Open Door

Template:Song "Open Door" is the first track on the "Dropped Frames, Vol. 1" instrumental release by Mike Shinoda and is the only track on the album to feature vocals. Through the #SingOpenDoor contest, Mike picked seven fans to be featured on the track alongside his vocals. The single was postponed from its original June 19, 2020 release because Spotify was featuring only black artists that day in support of protests against police brutality in the US.^[1] It was eventually released on June 30.

Background

On February 11, 2020, Mike tweeted, "let’s try this. you can now text me at 310.935.0302." He had set up a new Community.com contact list of fans after posting an Instagram photo at Community earlier in 2020. The first message fans received stated, "HI THERE! thanks for texting me. this is an autotext to let you know I got your message, everything else will be from me directly. just click the link and you'll be added to my phone" followed by a link to add yourself to his community list."

Upon adding themselves, fan got a follow up text saying, "thanks- i added you. i'm planning to experiment with texting people some fun stuff. what should i send?"

If you were one of the first 1,000 to text Mike, you got one final series of texts that included "Thank you for being one of the first people to text me! Yes it is me. I'll be occasionally replying to people, and maybe doing some experiments via text. Feel free to tell a friend." Fans then got a selfie from Mike on his birthday followed by one final text - "By the way, you're one of the first 1000 people. So cool"

When calling the number, fans were greeted with a voicemail message from Mike.

Finally on the 11th, Mike sent fans a video clip of a new song he was working on. He added, "that's a track i'm working on today" & "No name for it yet but we'll see what happens" Later that night, he did a "textcast" with Bobby Kim aka Bobby Hundreds. He said, "Guys. I'm with my friend Bobby Hundreds. We have an idea: a very short podcast via text. A "textcast!" Text me a question with the hashtag #MikeAndBobby and maybe we'll answer yours" On February 21st, Mike sent a message via Community to fans to say hello and that they had a good week.

On February 26, 2020, Mike posted a photo on Instagram saying, "aren’t we all just looking for open doors?"

Later that day he sent fans a message with three demos, asking which one he should continue working on by saying, "which demo should i work on today? 1, 2, or 3".

He then sent a second message saying that fans voted for all three demos and that he had combined them to one song, including a clip of the track for everyone.

On February 29th, Mike sent a message that read, "Happy Saturday. Thanks for helping me with that song. I had a bunch of ideas at random times. Whenever stuff comes to me, I record it in my Voice Memos on my phone... we'll see how these ideas start to come together this week" He included a photo from his iPhone Voice Memos, listing demo names, "open door new verse 0:36", "open door verse needs transition at end 0:34", "New Recording 329 0:24", "New Recording 328 0:23", "open door chorus 0:37", "post milan cactus chorus 1 - open door 0:57", "cactus forest 0:59", and "New Recording 327.", with "Post Milan" and "Cactus Forest" being working titles for some of the snippets that later became part of "Open Door".

On March 7th, Mike messaged fans a demo clip of the track in progress. His message with the demo said, "Remember the beats I mashed together? Still toying with that track:"

On March 16th, Mike's text to fans said, "Greetings from lock down in Los Angeles. Hope you're making the best of this weird situation. We decided to be conservative and stay in. The good news is, I'm getting pretty good at Fortnite. Take care of yourself and your loved ones"

On March 17th, Mike went live on Instagram for over thirty four minutes to discuss the Los Angeles coronavirus quarantine and new music. During the broadcast, he asked fans for help on writing the bridge of the demo that they had heard before. He played guitar, chopped it up, and edited the bridge while talking to fans and then explained that he would send an mp3 of the full demo once he mixed it quickly.

The updates came in June, when he said, "So I picked the vocalists for Open Door and we're wrapping up, we're doing some content to release that. So we're doing some stuff with it. More to come."^[2] and, "I'm releasing it as soon as I can. I wanted to release it on the 19th, that is apparently not happening because Spotify is featuring only black artists on that day which is cool. So I don't want to release it on that day, that would strategically be a stupid thing to do. And so we're going to release it a different day. It's coming! It's coming soon."^[1]

On June 23rd, Mike said, "Open Door was really like, I was already writing it before quarantine and all of that. It was like looking for opportunity, and for me, looking for things that really grab my interest and keep me excited and feel like the place to spend energy. It could be a lot of things to different people. I was writing from the perspective of wanting something that was worth investing myself in, in terms of energy and time and passion and all of that. But still with some attitude in the verse, but with an encouraging kind of verse."^[3]

Mike debuted all three tracks on his Twitch stream on June 30, 2020 at 9am PST and discussed them. When debuting the song, Mike said, "Damn, they can sing. That song is called Open Door. When quarantine started, when the whole pandemic hit and we started staying at home, I started posting... I was originally on Instagram Live and I did a few lives just on my phone, I set my phone down and made some beats and stuff. And this track was made from two different beats I was messing with. I asked the community on Instagram which beat I should work on. And it was pretty close, the vote on which one I should pursue or whatever. So I mashed them up. And then I listened to it and I was like, "I really need another singer or something. It's probably a female vocal that I want on the track." So we did the #SingOpenDoor contest so I ended up choosing seven people. The things they sent in... they're all so talented. I just love what they do individually and I loved just stacking all of those vocals. This is maybe the first song I've put together and mixed that had, I think it had one hundred vocal tracks. It was a LOT. So that was fun."^[4]

He added, "Here's what's going on and what happens from here. I originally had this song and I said, "I want to put out this song." And then I started doing streams here on Twitch where I make a beat every day starting at 10am. And then I had all of these beats, so I was like, "Man I want to put these beats out. It seems like just fun." When I was in art school I used to listen to a lot of instrumental music when I was drawing or when I was hanging out. I was like, "Let me just put out this instrumental music." And there was a little bit of a moment where I was like, "Ah man should I put Open Door on it? If I put out instrumental music, should it only be instrumental on it, should I not put Open Door on it?" But I feel like Open Door really started the whole process. It went from making this track live to asking fans to participate on it to jumping over to Twitch and then making more stuff live and having the fans suggest themes and suggest genres and challenge me and all of this stuff. So it kind of all went together. So Open Door is the only track with vocals on my upcoming album. It's going to be an album in parts, in a bunch of volumes. Dropped Frames is the name of the album. Dropped Frames is a reference not only to the bad Internet connection that I've had but also the idea of like dropping music. So Dropped Frames comes out a week from Friday. Open Door will be on it. Other than that, it's an instrumental album. And then every so often, hopefully regularly, hopefully every month or so, if we can pull it off, I'll just continue to drop more Dropped Frames album. So the stuff I make on Twitch here every weekday, I'll mix it and I'll put it together, put it into an album, and this is volume one."

Mike answered a fan question the same day about how the vocal synth was made on the song and said, "The two vocal synths, I'm not sure exactly which one I used on that track, but the two I usually use... one of them is literally called Vocal Synth 2 and the other one is Infected Mushrooms Vocal Synth which is called Manipulator I believe. Manipulator is one that I like a lot and the other one is called Vocal Synth."

Demos

"Open Door" is composed of three separate smaller demos, "Open Door", "Post Milan", and "Cactus Forest." These three demos were combined to form the demo "Out of Milan."

On his Twitch stream on June 30, 2020, Mike took a poll from fans to see if they wanted him to go through the "Open Door" demo or to make a new beat. The demo won and he said, "I'm going to open up the track. It was made from two, but I realized I had one of them on my laptop. And what that means is, I'm on the move right now, I'm on vacation and my rig is the Native Instruments Maschine controller and my laptop and these gamer headphones. So that's how I made this demo, apparently minus the headphones. I made the demo on Maschine and this was the original demo for Open Door, apparently. It was called "Out of Milan" which tells me that I was making it either in a plane or in a car or something leaving Milan probably after a show. The little clip clop sounds are all here. And there was a keyboard thing I didn't use, or maybe I just mixed it down, I think I put that in the chorus actually, that's in the chorus underneath all of the beautiful vocals. These were pretty chill sounds, when I made this, it was pretty chill. "Whirly" is a Wurlitzer keyboard and these other ones, "Mark 1" and "Mark 2" also are just electronic piano sounds. Most of the stuff in the song, if you just listen to it on its own, it's pretty chill."

Remixes

Remix Competition

Mike Shinoda teamed up with BeatStars and Harman Audio launching a remix challenge for "Open Door", with over $3,000 worth of prizes.^[5]

On August 28, 2020, he tweeted, "I've teamed up with @BeatStars to host a remix challenge for my song "Open Door" from Dropped Frames Vol 1. The winning remix will be added as a B-side to the OPEN DOOR digital single on Spotify + over $3,000 worth of prizes! Learn more: https://beatstars.world/opendoor"^[6]

Deadline was September 11, 2020 at 11:59 PM PST. Winners were supposed to be announced on September 18th^[7] but the date changed to October 14th, as explained in the e-mail sent to the partecipants, on September 23rd:

"Thank you so much for your Mike Shinoda Open Door Remix Challenge entry! We would like to inform you that the winner will be officially announced on October 14th. We apologize for the inconvenience and will be keeping you in the loop throughout the process if there are any other updates. We appreciate all of your submissions and have had an amazing time going through them."

Winner was actually announced on October 15th, with another e-mail sent to the partecipants saying:

"We can't thank you enough for your patience as we shuffled through all of the amazing entries for the Mike Shinoda Challenge. It was a tough decision, but we somehow managed to narrow it down to one lucky winner.

The winner for the Mike Shinoda 'Open Door' Challenge is Experimental Hip-Hop and & EDM Producer The Apollo! Congrats, Apollo!

Not you? Not to worry. We have another Challenge that's up and ready to be tackled. Dive into our newest remix Challenge featuring B.o.B. and thousands of dollars worth of prizes. Best of luck, and thanks again for your participation in the 'Open Door' Challenge!"

Monaco Book Club and Samuel Mozart won second and third place respectively.

The Rules

Download the “Open Door” Acapella. The BPM is 92, Key is E Minor
Follow Mike Shinoda (@mikeshinoda) on BeatStars
Make a song using the “Open Door” Acapella, in whatever style you would like.
Upload the finished song to your BeatStars account as a "Not For Sale" Song and add Mike Shinoda as a collaborator on the track.
After posting on BeatStars, submit your finished song.
Optional: Upload your song to your Instagram account and tag @m_shinoda #opendoorremixchallenge
Read full Terms & Conditions

Grand Prize Winner

Mike Shinoda Prizes

Winning remix added to the “Open Door” digital single as a B-side
Feature the winner on Mike Shinoda’s BeatStars page
Feature the winner on Mike Shinoda’s social media

Harman Audio Prizes

JBL 705P Monitors ($999) + AKG Pro K712 PRO Headphones ($399)

BeatStars Prizes

One free year of BeatStars Unlimited Pro Page plan
Custom Pro Page Design
$100 worth of BeatStars Merchandise
$200 worth of BeatStars Advertising credit
Winner blasted on BeatStars Socials + announced to the BeatStars community via email
BeatStars Live Interview session

Second Place Winner

Harman Audio Prizes

JBL 308P MkII Monitors ($498) + K612 PRO Headphones ($179)

Third Place Winner

Harman Audio Prizes

JBL 104-BT Monitors ($179) + K175 Headphones ($49)

Release

On March 17, 2020, sent a message to fans via Community and wrote, "As promised on IG etc., here's a new song :) It's called "open door." it's just a demo. Feel free to share it with friends. be safe out there!" The album title in the .mp4 file Mike sent was labeled, "the coronavirus session 3.17.20" and Mike said on Instagram, "open door, now available if you know someone who's got it"

On March 19, 2020, Mike sent fans a Community message with downloads for the "Open Door" demo, instrumental and stems along with CoronaVirus Jam 3.18.20. He said, "I'm about to put this up on my socials, but you get to have it first. Open Door mp3, instrumental, audio stems... and the Corona Instrumental jam from yesterday! Enjoy."

The final version of "Open Door" was officially released on June 30, 2020 via streaming services alongside "Super Galaxtica" and "Osiris" as the three pre-release songs from Dropped Frames, Vol. 1. The album was released in full on July 10, 2020.

Tracklist

Digital Single

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1	Open Door	Shinoda Michael Kenji	3:05
2	Super Galaxtica	Shinoda	2:29
3	Osiris	Shinoda	3:18

Spotify Single

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1	Open Door	Shinoda Michael Kenji	3:05
2	Open Door (The Apollo Remix)	Shinoda	3:16

Open Door Stems 92bpm

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1	Open Door 1.4 Demo Stems_BNC Aliens	Mike Shinoda	3:20
2	Open Door 1.4 Demo Stems_BNC Bass Hoot	Mike Shinoda	3:20
3	Open Door 1.4 Demo Stems_BNC Cactus Key	Mike Shinoda	3:20
4	Open Door 1.4 Demo Stems_BNC Chime Hook	Mike Shinoda	3:20
5	Open Door 1.4 Demo Stems_BNC Chopped Salad	Mike Shinoda	3:20
6	Open Door 1.4 Demo Stems_BNC Drums Stem	Mike Shinoda	3:20
7	Open Door 1.4 Demo Stems_BNC GTR	Mike Shinoda	3:20
8	Open Door 1.4 Demo Stems_BNC Juno and Key	Mike Shinoda	3:20
9	Open Door 1.4 Demo Stems_BNC Vox	Mike Shinoda	3:20

Music Video

Mike officially debuted the "Open Door" video via his Twitch stream on July 10, 2020, the same day that Dropped Frames, Vol. 1 was released.^[8] The music video was created by Linkin Park staff member Ana Ginter and features clips of the fan winners singing the song as well as Twitch highlights and elements of Mike's Twitch channel.^[9]

When debuting the video, Mike said, "Everybody say hi Ana Ginter in the chat. She works for management, Linkin Park, Fort Minor, Mike Shinoda management, Machine Shop. She said, "I have an idea for the video." I said, "What?!" She said, "Yeah, I have an idea." And I said, "You have many ideas, is this a good idea?" And she said, "Yes, this is a good idea." So she made this video and she's not a video director, at least I don't think she's secretly a video director. And she incorporated a lot of stuff from the channel and a lot of stuff from the vocalists. So I'm happy to present to you Ana's incredible creation, the video for Open Door."

Versions

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

Studio

Title	Album	Length	Recorded	Released	Notes
Open Door	Dropped Frames, Vol. 1	3:05	2020	June 30, 2020	Features vocals by Ai Mori, Debbie Darroch, Jessy Boray, Joar Westerlund, Pershard Owens, Sage Douglas and Slava.
		1:32	2020	February 26, 2020	Three separate instrumental demos of the track. Contains Mike Shinoda talking. Sent via Community app in M4A format on February 26, 2020.
		1:20	2020	February 26, 2020	Instrumental demo of the track in progress. Contains Mike Shinoda talking. Sent via Community app in M4A format on February 26, 2020.
		1:05	2020	March 7, 2020	Instrumental demo of the track in progress. Sent via Community app in M4A format on March 7, 2020.
Open Door 1.4 Demo-M Shinoda		3:20	2020	March 17, 2020	Demo version. Mike wrote "the coronavirus session 3.17.2" as Album tag. Sent via Community app in M4A format on March 17, 2020. Released as free download via WeTransfer in MP3 format on March 19, 2020.
Open Door 1.4 Demo INSTR		3:20	2020	March 19, 2020	Instrumental demo version. Released as free download via WeTransfer in WAV format on March 19, 2020.
Open Door Acapella		3:06	2020	August 26, 2020	Official acapella version. Released as free download via BeatStars in MP3 format on August 26, 2020.

Remix

Title	Album	Length	Recorded	Released	Notes
Open Door (The Apollo Remix)	Open Door	3:16	2020	October 30, 2020	Remix by The Apollo. The Apollo was named the grand prize winner of BeatStars' "“Open Door” Remix Challenge".^[10] His remix was added to the “Open Door” digital single as a B-side and featured on Mike Shinoda’s BeatStars page and social media. He received a JBL 705P Monitors and AKG Pro K712 PRO Headphones from Harmon Audio and one free year of BeatStars Unlimited Pro Page plan with Custom Pro Page Design, $100 worth of BeatStars Merchandise and $200 worth of BeatStars Advertising credit.^[11] The contest had a total of 403 entries.^[12]

Promotion

#SingOpenDoor

On March 18, Mike tweeted, "I have an idea. I want another voice on the chorus of Open Door. Maybe it can be one of you? Get the song, sing it, post a link on Twitter with the hashtag #SingOpenDoor and if I love something I’ll let you know."^[13]

On May 5th, Mike said, "The "Open Door" single is on the way. I chose a bunch of vocalists and wanted to put them all on the track, so it has to all be approved... the approval process is happening now. I'll have an update shortly."^[14]

The seven winners featured on the track are:

Ai Mori
Debbie Darroch
Jessy Boray
Joar Westerlund
Pershard Owens
Sage Douglas
Slava

#DesignOpenDoor

On March 22, Mike tweeted, "We’re crowdsourcing vocals on “Open Door,” so why not crowdsource the art, too? #DesignOpenDoor // winner gets the cover design + $1000 US"^[15]

On March 31, a message posted on Mike's Instagram story by Typespire (the company doing the #DesignOpenDoor contest) read, "A huge thank you to everyone who took part in #designopendoor with Mike Shinoda. We have seen some really brilliant submissions you have all put together in no less than a week. We hope you've all enjoyed it as much as we all have seeing all of your designs. We're glad we could bring the community together whilst under quarantine to really showcase the power of connectivity, creativity, and community. We present to you our top 50. Of which Mike Shinoda will be handpicking his winner to be chosen on the cover of his EP Open Door, along with a $1,000 US prize!"^[16]

This lead to fans thinking a new EP for "Open Door" had been confirmed and the winning artwork would be featured on an EP instead of just a single. On April 1, Mike replied to an LPLive tweet about an EP coming soon saying, "I don’t think i said that. Open Door is just a song. Sorry!"^[17]

Throughout April, Mike has been taking fan submissions for vocals for the song as well as holding an art contest for the single cover. On April 17th, the winner was announced as being "Guytown" from France for the single artwork. Mike commented: "Congrats again @iamguytown - Many people attempted the literal “open door” imagery; this one stood out to me because of 1.) the composition and simplicity, 2.) the subtle textures throughout, and 3.) most importantly, it feels like a nice compliment to the emotion of the song. Not sure if black and white will be the final treatment...what do you think?"^[18]

Personnel

Mike Shinoda - Writer, producer, engineer, masterer, instrumentals, vocals
Ai Mori - Guest vocals
Debbie Darroch - Guest vocals
Jessy Boray - Guest vocals
Joar Westerlund - Guest vocals
Pershard Owens - Guest vocals
Sage Douglas - Guest vocals
Slava - Guest vocals

Lyrics

Album Version

Yeah, they tell you that you should quit trying
You are too small, that you are too young
They tell you that chance is too slim
The world is too big
But you say how come? (yeah)
I’m ready to light a new fire
Raise a new flag
To cross a new sea
And if I'm ever the one in your way
Then put your head down
And run right through me

So why keep settlin' for so much less?
Don't take what's given
Just demand what’s next

We're looking for an open door
Some way we didn't see before
Some way to get out of here
A plot twist that we didn't see coming

We're looking for an open door
Some way we didn't see before
And when we get out of here we'll
No no, we'll never stop running

There's some like a shadow in a valley colossal
Open up your eyes, young one and be watchful
Behind closed doors, trying to write a new gospel
They are not God, they're not even apostles
I come with the gum drum banging you breathless
Enemies freeze left then in defenseless
Straight for the chest of anybody against us
The more they resist it, the more that they tempt us

So why keep settlin' for so much less?
Don't take what's given
Just demand what’s next

We're looking for an open door
Some way we didn't see before
Some way to get out of here
A plot twist that we didn't see coming

We're looking for an open door
Some way we didn't see before
And when we get out of here we'll
Take off and (no, no)
We'll never stop running

No no, we'll never stop running
When we get that open door (open door, open door)

So why keep settlin' for so much less?
Don't take what's given
Just demand what’s next

We're looking for an open door
Some way we didn't see before
Some way to get out of here
A plot twist that we didn't see coming (hey!)

We're looking for an open door
Some way we didn't see before
And when we get out of here we'll
Take off and never stop running

No no, we'll never stop running
No no, we'll never stop running
When we get that open door
No no, we'll never stop running

No no, we'll never stop running
No no, we'll never stop running
When we get that open door
No no, we'll never stop running