"One More Light" is a song by American
rock band
Linkin Park. It is the ninth and title track from their seventh studio album
of the same name, as well as their last major single with longtime lead vocalist
Chester Bennington. The song was co-written with
Eg White and was released to US
contemporary hit radio on October 3, 2017, as the album's third and final single. It is Bennington's second posthumously released single.[3] The song is a
ballad.[4]
The music video for this song was also voted number one in a poll of Fuse Top 40 Videos of 2017 and is also nominated for Best Rock Video at the
2018 MTV Video Music Awards.
Background
In late 2016, Shinoda revealed that he had worked with British songwriter Eg White on a song.[5][6] In an interview leading up to the reveal of the album's lead single, "
Heavy", Shinoda revealed that White had worked with him on the song "One More Light" while Brad Delson attended the funeral of one of the band's friends.[7][8] When asked what he wanted to write about by White, Shinoda said that the only thing he could think about was the friend who had passed. He revealed that, in spite of the horrible inevitability of loss, the song is about letting people know that you care.[9][7]
Later on the band revealed the friend was Amy Zaret,[10] a 25-year veteran of
Warner Bros. Records who died in October 2015 following a cancer diagnosis.[11] Shinoda said,
We had a friend who worked for the record label for a long time and came up with us from years and years ago. She started out in radio promo and was basically driving us to the local radio stations in the U.S. Midwest, eventually getting promoted and promoted. At some point last year, I suddenly heard that she'd got cancer - and then all of a sudden she had died. We knew we absolutely had to write about what happened. It's a sad song, but the pay-off is that when something dramatic and painful like that happens, the most important thing to do is to connect with the people you love and remind them you care about them."[12]
The band surprised some of the people who worked at Warner with the song, and people reacted very emotionally to it, with some weeping, giving hugs, and telling stories.[9] They played the song on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and dedicated it to their late friend
Chris Cornell, who had died a day before.[13]
After lead singer
Chester Bennington's suicide on July 20, 2017, the band selected "One More Light" as their next single. Shinoda wrote "One More Light was written with the intention of sending love to those who lost someone. We now find ourselves on the receiving end. In memorial events, art, videos, and images, fans all over the world have gravitated towards this song as their declaration of love and support for the band and the memory of our dear friend, Chester. We are so very grateful and can't wait to see you again."[14]
On October 25, 2017, American DJ/Producer and Linkin Park collaborator
Steve Aoki released his remix of "One More Light", as his second tribute song to Bennington following his mashup, "Darker Than The Light That Never Bleeds", which was released a month earlier.[15]
Music video
The official video was uploaded to Linkin Park's
YouTube channel on September 18, 2017, and directed by
Joe Hahn and Mark Fiore. It features footage of Chester performing in the middle of fans, footage of him at live shows such as
Live in Texas and
Road to Revolution: Live at Milton Keynes, and past music videos for their past singles "
Burn It Down", "
Waiting for the End" and "
Powerless", as well as the band themselves through the years. On making the music video, Hahn said:
It has been incredibly emotional to work on this, and especially to watch it. I feel that by doing it, we not only faced some of our biggest fears, but it enabled us to use our talents to bring some light to people that need it. As we move forward to the Hollywood Bowl show and beyond, I think about the people that connect with the band, outside and inside our circle. This video is a gesture of good will to the people that want that connection.[14]
Upon its release, the video racked up 3 million views on YouTube in the first 24 hours.
Lyric video
On October 3, 2017, Linkin Park uploaded an official lyric video to YouTube. This video was created by Nicola Drilling and fans of Linkin Park from around the world.
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ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Digital Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Change the chart to CZ – SINGLES DIGITAL – TOP 100 and insert 201730 into search. Retrieved August 1, 2017.
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ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Singles Digital Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Select SINGLES DIGITAL - TOP 100 and insert 201730 into search. Retrieved August 1, 2017.