Now, when i listen the hunting party, i will do with a lot of shame, because all the hypocrisy. I wish somebody does remember to Mike the words that he said about pop music and rock.
This song could've been better if Mike rapped a few lines here and there. The band is free to sound like The Chainsmokers all they want, but at least retain some of your identity.
Everyone seems to have this idea that Warner controls the band and has an impact on their sound, and is somehow responsible for this song being so 'accessible' after a risky record like THP. It's just not true. Mike even said himself on the LPA podcast (and rather emphatically may I add) that Warner does not have a say in the sound of their music. Sure as with any label there's outside people trying to give input to the band, but Linkin Park ultimately have the final say in the sound of their records period. So the decision to go a total 180 from The Hunting Party was the band's decision. Just like going 'full hard rock' was their decision on THP, and the experimentation on ATS was all them as well.
Just wanted to share my perspective on this song, and what the album might be like. I went into this song with optimism. Honestly right now I'm listening to a lot of electronic pop like CHVRCHES and Random Access Memories, so a poppy Linkin Park record was just right at the moment for me. When I first heard that Kiiara will be featured, I looked her up. Ehhh...Her voice reminds me of Selena Gomez, which was not a good thing since I really don't like her voice. Also the chorus teasers put out over the last 2 weeks have made me a little disappointed. So when I heard the full song a few times, a couple of things struck out to me. The first thing is that the song is short for a reason: it's all about the chorus. The first verse of this song is pretty bad, honestly. Chester singing should be a highlight for me in anything, and yet in this song he comes in abruptly and it feels like he's trying to sync up with a beat for the first time. It feels entirely like this verse's only purpose is to get to the chorus as quickly as possible. Surprisingly, the chorus is rather catchy and Chester gets into the upper pitches of his vocal range, where he really shines IMO. The biggest surprise for me overall was Kiiara. She was the perfect voice to have for this song, especially so when she gets into the chorus and there's a back and forth duet with her and Chester. Overall for me, this song is a 5/10. Certainly not the worst thing I've heard from LP, but it's a disappointing song for me because I know they are capable of making more inspired music. I think this will do great in radio, it's the right type of music and Kiiara's vocal style is really popular in mainstream radio at the moment, it also helps that the song is very catchy and accessible. In a way it's the perfect single: perfect to market to mass media and sell a lot of individual copies.
Im in agreement with a lot of you here. The song is underwhelming. They did not take any risks. LP played it safe and made a song that will get a ton of radio plays throughtout the Pop community. Just like most pop songs, "Heavy" is catchy and the lyrics are simple without much depth. Warner Brothers is probably happy with the direction the band is taking but im certainly not.
Worth noting that he said "There isn't many super heavy guitars" and "There's no screaming on this record" Interview here:
Right, I don't think it's the label's impact at all. I don't think a release from Warner is suddenly going to change the way the band does things. And of course, we only have 2.5 minutes to work with right now - even though Mike stated in the Billboard interview that the whole album is like this. I just think the band is stylistically impulsive but doesn't care much about sound. Other bands, when they make overwhelming changes from album to album, are focused on distinct changes in sound - or are focused on particular sounds and instrumentation. This band, and perhaps Mike himself, thinks big-picture too much of the time. I feel like if the band let themselves get a bit lost in the music they were making, instead of doing things impulsively as they've done, I think we'd hear more music that we'd be happy with - or even music that makes us uncomfortable (which I like). Mike did make a Twitter post saying genre was dead, but what has Linkin Park done that doesn't indicate that they go solely for genre? In the Billboard interview, Mike did not like the song being described as pop - but what else is it, Mike? It's a Pop song, and that's okay. There's nothing wrong with that - but can't you just own what you're doing? It sounds like you made a pop album (as of right now, anyway) - and that's fine. Some people will love it, some people will hate it, and a lot of us are probably just gonna feel a little let down. That's only okay if you own it!
I think the Catalyst is 10000x better as a song that is part of an overall album than as a lead single. I doubt Heavy will have that same impact, but I don't think The Catalyst was really lead single material either.
Not terrible. It's more or less what I expected, but I am glad that they didn't do the typical LP pop song, ala What I've Done, Burn it Down, yada yada you get the point. Kiiara definitely outshines Chester here though; I don't really like how he sounds in the first verse, I think Mike sounds way better in that lower register. But still, the production is damn good. I'd love an instrumental version.
I have a feeling that the song leading up to Heavy in the album will be an instrumental or transition piece. The abrupt-ness of the first verse in this song doesn't feel right at all.
They didn't do a LP pop song. They did a generic pop song, which, in my humble and honest opinion is way worse. I would've preferred a song like What I've Done or Burn it Down over this, despite the songs mentioned not being top either.
I don't understand Mike when he talks about the album. At first he says "The album sounds like Heavy" and then he says "There are so many different genres on the album"