Emily Armstrong said nobody “could ever, ever replace Chester.”
The famous American rock band, Linkin Park’s new lead singer, Emily revealed in an interview with People Magazine that stepping into the original lead singer, Chester Bennington’s shoes wasn’t easy for her.
Previously, she has also shared in new documentary Unshatter, about the pressure of performing the band’s most beloved tracks including, “In the End” and “What I’ve Done.”
However, now she told the outlet, “You see it in the documentary where I’m just like, ‘Am I even cut out for this?’ ”
“You’re trying to give yourself every reason to just be like, ‘You’re not good. Everybody knows these songs,’ ” she added.
For those unaware, the hits were originally sung by the band’s late frontman, Chester who died in 2017 at the age of 41.
The singer revealed why bringing her own identity to the performance was important, “That’s the only thing that I could think of,” she continued, “Don’t try to be like anybody. You’re not a replacement. Nobody could ever, ever replace Chester. Do what you do.”
She went on to say, “The only thing that I could possibly try with the old songs is just to have the same emotional impact as much as I possibly can with the songs, because that’s what you’re ultimately going to want at this point.”
“That’s what I would want as a listener, as a Linkin Park fan. I would want that emotional feeling. And I was like, ‘Okay. I think I could do that,’ ” Emily added.
Moreover, the band’s creative director, Joe Hahn shared how Emily’s performance of the song Crawling, made things easier for the band, saying, “I think the first one we addressed was ‘Crawling.’ ”
Noting, “The important thing for us was for her to sing it her way, not to imitate anything. If it’s personal to her, then it’s gonna resonate.”
“We heard that, made a few little modifications and were just like, ‘Okay, this really works,’ ” Joe continued, “It was almost like the icebreaker to make the rest feel very achievable.”
It is pertinent to mention here that after Chester Bennington’s death, Linkin Park stopped working as a band but years later, the group returned in 2024 with Emily Armstrong as new co-vocalist.
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