"Talking To Myself" is the third track on One More Light. The band decided to release the song as a single because of the good reception it had at live shows. The planned radio impact was July 25, 2017[1] but all promotion was canceled following Chester Bennington's death.
"Talking To Myself" is described as featuring a chiming guitar line and groovy bass reminiscent of The Killers.[2]
Background
Talking to Kerrang! about the song, Chester Bennington said, "It's about relating to how my wife must have felt when I was battling my demons. Seeing it going down and not being able to do something must have sucked."[2]
The song features additional guitars by London-based songwriter Andrew Jackson,[3] who first met Linkin Park in the studio on March 16, 2016[4] and was seen in the studio again in June.[5][6] On Twitter, he wrote, "These @linkinpark lot are true gentlemen. So proud to have played a small part"[7]
Before One More Light was released, Mike Shinoda gave Waves a song-by-song glimpse into the album's production and mixing. For "Talking To Myself", he said, "That was a very delicate blend of live and sampled sounds on the kick and snare. It’s mostly in the recording, but there were samples added under the kick and snare that give it that punch. My original drum sound was a little bit grimier and raw on the first few mixes with [mixing engineer] Manny Marroquin. But as we mixed the rest of the album, that song seemed too dirty. Manny went back in and added another sample underneath the kick and snare, and dried up the overall shape, which helped it cut through and feel more defined."[8]
Music Video
Lyric Video
The official lyric video for "Talking To Myself" was directed by Pavel Suslov and planned for release a week after the music video. Because of vocalist Chester Bennington's death, the lyric video wasn't published on the band's official YouTube channel, but made its way to Vevo on August 2nd, 2017. It features footage from the One More Light tour in 2017 mixed with footage from the Living Things tour in Australia, New Zealand and Asia in 2013 as well as footage from The Hunting Party tour in 2014 and 2015.
The video was removed from Vevo on August 15th after fans started sharing news about it[9] and officially released on December 21st.
Music Video
The official music video of "Talking To Myself" was directed and edited by Linkin Park's videographer, Mark Fiore, and is a compilation of a variety of things, from the photoshoot and making of One More Light to live performances, rehearsals and meet & greets. It was released on July 20th, 2017. The version initially uploaded to the band's YouTube channel would cut off at 3 minutes and 43 seconds, before the song was finished, while the version released on digital platforms such as iTunes and Tidal had the full length song. This was eventually fixed.
Fan Footage Video
Linkin Park asked fans who went to their June 20 show at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam to film all of "Talking To Myself" in landscape on their phones or cameras then upload the videos to FanFootage.com after the show. The videos were used in the creation of a live fan footage music video of the song similar to what they had previously done with "Waiting For The End" and "Until It's Gone".
Fans who uploaded their video before midnight of Wednesday June 21st were entered in a draw to win a signed copy of One More Light.[10]
After being postponed following Chester Bennington's death, the video was released on December 20, 2017. While the footage was filmed in Amsterdam, the audio was recorded in Sopron, Hungary on June 27th, taken from One More Light Live.[11] The "Roads Untraveled Fallout Intro" was removed from the track.
Versions
Note: Only the date of the very first release of each version is listed.
Studio
| Title | Album | Length | Recorded | Released | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Talking To Myself | One More Light | 3:51 | 2016 | May 19, 2017 | |
| Talking To Myself | One More Light Instrumentals | 3:54 | 2016 |
|
Live
| Title | Album | Length | Recorded | Released | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Talking To Myself | One More Light Live | 5:16 | June 27, 2017 | December 15, 2017 |
|
Live
"Talking To Myself" was played live for the first time at a private event held at the Warner Bros Records building in a stripped down form, with Chester on vocals, Mike on piano, and Brad on guitar. The studio version was debuted at the first official show of the One More Light World Tour. In the headlining set for the tour, the song opened the show along with "Fallout". The song remained in its opening position throughout the One More Light European Tour. Co-writer and backing vocalist on the track, Ilsey Juber and Jon Green joined the band for the song at the memorial show for Chester Bennington, where the song was played mid-set for the first time and was performed 3 steps higher than the studio track to accommodate the guest vocalist. Interestingly, Brad played his guitar part 3 steps lower instead of higher like the rest of the track.
Variations
Last Updated: October 30, 2017
| Type | Description | First Played | Last Played |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alternative | Stripped Down (Piano/Guitar/Vocals Only) | March 6, 2017 | March 6, 2017 |
| Alternative | 3 Steps Higher | October 27, 2017 | October 27, 2017 |
Live Guests
- Ilsey Juber
- Jon Green (The Bonfires)
Personnel
Linkin Park
- Chester Bennington - Vocals
- Rob Bourdon - Drums, Background Vocals
- Brad Delson - Guitar, Background Vocals
- Joseph Hahn - Programming, Background Vocals
- Phoenix - Bass, Background Vocals
- Mike Shinoda - Keyboards, Programming, Vocals
Additional Musicians
- Background vocals by Ilsey Juber
- Additional guitar by Andrew Jackson
Production
- Written by Mike Shinoda, Brad Delson, Ilsey Juber and JR Rotem
- Produced by Mike Shinoda and Brad Delson
- Co-produced by JR Rotem
- Additional production by Andrew Jackson
- Vocal production by Andrew Bolooki
- Music performed by Linkin Park
- Vocals by Chester Bennington and Mike Shinoda
- Chester's vocals recorded at The Pool Recording Studio, London, UK
- Mike's vocals recorded at The Warehouse Studio, Vancouver, CA
- Music recorded at Larrabee Studios, North Hollywood, CA and Sphere Studios, North Hollywood, CA
- Engineered by Ethan Mates, Mike Shinoda and Josh Newell
- Assistant engineer: Alejandro Baima
- Studio B assistant engineer: Warren Willis
- Studio drum tech: Jerry Johnson
- Mixed by Manny Marooquin at Larrabee Studios, North Hollywood, CA
- Mix engineer: Chris Galland assisted by Jeff Jackson and Robin Florent
Lyrics
Tell me what I've gotta do
There's no getting through to you
The lights are on but nobody's home
(Nobody's home)
You say I can't understand
But you're not giving me a chance
When you leave me, where do you go?
(Where do you go?)
All the walls that you keep building
All this time that I've spent chasing
All the ways that I keep losing you
(Losing you)
The truth is
You turn into someone else
You keep running like the sky is falling
I can whisper, I can yell
But I know, yeah I know, yeah I know
I'm just talking to myself
(Ooh) Talking to myself
(Ooh) Talking to myself
(Ooh) But I know, yeah I know, yeah I know
I'm just talking to myself
I admit I've made mistakes
But yours might cost you everything
Can't you hear me calling you home?
(Calling you home)
Oh
All the walls that you keep building
All this time that I've spent chasing
All the ways that I keep losing you
(Losing you)
The truth is
You turn into someone else
You keep running like the sky is falling
I can whisper, I can yell
But I know, yeah I know, yeah I know
I'm just talking to myself
(Ooh) Talking to myself
(Ooh) Talking to myself
(Ooh) But I know, yeah I know, yeah I know
I'm just talking to myself
All the walls that you keep building
All this time that I've spent chasing
All the ways that I keep losing you
The truth is
You turn into someone else
You keep running like the sky is falling
I can whisper, I can yell
But I know, yeah I know, yeah I know
I'm just talking to myself
(Ooh) I'm talking to myself
(Ooh) I'm talking to myself
(Ooh) Yeah I know, yeah I know, yeah I know
I'm talking to myself
Gallery
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YouTube background image
External Links
Stream
- Talking To Myself (Official Audio): LPTV
Music Video
References
- ↑ 'Talking To Myself' Confirmed As 2nd Single from OML - Newswire - Linkin Park Live, June 30, 2017
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Kerrang! Magazine Interview with Linkin Park | LP Association Forums, February 28, 2017
- ↑ Andrew Jackson | TAP Management
- ↑ Andrew Jackson on Twitter: "Hey I went songwriting with @linkinpark yesterday...15 year old Andrew wouldn't believe that but it's true. Heroes 🤘🏼🤓" ., March 16, 2016
- ↑ Andrew Jackson on Twitter: "Some glory up in these hills with @KIIARA @Michael__Keenan . #gollup" ., June 03, 2016
- ↑ Andrew Jackson on Twitter: "Jingling and jangling the day away with @linkinpark yesterday in the valley" ., June 10, 2016
- ↑ [Andrew Jackson on Twitter: "These @linkinpark lot are true gentlemen. So proud to have played a small part https://t.co/W44hz1aO3C%22 .], May 28, 2017
- ↑ Producing Linkin Park’s One More Light | Waves, July 13, 2017
- ↑ Linkin Park Releases 'Talking to Myself' Lyric Video - Newswire - Linkin Park Live, August 15, 2017
- ↑ Linkin Park live at Ziggo Dome 06/20/17 on FanFootage, June 20, 2017
- ↑ Talking To Myself [LIVE - Linkin Park (Fan Footage) - YouTube], December 20, 2017