It is tricky for bands to decide on their future after the loss of a particularly influential member—be it due to their death, or anything else. This becomes murkier when the member is basically the face of the group. You will be put in a spot if asked to name three songs by Queen+Paul Rodgers/Adam Lambert. Only the most devoted Iron Maiden fans would remember that for a few years, Blaze Bayley was the lead singer of the band, before Bruce Dickinson was asked to rejoin. When a group has had incredible success with a line-up for a long time, any change in the team is a major hiccup. It opens the platform for fans to compare one version of the band with the next, which affects future sales and popularity. No one can deny the appeal of a classic line-up, mainly resting on the laurels of the success of their early work, which draws a lot of listeners to their music and shows. 

There are instances where successful bands disbanded after the death of a member. Notably, Led Zeppelin after the death of John Bonham. Or Nirvana, after the death of Kurt Cobain. When Ian Curtis died, the remaining members of Joy Division shelved the moniker and formed New Order. However, band names have commercial value and undeniable appeal. Lynyrd Skynyrd and Sepultura have continued under their monikers even though their later iterations had none of their original members left. Some bands incorporated new members in their early days and became bigger – take Fleetwood Mac with the inclusion of Nicks and Buckingham, or AC/DC with the entry of Brian Johnson. Rarely we do come across bands who have had major changes in their line-up well into their career and come back strong—Van Halen is one, with Sammy Hagar replacing the charismatic David Lee Roth. 

In most cases of new vocalists recruited in the world of popular music that have garnered attention, we have numerous examples of bands falling off the map, being compared unfavorably to their earlier work or being written off right off the bat. Particularly, we have never had a big band attempting to go for a fresh reboot, to the extent of choosing a female lead singer instead of a male. 

When Linkin Park came out of a seven-year hiatus announcing new music and the introduction of Emily Armstrong (from Dead Sara) as their new lead singer, it sent the music ecosystem into a frenzy. The band had guarded any sort of indication about their future since the unfortunate death of their lead singer Chester Bennington in 2017. Most music listeners would be familiar with the undeniable legacy and influence of a singer like Chester on the modern rock music landscape. Over the course of seven successful albums, Linkin Park’s success was a beacon of hope for rock which had notably lost its grasp on the mainstream.

That is not to say that the band stuck to one sound. Linkin Park branched out of their nu-metal, rap-rock sound to a more anthemic stadium rock palette, to incorporating electronic music elements to straight up pop in their later days. Chester could make his voice emote vulnerability and ferociousness like few others could. His loss meant that the band, should they choose to continue to move forward, would be faced with an difficult decision to make: whom do we choose as our new lead singer when we know well that the shoes of Chester would be almost impossible to fill, that any new music under the moniker will be unfavorably compared to the past material and that people would rather hear old classics than be curious for whatever new stuff we dish out—no matter how good it is?

With one fell swoop, Mike Shinoda and the clan have thrown the comparison equation out of the window. While Emily is an acclaimed vocalist in her own right, her inclusion makes two things clear: the band is going on a new musical direction, and the band is not looking to rest on their past laurels. The initial hints have been promising. The single “The Emptiness Machine” has become the band’s first top-10 hit on the Billboard Global charts, and is the highest charting song for the band in the US since 2009. It carries the Linkin Park sonic DNA, while making way for Emily to unleash her vocal prowess. As a long-time fan, I am stoked for the new album and given the band’s penchant to push their envelope and challenge the listeners, I can only expect good things from perhaps the most successful band of the 21st century. It seems to be that this change was the best possible change in direction the band could have taken to rise after tragedy. 

I must mention that this change also mirrors an observable shift in the rock music landscape: women in rock. The success of women in rock in the last decade or so has been wonderful to behold. Paramore, Wet Leg, boygenius, St. Vincent, Spiritbox, HAIM, Halestorm, Big Thief, The Last Dinner Party and Wolf Alice, to name a few, have delivered some of the most forward-thinking rock albums of recent times. One can argue Olivia Rodrigo or Mitski are basically rock. While we have had women fronting bands before, this is a rare occasion where a huge band previously fronted by a man is going to be fronted by a woman. This is a big boost for Emily and for other women who have been historically underrepresented in the landscape of this genre. Perhaps this is what rock music needs right now—a punch in the gut to reshape what it looks (and sounds) like!