Linkin Park surprised fans with an unreleased song titled “Lost” featuring the late Chester Bennington, in anticipation of their upcoming album: Meteora 20th Anniversary Edition will be dropped on Apr. 7.
Two decades after the release of their mega-hit album, Meteora, the record will include six previously unreleased songs, demos, live shows, B-sides and previously unaired footage of the band.
“Lost” serves as an iconic vocal showcase for the band’s late frontman Chester Bennington, who passed away in 2017 from suicide. The track was recorded for Meteora, but never made it onto the album, until the group recently rediscovered the song while searching through hard drives for the album’s 20th anniversary.
In addition to releasing the new song, Linkin Park also shared an anime-style music video to accompany the clip.
“What’s great about this project is it’s like a lost memory in the form of a time capsule. The music video really encapsulates that. I’m so proud of how it turned out,” Joe Hahn shared of the clip.
In a press release Mike Shinoda admitted that finding this song was like finding something you forgot you had or finding a pot of gold.
“Finding this track was like finding a favorite photo you had forgotten you’d taken, like it was waiting for the right moment to reveal itself,” he continued. “For years, fans have been asking us to release something with Chester’s voice, and I’m thrilled we’ve been able to make that happen in such a special way. I think they’re going to be floored when they hear and see all the incredible unreleased songs and video footage in Meteora 20.”
Shinoda had to dig deep to remember the message behind the track, which the best-selling band recorded in the early 2000s.
“At the time, if I remember right — it was a long time ago,” Shinoda said during an interview with KROQ. “. “The inspiration was looking back on memories that you get sucked into. And you just get immersed in that nostalgia, or good feeling or bad feeling. In the case of this song I think there was a bunch of not-so-good stuff.”
The co-vocalist continued, “But it’s bittersweet, it’s a mixed bag. Because there’s good stuff in there, too. Things aren’t black and white or cut and dry. And that’s what I like about the lyrics of the song.”
“But it’s also a song that was this close to being on the record. The one right on the other side of the line was this song ‘Lost’ and the only reason it didn’t go on is because it had the same intensity of ‘Numb.’” he concluded.
The milestone album follows the 2020 release of Hybrid Theory: 20th Anniversary Edition— a commemoration of the band’s best-selling and debut album Hybrid Theory (2000), which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard chart and is certified twelve-times platinum.
Meteora includes some of Linkin Park’s most iconic hits, including “Numb,” “Breaking the Habit,” “Faint,” “Somewhere I Belong” and “Lying From You” — all of which topped Billboard’s Alternative Songs chart.
The record went seven-times platinum and has sold around 16 million copies worldwide, making it the 8th best-selling album of the 21st century.
The 20th anniversary reissue will be available in multiple variations, including a limited edition super deluxe box set, deluxe vinyl box set, deluxe 3-CD and digital download. The band plans to relaunch their official Discord on Friday with a Q&A series in celebration of their Meteora 20 announcement and the release of “Lost.”
Additionally, Linkin Park plan on more surprises for their fans leading up to the album drop in April.
