Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda confronts an unknown terror in his new song, “Fine,” which will be featured in the upcoming Russian sci-fi thriller, The Blackout. The film’s U.S. premiere will take place November 9th at the American Film Market in Santa Monica, California.
“Fine” boasts a heavy drum stomp and an ominous mix of synths and piano, all of which grow louder and more urgent as the song progresses. Shinoda’s vocal performance carries a cool detachment that lends a haunting chill to the lyrics as he delivers lines like, “They’re hungry for my skin/Teeth wide smiling that they found me/ Circling around me/Slowly closing in while you sing/Everything is gonna be fine.”
In a statement, Shinoda said of the song: “When [The Blackout] director Egor Baranov sent me a clip of the film, I instantly had an idea for what kind of song I wanted to make. The tense and unsettling nature of the film instantly resonated with me.”
Shinoda recently wrapped a world tour in support of his debut solo album, Post Traumatic, which was released last June, although earlier this year he issued a deluxe edition featuring two additional tracks. Post Traumatic arrived almost a year after the death of Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington, and in an interview with Rolling Stone, Shinoda discussed how much of the album was about his struggle to understand himself without Bennington in his life.
“When I wrote some of that stuff, I was like, ‘Oh, should I say that? Does that sound weird?’” Shinoda said. “But I think it would be true for anybody in this situation. When you go through a difficult situation, sometimes you question stuff you don’t need to question. And I did. At a certain point, I was afraid just to write a song or record something, which is natural.”
