Linkin Park
One More Light

Release Date: 2017 | Tracklist

Many bands pretty much stick with the same style of music throughout their discography, but Linkin Park is absolutely not that sort of band. They are always trying out different things with their music. Hybrid Theory and Meteora were pretty similar stylistically, and then Minutes to Midnight strayed somewhat from their original sound. A Thousand Suns and Living Things were an almost completely different style of music, and while The Hunting Party was more like their first two albums it still has a very different feel to it than Hybrid Theory or Meteora. Besides all that, there’s all of the remixes and collaborations that Linkin Park have done, which add an even greater variety to the music that they have made. It’s also worth mentioning Mike Shinoda’s separate work, Fort Minor, which is a very impressive hip hop project. Considering how much variety Linkin Park has had in their music, I really don’t find it surprising that they decided to put out a pop album this time around.

The first single that Linkin Park released was “Heavy (feat. Kiiara),” and it’s a pretty well crafted song. The lyrics are pretty relatable, the beat is catchy, and I think that Chester and Kiiara sound great together as a duet. Yes, the beat is simple, but it works well for the song and doesn't detract from the good tune and lyrics. Another track that stands out is “Sorry for Now.” Mike Shinoda sings the verses and choruses, then Chester comes in with a lively bridge, and both Chester and Mike sing back and forth for the final chorus. It's pretty cool because Chester raps the bridge and Mike does the singing, which is a fun switch up from their usual formula. Mike has a great voice in general, and it's cool when he takes a break from rapping to do some singing. The song is about being sorry that you can’t spend more time with the one’s that you love, and promising that the time will be made up for in the future. “Invisible” is a really sweet song (which also has Mike singing instead of rapping) about a parent who said things in front of their child that they regret, and realized that they had acted as if their child was invisible. The parent acknowledges the mistake to the child, and promises to try not to make their kid feel that way anymore. The lyrics show real maturity, and it’s cool to hear Linkin Park do a song about something that a lot of their long fans who are parents now must be dealing with as well. Also, there is some repetition of the word “invisible,” but it’s well done, and fits well with the song.

To be sure, One More Light does have its issues. For example, the title track “One More Light” contains somewhat awkward repetition in the chorus. The message of the song about dealing with the loss of a loved one is very heartfelt, but it just seems like it reach exceeds its grasp. “Good Goodbye” has some well done guest appearances, and is overall catchy, but the way that Chester sings the lyrics “good goodbye” seems childish to me. It's also pretty much the only song on the album with rapping, and that aspect of the song is pretty well executed. “Sharp Edges” is a pretty good song, and the guitar is more prevalent in it than any of the other songs on the album. However, it suffers a bit from having part of the pre-chorus tune sound a lot like part of the tune of “Little Lion Man” by Mumford and Sons. At first that kind of hurt the song for me, as I've listened to it more the song continues to grow on me. But despite having some flaws, none of them are altogether terrible songs.

“Battle Symphony,” “Nobody Can Save Me,” "Halfway Right," and “Talking to Myself” are pretty good songs that I enjoy listening to, and are at the very least decent enough background music. "Nobody Can Save Me" contains some pretty well done instrumental parts, and is pretty thought provoking as far as the lyrics go; discussing the idea that people can't expect to save other people because that is ultimately something that everyone has to do for themselves. "Halfway Right" describes someone realising that they had misconstrued someone's constructive criticism (or advice) as being a put down. And now the person is wishing that he had not reacted as strongly as he did at the time because it destroyed the relationship that they had. Chester sings; "Here I am, standing all alone because I took it too far." "Halfway Right" also has probably the most catchy and addicting chorus on the album. Pretty much all of the songs in the album are about a life lesson that has been learned, or something personal that they are going through. Another example of this would be how "Sharp Edges" discusses learning from your mistakes and hopefully being able to learn from other people's mistakes as well. Generally, the lyrics are pretty positive and aren't coming from the discouraged or hopeless perspective that some LP songs like "Given Up" have in the past.

All of the songs on One More Light are pretty catchy, there are some really good ones, and none of them are completely awful. The music is all pretty simple, but it always works well with the singing and is pretty well put together. There's some drums and guitar parts, but for the most part it's all electronically done. The songs are pretty much all mellow or mid-tempo, and certainly none of them are anything like heavy songs they've done such as "Given Up," "Papercut," or Guilty All the Same." "Talking to Myself" has more punch to it than most of the songs, but this is definately the most mellow album that Linkin Park has made. For those who's main attraction to Linkin Park was their generally heavy style of music, this could sour them to One More Light pretty easily. For them, it might be better to just choose some songs that they like the most from this album and add it to their own best of Linkin Park playlist or something like that.

Because One More Light is a pop album, I think it makes sense to partly judge it in contrast to other pop music. And compared to what’s on mainstream radio nowadays, I think that this album does pretty well. The songs on One More Light are pretty similar in style to songs like “Ride” by Twenty One Pilots, “Chained to the Rhythm” by Katy Perry, “Play That Song” by Train, or “7 years” by Lukas Graham. This is not to say that they ripped off those songs. They are simply songs that are stylistically similar to the music on this album. Compared to those (and other) modern pop songs I would argue that most of the music on One More Light is just as enjoyable to listen to, if not more so. This is a plus for most people who like that style of music, but definately a negative for those who don't care for that sort of music.

Now one might argue that pop music in general is terrible, and thus this is also an awful album because it sounds too much like other mainstream pop. I respectfully disagree, but even when compared to Linkin Park’s other albums, I don’t see how One More Light is all that inferior. Yes, it's mellow compared to their other music, but much of the album is pretty similar to softer Linkin Park songs such as "Permanent December," "Leave Out All the Rest," "Castle of Glass," and "Shadow of the Day." I definitely like Minutes to Midnight and Fort Minor’s album “The Rising Tied” more than One More Light, but I think that it does pretty well when compared to a lot of Linkin Park’s past material. Long story short, Linkin Park tried something that they hadn’t done before with One More Light, and I would argue that they did a pretty good job. I give it a 3 out of 5 because the instrumentals and a minority of the lyrics are too generic for me to give it a higher rating, but most of the lyrics and the well constructed tunes are good enough that I don't think it deserves a lower rating. Thus, it lands just a bit above average for me. If you haven't listened to One More Light yet, I recommend giving it a listen because you might find that you’ll enjoy some of what’s there.

Recommended Tracks:
Sorry For Now
Invisible
Heavy (feat. Kiiara)
Halfway Right
Nobody Can Save Me

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