there is any lesson he’s learned from Chester that he still carries with him into his creative space.
Shinoda revealed that Chester was very good at going with his gut and added, “It’s almost just like listening to your intuition or your inside voice.” Emily stepped in to say “It’s not easy to do.” Mike agreed, saying, “Yeah, and knowing when you’re like, ‘No, my gut says this’ and it’s very strong.”
Armstong added, “I love that. I’m going to try and do that. I will carry it into my space.” Shinoda went on to talk about what Emily and Chester have in common, explaining, “There are things about you that have reminded me, and I hope this isn’t creepy. There are things about you that reminded me of him since the beginning. Just certain things that you do in certain ways that you carry yourself and stuff.”
“It’s not stuff that people would really… I don’t think see on stage or hear on the record but the way you’re magnetically attracted to get on the microphone and to hold people’s attention. It’s almost like hyping everybody up from the moment you show up,” the co-lead stated.
He also noted, “Chester had that kind of energy. You have that kind of energy. It’s not everybody that can do that, to just like walk in the room and be like and everybody’s energy level just kind of goes like this [raising his arms].”
Armstrong joined Linkin Park in September 2024 as their new singer. Next month, Shinoda reflected on having Emily in the band, saying, “We talked about putting her voice on things we’d already written that only had my voice on them. Once we did that, we were like, ‘that sounds really good, we should try that on even more songs.’”
“When she sings, it’s like the passion and she’s just 100% her, that’s the best part. She’s not trying to be Chester, she’s not trying to be anybody else. She’s her and that’s why it works,” he further shared about Armstrong.
Linkin Park’s ‘From Zero’ World Tour starts on January 31 in Mexico City. After two more shows in Mexico, they will head towards Japan.