If the album is bad (but let's hope it isn't) it will be, in my opinion, due to the band's desire to be differently creative each time they record a new album. Trying not to copy the style of any of the previous albums hem them to the area of pop music.
I doubt this record will flop. Maybe for the LP fanbase, yeah, but overall no. Cause, if Heavy is any indication, this is exactly a record people that enjoy JB, katy perry etc would buy and since those sell like hotcakes these will too.
i am not sure if they are so talented or very well produced but still one could consider it as a compliment.
My point was that if one would only count the sales of people that are Linkin Park fans for a whiile the sales would be as low as they have never been before. But considering this is a sound that appeals to a large audience there will be a HUGE amount of new fans that buy the album.
This is not bad at all. Maybe they'll find the previous albums exciting too. (and, a couple of years later, we'll see the new wave of fans yelling 'BRING THE OLD LP BACK' and by the 'OLD LP' they'll consider 'One More Light')
Linkin Park attracts new fans with every album that they make. It's not necessarily a new thing, though.
Justin Bieber plays a lot of his own instruments and writes many of his songs. He was discovered on YouTube when he was 13 and was signed because of this. People just think because he was marketed as some teeny-bop pop artist when he was younger that he's cookie cutter and not talented, but that's not the case. He's a very good artist, even if his douchey public persona has kind of been his undoing over the last few years. I'm sorry, I get what you're saying but you're also kind of generalizing here. THP was supposed to be the album that brought back the harder sound, which should've meant that combined with the core LP fans that have followed the band with every album, the 'bring back nu metal!' fans who were waiting for a harder sound, it should've resonated with a lot of 'lost fans' and sold better. But it really didn't. It was one of the most under-performing LP records in a long time. It was critically praised, but sold the least. LIVING THINGS was very accessible, and a bit more pop in spots compared to ATS and it outsold both ATS and THP. Poppy Linkin Park records can sell well with the fanbase and the general public.
on the other hand, Living Thing was worse than ATS in a creative way. And it was not praised by critics, If I'm not wrong ofc. Two sides of the same coin - general public or musical creativity.
One reviewer said many years ago, that HT was a successful balancing act between art and "commerce" (or Mainstream). I think that is one reason why HT sold so many times. It pleased many nu-metal fans and non-nu-metal fans at the same time, on the one hand because of the music-style (rapping, screaming, powercords) and on the other hand because of it's catchy- and poppiness. To keep it very simple: HT was just a well-made, good record. Additionally, i wouldn't say that all people, who bought HT, became automatically a fan of them. For example, i bought Green Day's "American Idiot", because i liked it at that time, but i never consider myself as a fan. In fact, i couldn't care less of the other releases their made. I believe, i only know "Basket Case" and "21 Guns" besides of American Idiot. Like HT, it was a record which appeals many different people with various tasts. We have no idea, how many HT and M fans are still with them and buy their records. Maybe they are only the minority or even still the majority. The record sales don't really show us how it is divided. So it's pretty useless to speculate what kind of a fanbase LP has. What we know is, that the fanbase is very heterogeneous, with different background, ages, tasts etc. I think that this is a huge reason why the band is so proud of and thankful.
It's a good question. A lot of time and money has been put into this album, so if it flops at the very least I can't see them doing anything like it again. I don't know where they would go from here if it doesn't catch on with fans or casual listeners. I don't think that's going to happen, I feel like the lead up to this album has already been more discussed than the lead up to THP. Though that discussion has largely been back and forth arguing. Being "polarizing" is their thing, but I've never seen it quite like this. They obviously knew the song would be controversial among fans but are likely banking on reaching a new audience to make up for it. Still, "Heavy" has majority likes and did reach #52 on the Hot 100 (nothing on THP did), which I think is a positive sign. I still expect this to perform better than THP just on the basis of it being more accessible to a wider audience.
After a few views, I really like the video. It's not their best video, but it's solid in terms of cinematography and story. I liked how they conveyed the message well and the tag-team between Chester and Kiiara. Also I wasn't surprised the Mercedes showed up ever since they designed a Mercedes AMG racecar for the racetrack back in August. https://www.mercedes-benz.com/en/mercedes-benz/sports/linkin-park-and-mercedes-amg-rock-the-track/
I really hope OML debuts at #1 on Billboard 200, Because I was disappointed when THP Opened at #3 with 110,000 first sale week (because the album was pretty good), Almost half of LT (Which is their worst album)
Is "Heavy" a successful single so far? I don't think it's really resonating with the general public. What makes you people think the album will fare so well?
The problem is general public don't care about linkin park in general and the single isn't well received by fanbase in general so all things considered yes the single is doing pretty well by staying in the charts and it's a miracle that It's still in top 100 on US itunes..
One of the main reasons would be that it has LP's name and brand on it, even though it's not really a good reason for people buying it. Personally, I feel the single's reception has been mixed. I have found equal amount of lovers as well as haters, both offline and online. And some of the haters are those who have never been LP's fans, consider it to 'a bad pop song'. But it's still a bit too early to judge how well the single and album will fare as of now. And even if it flops, I doubt the band, esp Mike, will regret or stress over too much about it.
Spot on analysis! I know a few relatives who have HT and Meteora, but don't consider themselves fans of LP. And even I have Green Day's 'American Idiot', but I don't follow the band closely( but still have utmost respect for them) like some of my friends who are even bigger fans. I would think that the uniqueness of LP's fanbase is one of the main reasons why the band is still generally famous and successful til now.
"Heavy' CD back cover -Chester's vocals recorded in London, UK. -Mike's vocals recorded in Vancouver, Canada. -Serban Ghenea mixed Heavy. that means he mixed the whole album too.