World's On Fire

"World's On Fire"
Song by Mike Shinoda
from the album Post Traumatic
Recorded:	2017-2018
Released:	June 15, 2018
Length:	3:16
Time signature:	4/4
Tempo:	129
Key:	G Major
Writer:	Mike Shinoda
Producer:	Mike Shinoda
Label:	Warner Bros. Records
Post Traumatic tracklist
Place To Start Over Again Watching As I Fall Nothing Makes Sense Anymore About You (feat. Blackbear) Brooding Promises I Can't Keep Crossing A Line Hold It Together Ghosts Make It Up As I Go (feat. K.Flay) Lift Off (feat. Chino Moreno & Machine Gun Kelly) I.O.U Running From My Shadow (feat. grandson) World's On Fire Can't Hear You Now

"World's On Fire" is the fifteenth track off of Mike Shinoda's debut solo album, Post Traumatic.

Background

"World's On Fire" is a song Mike wrote about his wife Anna and his children, basically saying that when the world is falling apart around him, he feels safe and comfortable with his family.

When talking to iHeartRadio in 2018, Mike said, "World's On Fire", when I wrote that one, the chorus of that is basically "the world's on fire, but all I need is you." It's the first I've really written something that is almost like a love song. I was specifically thinking of my family. That occurred to me because it was one of those days when I was really up to my eyeballs in my social media feed, and it seemed like everything was just a mess. You're reading the political tweets are firing and everybody's freaked out about the state of the country, the state of the world, and then environmental tweets and Net Neutrality tweets and then on top of it there's five wildfires going on in Los Angeles at the same time. So all of this is happening at once, and all of that without the crap that I had been going through in the six months preceding that, would have been enough as it was. But, all put together it's just, "everything is falling apart at the seams, what a mess." And then I can go sit down and play with my kids and it all kind of evaporates."

On the Elvis Duran show in 2018, Mike talked about "World's On Fire" again and how he played it for his children. He said, "There's a song called "World's On Fire" on the record, and it's near the end of the album. Post Traumatic as an album - it's 16 songs, and the single that people are currently playing is "Crossing A Line" that's in the middle of the album, because at the middle point in the album it goes from kind of looking backwards at the dark stuff, to look forwards in the hope and the other things that are out there for me, or for somebody, for anybody. And at one point, I don't usually write these, like... I find it kind of cheesy to write a song about like, "I love my family." Even though I feel that way! And I found a way to say it in a song "World's On Fire" that just felt natural and it was basically "the world's on fire, but all I need is you." And she (Anna) was listening to it in the car with our kids, and they were trying to figure it out. They're young, 7 and 9. They're trying to figure out what are each of the songs about. And they were like completely baffled by that song, it was so cute. Like, "What is that about? Is that about the fires in California?" And Anna was like, "No, it's a metaphor, it means something else, what do you think it means?" And they figured it out, "Is it about us?" It was the sweetest moment. It was a really sweet moment. It was beautiful, just a beautiful moment."

One of the samples for "World's On Fire" came from Mike's daughter. At the Detroit 2018 show of the Post Traumatic Tour, he explained, "A little piece of trivia, because I know you enjoy it. This sound was my daughter coming into the studio when I was finishing recording this song. And she did it accidentally, exactly on beat, and exactly in tune with the song. I was finishing recording the vocal, and I looked over and she was just standing there like, HI!"

In a June 2019 leak of Mikes's MPC sample library and Maschine projects for several albums (posted under the fan-titled "Hybrid Party Of A Thousand Things"), parts of the beat of "World's On Fire" were discovered in two demo recordings from the Living Things era, called "Gadd9 Drums" and "Gyoza", meaning that the demo for "World's On Fire" actually originated in that time, either before the album was made in 2011-2012, or while Mike was on tour with Linkin Park in 2012 and 2013, after the album came out. "Gadd9" was probably a demo itself named after a chord used on it, for which Mike programmed the drum beat for, and it makes more sense since "World's On Fire" is in the key of G major. A similar beat with the same tempo but different samples can be found on another demo called "Shinkansen" from that era as well. Since "Gadd9 Drums" and Gyoza" samples are more similar to the final version of World's On Fire, "Shinkansen" could be an earlier version, or a different take with different sounds.

Music Video

On July 2, 2019, Mike announced he was working with Crunchyroll on an animated music video for "World's On Fire" and posted a sketch that he was working on of one of the characters.

A preview of the video was shown on July 6th at the Crunchyroll Industry Panel for Anime Expo, where he also revealed that his kids were the inspiration for the two main characters in the video.

Mike said that the first drawings for the video were created by him on an iPad and on sketch paper while on tour for Post Traumatic. He met an artist called Sam Henry that he worked with on the video, saying "World's On Fire" is motion-style animation versus hand drawn but it still looks hand drawn. Mike drew a lot of the creations himself for the video, saying that he'd draw and then send the creations over to the animation team.

Mike asked for names for the characters on social media and for fans to reach out with ideas. He said he grew up drawing NES (Nintendo) games so you can see the influences in these characters from that.

The video was released on September 5th, 2019 following a confirmation by Mike of the release date on September 3rd.

There are many hidden "Easter eggs" throughout the video that Mike placed there intentionally - "Agoura Pizza", for Agoura Hills, CA where Linkin Park began, the shop is selling "Xero" sandwiches (the original band name for Linkin Park), a Post Traumatic art edition cover is on the wall, Mike's signature is written on a sign and song titles are hidden throughout - "Prove You Wrong" is written on a shop along with "Running From My Shadow", "Brooding", and "Over Again" appearing in various places, the cat on the cereal box is wearing a Linkin Park shirt, the robots from the "Somewhere I Belong" video appear at the beginning, and the ship is titled "SS Kenji."

On a May 18, 2020 Twitch stream, Mike said about the video, "I love the World's On Fire video. Super fun and in terms of an animated video, really fast and really low budget. So to do something with a little more time and money would be really cool. I don't know what that would be and I had so much fun doing it. I grew up loving animation and anime. I went to school for illustration, I don't know a ton about animation, like physically doing animation, but I would love to do it."

During the stream on August 26, 2020 he revelead the names of the two main characters, "The guy's name was Drew and the girl's name was Kora, so I'll tell you that. That's how we named them. She's like literally a superhero from another planet. K-O-R-A."

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Directed by Mike Shinoda & Juan M. Urbina
A creative service by Venturia Animation Studios for Warner Records
https://www.venturiaanimation.com/
Character Design: Mike Shinoda, Sam Henry, Camilo Vieco
Storyboards & Layout: Camilo Vieco
Backgrounds: Camilo Sastre
Compositing: Karlos Velásquez, Diego Beltrán
Animation: Daniel Villa, Enrique Ocampo, Jacobo Arcila
Line Production: Silvia Guzmán, Andrés Urbina
Color Correction: Eduardo Gómez
Video Commissioner: Devin Sarno

Versions

Note: Only the date of the very first release of each version is listed.

Title	Album	Length	Recorded	Released	Notes
World's On Fire	Post Traumatic	3:16	2017-2018	June 15, 2018
World's On Fire	Post Traumatic (Clean)	3:16	2017-2018	June 15, 2018	Censored. Worldwide release on October 31, 2018.
World's On Fire	Post Traumatic - Instrumentals	3:15	2017-2018		Official instrumental version.

Live

"World's On Fire" was debuted in New York City as the encore opener alongside "Robot Boy". Every performance of the song had the bridge extended with Dan performing a drum solo and Mike performing the "Robot Boy" synth solo. The pairing also opened a few shows on the Monster Energy Outbreak Tour, beginning with Charlotte. While it was usually performed after the instrumental version of "Robot Boy", when the song was performed in the middle of the set, it was almost always played on its own.

Variations

Last Updated: May 2, 2020

Type	Description	First Played	Last Played
Bridge	Drum Solo + 'Robot Boy' Synth Solo	October 13, 2018	September 8, 2019

Personnel

• Written, produced, and mixed by Mike Shinoda
• Vocals by Mike Shinoda
• Mastered by Michelle Mancini

Lyrics

Album Version

Don't think I need to say this
'Cause you know what's in my head
"Fucked up" is an understatement
Can't wait for this year to end
It all fell apart, don't know where to start
Everything moves so slow
I can't get a break, it's too much to take
But closing my eyes I know

When the world's on fire, all I need is you
I don't always think to say it but it's true
When I just wanna disappear, you're the one who keeps me here
The world's on fire, all I need is you

The riot's on the horizon, calling each others' bluff
The smoke's filling up the skies and they say we should pack it up
Maybe the blaze will take this away, to ash and to earth below
Tell me to breathe, you still believe closing my eyes I know

When the world's on fire, all I need is you
I don't always think to say it but it's true
When I just wanna disappear, you're the one who keeps me here
The world's on fire, all I need is you

When the world's on fire, all I need is you
I don't always think to say it but it's true
When I just wanna disappear, you're the one who keeps me here
The world's on fire, all I need is you
The world's on fire, all I need is you
The world's on fire, all I need is you

Gallery

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  YouTube background image

External Links

• World's On Fire (Official Audio): YouTube