Linkin Park is back with a new singer and album, and while most of the reception to their return has been positive, Emily Armstrong shared how difficult it has been to replace the late Chester Bennington. Band co-founder Mike Shinoda talked to Armstrong on the band’s official podcast about her struggles in joining the iconic group. He remarked how Armstrong doubted herself initially.
“Absolutely,” Armstrong said. “Because it’s fear, you know? It’s such a big change that there was a moment where I was just like, ‘Oh my God, oh my God.’ It comes with all of the great things. When change happens, it’s not necessarily always…you have to look at every aspect.”
“There was a moment where I was just panicking a little bit, just being like, ‘Oh my God, oh my God. How do people see me?’ You know, not me being who I am. There’s gonna be more eyes on me. And it just kind of happened. It was like a flood of these types of…it goes back to the identity thing, where it’s like, ‘My identity is changing. Are you ready for it, Emily? Are you f*cking up? Do you want to be this person? Are you able to fill these shoes? Are you able to be this person?'”
Armstrong continued: “That’s a time where I feel like, as an artist, people back down, and they go, ‘I don’t want that. I don’t want that, I just want to be this artist. I just want to be this. I want to be that.'”
“That’s the fear base that happens that makes you not…it’s the devil on the shoulder that’s like, ‘Don’t, don’t, don’t. Don’t grow as an artist. Don’t do that.’ And you do the opposite, that’s what I’ve learned – do the opposite of that fear thing, because it’s all good.”
