Linkin Park on New Album 'One More Light' & Taking A Different Approach

Linkin Park recently surprised fans by dropping their new single "Heavy" on Thursday (Feb. 16). The track is stylistically different than what fans have heard from the band in the past, and features "Gold" singer Kiiara. "Heavy" is the first single off of Linkin Park's upcoming seventh studio album One More Light, which is set to be released on May 19th via Warner Bros. Records.

We recently caught up with Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda and Chester Bennington in Los Angeles, and during an exclusive interview, the guys told us about their unexpected Kiiara collaboration and what fans can expect from their upcoming seventh studio album.

Mike and Chester describe Kiiara as "a cool unique talent and an awesome girl," and the guys can't wait for fans to "hear this different side of the band."

On collaborating with Kiiara on "Heavy"

"A friend introduced us and we were just sending messages back and forth on Twitter, actually, and had her come down to the studio. I wanted to meet her and she had tweeted and mentioned in interviews what a big Linkin Park fan she was, and listening to her music, you wouldn't think so. When she came by I was like, 'You should hear some of the new stuff, it's not like what you would think.' And when I played her some of the tracks she was like, 'Oh my god, this is so different. It's so cool.' So it just kind of jumped off from there."

On what fans can expect from their new album One More Light

The guys say that they took a different approach to the writing/recording process for their new album One More Light. Instead of the music influencing the words, Mike and Chester explain that this time it was the other way around. They say the sound "lends itself to a more soulful, more sexier style than the more rigid and hard kind of people."

"For us, usually we start with writing riffs and making cool noises, and then we kind of write the song on top of that. The music influences the words, and on this album it actually was the other way around. We walked in every day saying like, what do I want to sing about, what do I want to talk about, what's on my mind? And we've had a bit of a rough year, personally. Life happens to you, to me, everybody, and starting each song that way, there's a personal nature to the album that I think is [there] because we started with the words."

Listen to Linkin Park's "Heavy" featuring Kiiara below.