TextWork: Mimosa Echard by Quinn Latimer and Brice Dellsperger by Evan Moffitt
The Fondation Pernod Ricard published two new essay commissions on its editorial platform.
TextWork #36: News from Home (Some Epistolary Exposures and Passages of Ambient Paranoia for Mimosa) Mimosa Echard according to Quinn Latimer
“We look at her recent paintings and photographs and I clock the colors: pink, purple, green, brown, silver, bronze. Colors synthetic, feminine, and advertorial, or of mineral and metal. Hues of resources, natural and not. But what is nature? It’s a question that Echard’s work seems to ask again and again, positing a world ecology as synthetic as it is biological, the transformative processes mimicking each other, as synthetic hormones often do.”
Read more on TextWork.
TextWork #37: Double Trouble Brice Dellsperger according to Evan Moffitt
“As soon as Dellsperger’s vast archive of “Body Doubles” starts to cohere into a vision of the world, the reel sputters. Gender glitches. Identity malfunctions, its image repeated until rendered almost meaningless. We watch in bemused horror as the semiotics of cinema self-implode. Dellsperger reperforms scenes until they start to fall apart. Endless copies only prove that their sources are simulacra.”
Read more on TextWork.
Upcoming TextWork publications
Anne Le Troter according to Sofia Lemos Thu-Van Tran according to Michelle Antoinette
TextWork fosters and supports the work of artists active in the French art scene through the publication of long-form critical essays produced by international writers. With this program, the Pernod Ricard Foundation reinforces its commitment of over 25 years to supporting and disseminating this art scene. TextWork is conceived with the support of the French Ministry of Culture.
For more information: textwork@fondation-pernod-ricard.com.
The Chinese Canadian Museum is thrilled to welcome Olivia Chow as Director of Curatorial Programs, beginning July 2, 2025.
Born in Canada but based in Hong Kong for more than a decade, Chow brings a bold curatorial voice shaped by international experience and a deep commitment to Asian diasporic histories, transnational exchange, and artist-led collaboration.
She joins us at a pivotal moment in the museum’s journey, as the Chinese Canadian Museum marks its second anniversary and continues to grow its impact across communities. In this new role, Chow will lead the museum’s curatorial vision, shape exhibitions and public programs, and cultivate meaningful dialogue with Chinese Canadian and broader diasporic communities both locally and globally. Her leadership will help tell the layered, intergenerational stories that define Chinese Canadian life, past and present.
“Olivia brings a global perspective and a deeply thoughtful curatorial approach to our team,” said Dr. Melissa Karmen Lee, CEO of the Chinese Canadian Museum. “Her commitment to artistic dialogue and community engagement will be essential as we continue to shape a new platform for Chinese Canadian voices.”
Most recently, Chow curated Trevor Yeung: Courtyard of Attachments, Hong Kong in Venice, Hong Kong’s Collateral Event at the 60th Venice Biennale, as well as its return presentation Trevor Yeung: Courtyard of Detachments at M+. During her time as Assistant Curator at M+ (2018–2025), she played a key role in major solo exhibitions, including Nalini Malani: Vision in Motion and Shirley Tse: Stakeholders, Hong Kong in Venice, Hong Kong’s presentation at the 58th Venice Biennale.
At M+, Chow was also part of the museum’s visual art team, where she supported international acquisitions and contributed to the formation of the inaugural M+ International Council for Visual Art.
Prior to M+, Chow held curatorial roles at Para Site (2015–2017) in Hong Kong and The Works Art and Design Festival (2010–2014) in Edmonton, reflecting a longstanding commitment to both local and international art communities.
“It is an honoured to return to Canada for this role,” said Chow. “Vancouver has long been a place of arrival, passage, and connection for transnational Chinese diasporic families. The museum is uniquely positioned to help recognize overlooked histories and to tell stories that are both rooted and far-reaching. I look forward to collaborating with artists, communities, and colleagues to expand how these narratives are shared, remembered, and reimagined.”
With Chow’s appointment, the museum reinforces its mission to explore the diverse histories and contemporary realities of Chinese Canadian communities through dynamic, artist-led programming.
For more information about the Chinese Canadian Museum and its current exhibitions, please visit www.ChineseCanadianMuseum.ca.
About the Chinese Canadian Museum The Chinese Canadian Museum is the first museum of its kind in Canada, dedicated to preserving and sharing Chinese Canadian history, contributions, and living heritage. Located in the historic Wing Sang Building in Vancouver’s Chinatown, the museum opened to the public in 2023. That same year, it was awarded the Governor General’s History Award for Excellence in Museums.
The museum presents transformative exhibitions and programs across Canada that engage with the diverse experiences of Chinese Canadians. Its 2023 feature exhibition, The Paper Trail, explored the legacies of exclusion, migration, and resilience.
Current exhibitions include Dream Factory: Cantopop, Mandopop 1980s–2000 featuring artists Ming Wong, Ho Tam, Bagua Artist Association, as well as other ongoing exhibitions that highlight Chinese diasporic voices across generations.
TOKYO, Japan ― Renesas Electronics Corporation (“Renesas”, TSE:6723), a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, today announced that Renesas filed the Shelf Registration Statement for the issuance of new shares or the disposal of treasury shares in connection with the restricted stock units (“RSUs”) to be granted on August 1, 2025 under the stock compensation plan (the “Plan”).
(1) Purpose of Shelf Registration
To grant the RSUs to the employees of Renesas and its subsidiary based on the Plan
(2) Class of Securities to be Offered
Shares of common stock of Renesas
(3) Scheduled Issue Period
For the period from the scheduled effective date of the Shelf Registration to the date that is two years after such scheduled effective date (From July 26, 2025 to July 25, 2027)
(4) Scheduled Issue Amount
Up to 300 million yen
(5) Use of Proceeds
Shares of common stock of Renesas will be allotted to the relevant employees in exchange for the contribution of the monetary compensation receivables provided to each relevant employee, and no proceeds will be gained by Renesas
(Details of the Plan)
(1) Eligible Grantees
Directors, executive officers, executive corporate officers and employees of Renesas and its subsidiaries.
(2) Overview of RSU
The RSUs granted under the Plan are stock compensation in which Renesas grants the number of units predetermined by Renesas to the Eligible Grantees in advance, and then delivers shares of its common stock to the Eligible Grantees in accordance with the number of units that vest based on the service continuation period. In principle, in the case of Eligible Grantees other than outside directors, one-third of the number of units granted (corresponding to three years) will be vested for every one year has passed, and, in the case of outside directors, the total number of units granted (corresponding to one year) will be vested for one year has passed.
With respect to the RSUs that may be granted in connection with any special situation, such as when RSUs are granted to executives and employees of an acquired company where stock compensation granted by the acquired company are extinguished, or when RSUs are granted in connection with a reduction in the basic salary, Renesas may vest the units in a period different from above.
(3) Method and Timing of Delivery of Shares of Renesas
On each vesting date, Renesas, pursuant to determination of the Representative Executive Officer, will allot to the Eligible Grantees the shares of Renesas’ common stock corresponding to the number of vested units (one share per unit) in exchange for the contribution in kind by such Eligible Grantees of all of the monetary compensation receivables provided to such Eligible Grantees, by way of issuance of new shares of Renesas’ common stock or transfer of existing shares.
The payment amount per share delivered under RSUs under the Plan is the closing price of the shares of Renesas’ common stock on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on the business day immediately prior to the date of the resolution of the determination of the Representative Executive Officer for the delivery of Renesas’ common stock (or, if no transaction is effected on the same day, the closing price on the most recent trading day prior thereto).
(4) Handling at the time of retirement
The vesting of the units shall be made, in principle, subject to the condition that the Eligible Grantees are directors, executive officers, executive corporate officers, or employees, etc., of Renesas or its subsidiaries at the time of the vesting. However, even if the Eligible Grantees lose their position prior to the vesting of the units, in the event of losses of positions due to causes for the employment contract, etc. or other special circumstances, the number of the shares of Renesas’ common stock to be delivered and the timing of the delivery may be adjusted by the method provided by Renesas.
About Renesas Electronics Corporation
Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE:6723) empowers a safer, smarter and more sustainable future where technology helps make our lives easier. A leading global provider of microcontrollers, Renesas combines our expertise in embedded processing, analog, power and connectivity to deliver complete semiconductor solutions. These Winning Combinations accelerate time to market for automotive, industrial, infrastructure and IoT applications, enabling billions of connected, intelligent devices that enhance the way people work and live. Learn more at renesas.com. Follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.
(FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS)
The statements in this press release with respect to the plans, strategies and financial outlook of Renesas and its consolidated subsidiaries (collectively “we”) are forward-looking statements involving risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements do not represent any guarantee by management of future performance. In many cases, but not all, we use such words as “aim,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “endeavor,” “estimate,” “expect,” “initiative,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “probability,” “project,” “risk,” “seek,” “should,” “strive,” “target,” “will” and similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements. You can also identify forward-looking statements by discussions of strategy, plans or intentions. These statements discuss future expectations, identify strategies, contain projections of our results of operations or financial condition, or state other forward-looking information based on our current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections about our business and industry, our future business strategies and the environment in which we will operate in the future. Known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those contained or implied in any forward-looking statement, including, but not limited to, general economic conditions in our markets, which are primarily Japan, North America, Asia, and Europe; demand for, and competitive pricing pressure on, products and services in the marketplace; ability to continue to win acceptance of products and services in these highly competitive markets; and fluctuations in currency exchange rates, particularly between the yen and the U.S. dollar. Among other factors, downturn of the world economy; deteriorating financial conditions in world markets, or deterioration in domestic and overseas stock markets, may cause actual results to differ from the projected results forecast.
This press release is based on the economic, regulatory, market and other conditions as in effect on the date hereof. It should be understood that subsequent developments may affect the information contained in this presentation, which neither we nor our advisors or representatives are under an obligation to update, revise or affirm.
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The Chef is cooking again. Raekwon is back with his first solo album since 2017’s The Wild as the Wu-Tang Clan spitter served up his The Emperor’s New Clothes LP on Friday (July 18).
The 55-year-old recruited a savvy group of talented MCs to join him on the project, with hard-hitting verses coming from fellow Wu members Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck and Method Man as well as Nas, Westside Gunn, Conway the Machine and Benny the Butcher.
On the production side, Rae made sure to assemble the right crew to supply heat behind the boards with beats from Swizz Beatz, J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League and Nottz throughout the 17-track album.
It’s a busy and emotional week for Raekwon with the Wu-Tang Clan wrapping up their final tour collectively on Friday (July 18) in Philly. Rae and the Staten Island legends said goodbye to NYC on Wednesday night (July 16), which saw the iconic crew rock Madison Square Garden in front of a sold-out crowd.
The Wu treated the hometown show to plenty of special guests, as Redman, Lil Kim, Big Daddy Kane, Slick Rick, The LOX, SWV and Havoc touched the stage.
While this is the Wu-Tang Clan’s last tour, Raekwon isn’t ruling out another Wu album down the line.
“I mean, we tryna get it together, you know? Everybody’s spread out. Everybody’s doing something great in their life, so when it’s time for everybody to get in the room, it just seems like it’s the hardest s—t in the world,” Rae said in a video. “But it ain’t like we don’t want to.”
He continued: “And then you got so many minds. You throw a beat out and a n—a be like, ‘I like that, I don’t like that.’ It’s hard. It’s real hard, but don’t count us out. Don’t never count us out.”
Alex Warren has had quite the year thanks to the success of breakthrough single “Ordinary.” And now, the track has found a new home on the TikToker’s debut album You’ll Be Alright, Kid, which finally dropped in full on Friday (July 18).
Featuring all of the tracks on Warren’s 2024 extended play, You’ll Be Alright, Kid (Chapter 1) — including “Ordinary” — the now-complete collection includes a batch of brand new songs. Among them are previously released singles “Bloodline” featuring Jelly Roll and “On My Mind” with ROSÉ of BLACKPINK, as well as the titles “Eternity,” “The Outside,” “First Time on Earth,” “Never Be Far,” “Everything,” “Getaway Car,” “Who I Am” and “You Can’t Stop This.”
The project arrives as Warren is spending his sixth week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Ordinary,” which this past week blocked Drake’s “What Did I Miss?” from reaching the top spot. Drizzy made headlines with his reaction to the placement, writing: “Suppressor on the 1 spot. I’m taking that soon don’t worry one song or another.”
In response, Warren hilariously posted a video of himself dancing to Drake’s “Nokia” with no caption, simply tagging the Toronto native.
The Hot 100 isn’t the only chart the social media star has been dominating, though. “Ordinary” has also racked up a total of 10 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200, though “Golden” from the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack recently dethroned it from the summit.
You’ll Be Alright, Kid comes about four years after Warren dropped his debut single, “One Last I Love You.” The California native first rose to fame as a TikTok influencer, co-founding the platform’s Hype House.
Check out Warren’s debut album You’ll Be Alright, Kid below.
In India’s Sigur region, study coauthors Priya Davidar and Jean-Philippe Puyravaud of the Sigur Nature Trust observed feeding interactions with 11 male Asian elephants, four of which died from suspected human causes. One elephant was successfully rehabilitated and returned to natural foraging behavior.
“Many people, especially foreign tourists, think Asian elephants are tame and docile, like domestic pets,” said de Silva, a faculty member in the Department of Ecology, Behavior and Evolution and founder of the non-profit conservation organization Trunks & Leaves. “They don’t realize these are formidable wild animals and try to get too close in order to take photographs or selfies, which can end badly for both parties.”
Of the 800 to 1,200 elephants estimated living in Udawalawe National Park, the study found that 66 male elephants, or nine to 15% of the local male population of Asian elephants, were observed begging for food. Some elephants, including a popular male named Rambo, became local celebrities as they solicited food from tourists over several years.
“Food-conditioned animals can become dangerous, resulting in the injury and death of wildlife, people or both,” the researchers note in their paper. “These negative impacts counteract potential benefits.”
BTS may not be scheduled to reunite until 2026, but the band did just give ARMY a pretty big treat to tie fans over until then: Permission to Dance On Stage, aka the group’s first-ever live album.
Arriving Friday (July 18) with 22 tracks, the album compiles recordings of the BTS members’ performances on their 2021-2022 Permission to Dance On Stage tour. Included on the tracklist are live versions of Billboard Hot 100-toppers “Dynamite,” “Butter” and “Life Goes On.”
Along with the LP, BTS also shared a digital package titled Permission to Dance On Stage – Seoul, featuring footage of RM, Jin, SUGA, j-hope, Jimin, V and Jung Kook performing at Olympic Stadium in Seoul on March 13, 2022. The package includes a 92-page interview photobook with behind-the-scenes snapshots from the show.
Permission to Dance On Stage arrives shortly after the members of BTS reunited on camera for the first time in years, as all seven Bangtan Boys had previously been unable to maintain full-band activities while they completed their mandatory service to the South Korean military. Squeezing in next to each other on a couch, the septet announced on a July 1 Weverse livestream that they had big plans for next year.
“Starting in July, all seven of us will begin working closely together on new music,” they said in a band statement at the time. “Since it will be a group album, it will reflect each member’s thoughts and ideas. We’re approaching the album with the same mindset we had when we first started.”
“We’re also planning a world tour alongside the new album,” they added. “We’ll be visiting fans all around the world, so we hope you’re as excited as we are.”
Why have only one when you can get “Boffum?” Saweetie returned on Friday (July 18) to heat up the summer with her bouncy single “Boffum.”
The Bay Area native wants to have the block parties turned up and night club dance floors filled with the slinky J. White Did It-produced banger. She implores her Icy Girls to know their worth and how they should never settle for less in life.
“Rapper, athlete I need ‘boffum’/ Don’t you ask me just get ‘boffum’/ How many on me? Like four of ’em/ I keep a secret no tea I don’t know nothing/ Take a shot, peel off in a four-runner/ All my haters f—ked up, need a Gofundme,” she confidently raps.
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Saweetie has laid relatively low on the music front in 2025, as “Boffum” serves as her first solo release of the year.
However, things are about to change for Diamonté. While her much-delayed Pretty Bitch Music debut album remains elusive, Saweetie announced plans for her HELLA PRESSURE EP, which is slated to arrive on Aug. 1 via Warner Records and comes in the midst of her upcoming four-date Australia tour run.
“I feel like it will really encompass who I’ve grown into over these past couple of years. Lots of stories to tell,” she told Billboard in February about her upcoming music.
Outside of her own music, Saweetie became a brand ambassador for Paris Hilton’s NYX Professional Makeup line. The 32-year-old was also part of the NBA All-Star Game Halftime Show in February, which saw her perform alongside E-40, Too Short and En Vogue for DJ Cassidy’s Pass the Mic Live Bay Area celebration.
It’s been almost 25 years since Linkin Park released their debut album, Hybrid Theory. An irresistible fusion of metal, hip-hop, electronica, industrial rock and infectious pop melody, it established the Californian sextet as instant nu-metal icons and laid the groundwork for the group to become, by many metrics, the biggest US rock band of this millennium: Hybrid Theory ended up the bestselling album of 2001; its follow-up, Meteora, would also go on to rank as one of the bestselling albums of the 21st century.
It’s been just 36 hours, however, since the band played their biggest headline gig to date, at a steamy and rapturous Wembley stadium. Outside, it’s still scorching, but in an icily air-conditioned hotel overlooking the Thames, Linkin Park’s co-founder, co-vocalist and chief songwriter, Mike Shinoda, is reflecting on the show. “For any band that’s been around a long time, it’s really easy to start heading into heritage territory,” says the 48-year-old. “You’re just playing that old stuff.”
Linkin Park did of course play the old stuff, crescendoing with a stone-cold triad of belt-along hits – Numb, In the End and Faint – that have 6bn Spotify streams between them. But this was no greatest hits showcase. The band’s eighth album, From Zero – which reached No 1 in 13 countries (including the UK) last November – also received an ecstatic response, and its lead single was one of the very rare hard rock songs to reach the UK Top 5. “This tour and this album are one of our most successful of all time. That, for me, is insane,” marvels Shinoda. “That is way beyond my hopes and dreams for what this whole thing could be.”
This triumphant second act is all the more miraculous considering Linkin Park are not the band they used to be. In 2017, the group’s lead vocalist, Chester Bennington, took his own life, having struggled with depression and addiction for decades. Sitting next to Shinoda today is 39-year-old Emily Armstrong, who now fronts Linkin Park alongside him (she sings, Shinoda raps).
Bleach-blond hair, dark shades, an acid yellow oversized jersey and a voice that travels from pop croon to gruff, guttural scream: on stage, Armstrong appeared every inch the nu-metal maven. Yet while performing to 75,000 adoring fans would be the ego trip of a lifetime for most rock stars, as Bennington’s replacement, it’s not quite the same. On songs such as the Grammy-winning Crawling, Armstrong’s role was more singalong facilitator than central attraction. “There’s so many fans that have been wanting to see Linkin Park for so long, you know?” she says, brandishing an enormous bottle of electrolyte-orange water. “So I look at it as: this is your moment to sing. And you sing it better than I do at this point!”
‘Introspective’ … Linkin Park in 2017. Photograph: Everett Collection Inc/Alamy
After Bennington’s death, Shinoda paused Linkin Park and found refuge in Post Traumatic, a raw and emotional solo album that detailed his struggle to process his grief. Bennington died two months after the release of the band’s seventh album, One More Light, which they were about to take on tour. Shinoda partly “wanted to make Post Traumatic as a diary of how I felt for myself”, but also had the urge to play live “to provide an area for fans to commune and go: ‘Oh, Mike is still here. We didn’t lose everybody.’”
The Post Traumatic tour was cathartic “in the beginning”, he says. “And then towards the end it was exhausting. I had started to … I don’t want to say move on. ‘Move on’ to some people means not looking back and forgetting – that’s completely not how I felt. I felt like I was coping well and I was able to get up in the morning and not think about it, and I was evolving from the terrible stuff that had happened. Then I would go to the show and spend 90 minutes with half the crowd crying. And I’m like, this is fucking exhausting. You know how therapists see patients all day and help them, but then they need therapy themselves? That’s how I felt.”
Shinoda founded Linkin Park at 19, alongside his schoolmates Rob Bourdon (drums) and Brad Delson (guitar). His college friends Dave “Phoenix” Farrell (bass) and the turntablist Joe Hahn joined soon after; Bennington was a later addition after a record label executive insisted they recruit a new vocalist. After Post Traumatic, Shinoda spent the next half-decade figuring out how to bring back the band that had defined his entire adult life. “I sort through information very logically,” he says. He approached the group’s future “from a puzzle-cracking point of view”, he explains, entertaining options like hiring a mini choir for live shows or relying on a rotating cast of famous vocalists.
To begin with, Shinoda invited a few musicians – including some big names, such as the viral soul singer Teddy Swims – down to the studio to write material. He didn’t tell them this was part of a potential Linkin Park comeback, and things could get awkwardly vague. “Two hours into the session, they’d be like: ‘Hey, can I ask you a question? What’s going on here? Who are we writing for?’ And we’d be like: ‘Yeah, we don’t know.’” Sometimes it felt like these collaborators were “angling” to be Linkin Park’s new vocalist. “Like, ‘look how good I can sing!’ It was such a turn-off.”
Armstrong was the tunefully raspy frontwoman of Dead Sara, a bluesy LA punk outfit who were initially hyped (in 2013, Dave Grohl insisted they “should be the next biggest rock band in the world”) but never really made it. She got an invite too. Those sessions never felt like a “Linkin Park tryout”, she says; she was simply “excited to write with Mike Shinoda”.
He laughs: “I love when you use my full name.” The first time she met the band was in 2019, but it wasn’t until she returned to the studio in 2023 that something clicked. Performance and personality-wise, Armstrong – who has sassy little sister energy around Shinoda – seemed like a natural fit.
Shinoda also felt reassured that Armstrong and the drummer Colin Brittain – who replaced Bourdon around the same time – weren’t just using Linkin Park to grow their profiles. “There’s a lot of people for who it’s all about follower count. It’s a very greedy way to live. And these guys aren’t that way.” He appreciates that the pair never took any “sneaky pictures” of Shinoda’s home studio for clout.
A new legacy … Linkin Park today. Photograph: Warner Records
“We had a high level of respect,” nods Armstrong, before stifling a smile. “We did have a high level of respect.”
Shinoda looks mock-wistful. “Ah, to go back to those days.”
Armstrong was never going to turn down the opportunity to front Linkin Park. “I’ve been in a band for 20 years and I could only dream of this kind of success,” she says, then makes a face. “That sounded lame.” But she was scared at the prospect of stepping into such big shoes. “Why do I think I can do this?” she wondered, telling Shinoda that she didn’t want to “ruin” Linkin Park. “I’m like, you guys are a legacy band – you guys are so important.”
Shinoda drolly encourages the ego massage: “Oh, go on – tell me more!”
Once the new lineup was complete and From Zero finished (much of it was already written when Armstrong joined the band), it was time to tell the world. The response wasn’t entirely positive. Bennington’s mother said she felt “betrayed” by Shinoda’s decision to reform the band without consulting her, while Bennington’s son expressed dismay at Armstrong’s links to Scientology and her attendance at a hearing in support of Danny Masterson, an actor and Scientologist who was eventually convicted of rape – something that was also widely reported in the press and discussed by fans. I have been told that Armstrong will not discuss Scientology today. She did, however, release a statement at the time, explaining that she had severed all ties with Masterson and condemned his crimes.
Chester Bennington in 2008. Photograph: Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Was Armstrong braced for that kind of reaction? “Not this. No, not this,” she says quietly. “I was a little bit naive about it, to be honest.” Even pre-Linkin Park, she tended to avoid social media “for mental-health purposes”, and coped with the clamour by getting offline. “If there was something really, really pressing, I think our PR would talk to us about it. But I’m old enough to know the difference between real life and the internet.”
Shinoda takes a different tack to public criticism, but ends up in the same place. After the Wembley show, he posted a picture of himself in a T-shirt emblazoned with the opening lines of a snide news story about the band’s decision to downsize the venue of their LA show. “There are times when I’m not above being a little petty,” he grins. The T-shirt was “not meant to be mean at all”, he clarifies, and the music outlet in question “are not the only ones who’ve said it. Lots of people have said this band is fumbling: ‘Look how stupid they are, look how bad they’re doing.’ Well, according to the data, we’re not, but you can believe whatever you want to believe.”
When it came to Armstrong, Shinoda felt people’s complaints were also disingenuous. “There were people who lashed out at Emily and it was really because she wasn’t a guy.” Fans, he thinks, were “used to Linkin Park being six guys and the voice of a guy leading this song. They were just so uncomfortable with what it was that they chose a ton of things to complain about. They’re pointing in 10 different directions saying: ‘This is why I’m mad, this is why the band sucks.’”
In the months since Linkin Park 2.0 launched, the reaction from fans has softened and Armstrong has been widely embraced. But devotees are still clearly looking for traces of Bennington in the band’s work. Many interpreted Let You Fade, a bonus track on From Zero’s deluxe edition, as a tribute to the singer, but “it wasn’t written that way,” says Shinoda. “People even pulled out the fact that there’s numbers in the song [that align with] Chester’s birthday. I was like: whoops. That’s not intentional.”
At any rate, From Zero does hark back to the band’s original sound: rock-rap fusion vocals, hip-hop record-scratching, highly accessible melodies and enough gristle (grinding guitar and screaming; anxious and indignant lyrics) to both intensify and offset them. Serendipitously, nu-metal is back in a big way, “thanks to TikTok, the Y2K revival and, of course, enduring teenage angst”, as per the New York Times, with bands such as Deftones enjoying a massive resurgence and acts including Fontaines DC, 100 gecs and Rina Sawayama incorporating the genre into their work.
‘We did this first!’ … Emily Armstrong performs during the From Zero tour. Photograph: Variety/Getty Images
For millennials such as Armstrong, the sound of nu-metal provides nostalgia-coated comfort. She was a fan in her early teens, and feels “like a child again” when she performs Linkin Park’s old tracks. The era’s garb – voluminous shorts, pulled-up sports socks, chunky jewellery, wraparound sunglasses – is also back in style, which reminds Armstrong of her teen self’s beloved Adidas T-shirt and camouflage combats combo. “We did this first!” she laughs. “I’m old as shit!”
But Shinoda doesn’t look back with rose-tinted spectacles. In the early 2000s, Linkin Park did “a bunch of metal tours and played with Metallica – the energy there was very masculine, bro energy. We were immersed in a culture where it was like an arms race for who could make the most macho music.”
With peers including Korn, Slipknot and System of a Down, the nu-metal cohort was novel and outrageous enough to precipitate a mild moral panic – yet sexist lyrics in the work of groups like Limp Bizkit really were a problem. Linkin Park always seemed less aggressive and intimidating than their peers, and Shinoda always disliked the macho aspect. “Chester connected with it a little more than the rest of us did, but not by much.” His band, he feels, featured “more lyrics that were introspective. It wasn’t like: ‘Hey, I’m gonna kick your ass.’ It was like: ‘Somebody kicked my ass and I’m so frustrated.’ In high school, I wasn’t kicking anybody’s ass. That was not happening.”
Nowadays, nu-metal’s aesthetic has been freed from its more unsavoury elements by a streaming generation who simply don’t remember it; it’s just another fun retro style to rehabilitate. Even Shinoda is less disgusted. “Genres are so blended and music is so all over the place, I don’t hate nu-metal any more.”
Whether down to this defanged nostalgic comeback, the quality of the band’s back catalogue or the incredibly catchy new material, it’s clear from the Wembley show that Linkin Park have a whole new generation of obsessive young fans. The delight in the crowd was palpable – an energy Shinoda is deliberately cultivating, especially after the mental exhaustion of the Post Traumatic tour. “I think we all wanted our show to be really good vibes,” he says. “I want you walking away feeling like, this was such a wonderful, special, fun night.”
Inevitably, this means certain songs are off the setlist. There are a couple that Shinoda would “feel weird playing”, including One More Light, the title track of the band’s last album with Bennington. It was originally written “for a woman at the label that we worked with who passed away. Then after Chester passed, the world decided that it was about him. And so that’s just too sad to play.”
