On the other hand, in general, I've never seen an LP song pick up this much hate and negativity. And honestly? I've never minded it less. If there was ever an LP song that deserved getting shit, it's this one, lol.
The man is a professional music reviewer, you all seem to be under the impression he doesn't know what he's talking about and the song is going over his head.
Man just stop Yea! That shows.. He calls a track with R&B vocals, Live Piano-Synth-Bass-Drums-Guitar an EDM track. Good knowledge of music. A light that never comes is EDM and not HEAVY
Sorry but if he thinks 'Heavy' is an EDM track, I wouldn't take his status as a "professional" music reviewer very seriously. He can not like it, for all I care. It is his opinion after all. But 'Heavy' is not an EDM track. He should get genres right before reviewing a track. #justsaying
I think that happened cause the previous album had heavy guitars, a heavier sound that called the atention of the metal fans. creating an expectation about the next album sound more like that, and we know "Linkin Park fans" that they would not do that again. they are going to do something unexpected as always, and look what the have done. hahahah Polarizing people every fucking album cycle.
That's the thing though. I was not expecting a heavy song at all. I was completely ready for a full blown pop album since last year when we started getting teasers. And I was ready to get a pop anthem of a lead single. But this is just not a good song, to me. And someone mentioned it the other day - I really find it incredible all 6 of them were like "yup, this is good enough to be our lead single". I'm hopeful for the rest of the album, but, also, really scared for it.
So many reasons for the hate and polarizing response. 1. Kiiara's vocals on the track which makes it sound extremely pop. 2. The obvious change in Chester's style, which combined with Kiiara's vocals makes this song seem pop. 3. The fact that this is LP's softest lead single till date. 4. The fact that this song and album are coming after THP and most importantly, Guilty All The Same (which is my 2nd fav LP song till date, FYI). Also, for all the stuff that Mike said during THP cycle about pop music. 5. Lack of guitars (for nu-metal fans) and lack of any major changes to music or experimentation as seen before(to the ATS fans).
To be honest, lot of casual fans have never heard of THP. I've read comments like "LP hasn't been metal since Meteora, what were people expecting?". The amount of hate is actually un-precedented for an LP song. The song already got waaaaay more dislikes on youtube than any of their past songs, MTM/ATS/LT tracks included. And that while having been waaaay less watched too. Not that I care much about bullshit statistics, but one can't deny the average reception.
But Filip, does your opinion realllyyyy matter? But seriously, if the band wanted to make it, and liked the song, and saw that it was easily accessible, why not make it the lead single? Fan opinion doesn't dictate the band's opinion.
"He calls a song that has rhythmic and electronic elements 'electronic dance music!' That's not correct!!!" You're all harping on nothing to dismiss the mans incredibly on the money criticism; they made a very electronic, very "catchy" song, in the style of a kind of music that's very popular right now, yes or no? "Y-yeah but he didn't use the correct terminology to describe it!" is irrelevant and frankly a man who is highly regarded as a music critic likely has more than idea of what he's talking about than a group of people who still use "Justin Beiber" as an insult in the year of our Lord 2017.
He didn't review the track properly. He made a couple of off hand comments, which lacked accuracy or depth.
One Step Closer wasn't the strongest track on Hybrid Theory. Somewhere I Belong was probably hands down the worst track on Meteora. What I've Done was one of the weaker songs on MTM. The Catalyst kicked ass as a first single....but then Burn It Down was one of the weakest songs on LIVING THINGS. It goes on and on. Linkin Park have a habit of picking the weaker, more accessible tracks for lead singles. The only time they ever didn't do that imo was on A Thousand Suns and THP. But that's 2 albums out of the 6 they've released. Historically speaking, their first single has always been one of the weaker tracks on the disc. I have zero doubts this will be any different.
Why should I care if he's "highly regarded as a music critic"? He's an entertainer who, like most critics, barely analyses the music he talkes about. Nothing against the guy, I have no problem with that, and I respect him a tonne for achieving what he's achieved, but at the end of the day, he only has time to listen to the music he reviews a handful of times at most, so I'm not going to value his first impressions as much as a fan who takes the time out to deeply analyse the music they love. I honestly couldn't care less about what some random critic thinks, I just want deep analysis, which evidently, he hasn't provided. Totally agree, LP's lead singles have always been pretty poor choices (although I do think that What I've Done was on balance the best choice for MTM). I'm still nervous about OML, but I'd be very surprised if Heavy ended up being one of my favourites.
I really hope "Heavy" ends up as the worst track on the record. That little teaser of what seems to be "Sorry for now" was already more promising, so there is that.
"highly regarded music critic" Eh? So? Does it matter if he is highly regarded or not? He didn't review the track properly, put it under a different genre and therefore said something about the track with that genre in mind. How is this a good review? He gave no basis for his reasoning and he kept saying "rock artists going to EDM". He might as well have been using "justin bieber" insults because it would not have made any difference to anything he presented in his "review". Technically, GATS was never treated as a lead single. Lead singles have well produced music videos usually but GATS had nothing other than the Microsoft thing. Until It's Gone was the true lead single and that's so visible with how it was premiered (teasers and snippets by LP prior to release, actual release on radio with an actual lyrics video followed by a music video few weeks later). The only time LP didn't play it safe was during ATS and I'd argue that it was the smartest move (commercially) they made given how The Catalyst sold 500k in the US and WFTE sold a million (solely on it's own merit). Had they released The Catalyst as the 2nd single, it would not have sold that many copies or charted that high on Hot 100. As much as I think 'Heavy' is an OK track, I really wish it is the weakest on the record. And yes, if 'Sorry for now' sounds anything like that snippet, I'll be so happy. Ever since we got that video, I've been hoping that song made it onto the record. Heck, I want that song to be as quiet as we got in that snippet. Just something about the whole atmosphere and vibe from that snippet along with that melody was so addicting.
When I'm accused of being sexist, I usually retort with a sexist comment too! Or they wouldn't. How do you know? Any more generalized, over-stated comments you'd like to make? Was there supposed to be a joke in there?
Very true. If you consider UIG as the true lead single, it's arguably (again) the weakest track on THP. I did like the track a lot in my review, but it's far from the best track on the disc. So if you consider UIG as the lead single, it's again...5 out of 6 albums with one of the weakest songs (in my opinion at least) taking the spot as lead single. I honestly doubt Heavy is the best the album has to offer.