'Halfway Right' Cowritten by Ross Golan & Michael Leary

[RogueSoul]

We're still hunting for as much news on One More Light as we can get, but sometimes we get some smaller yet still interesting bits. We don't have any clips today, but what we do have are some collaboration reveals.

 

According to the BMI Repertoire, 'Halfway Right', the eighth song on One More Light, was co-written with writers Ross Golan and Michael Keenan Leary. Both writers have written with some of pop's biggest acts: Ross Golan has worked with the likes of Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Maroon 5 and more, while Michael Keenan Leary is Melanie Martinez's boyfriend who has written and produced many of her songs. Golan is also credited with working on the album's title track, 'One More Light'.

 

Basically, if you didn't like anything from One More Light so far, you probably won't like this song either.

 

One of Ross Golan's biggest hits: Selena Gomez's 'Same Old Love'.

'Halfway Right' seems to be a pretty poppy song based on the writers alone, but we're sure it'll have a special Linkin Park touch to it. Other collaborations to look forward to are Stormzy and Pusha T on 'Good Goodbye' and Blackbear on 'Sorry For Now'. For more updates on One More Light music, be sure to follow us on Twitter and like our Facebook page.

[Hybrid1988]

Oh man. It's becoming more clear every day that this is not going to be an album for me. The good news is that with all the info and leaks trickling in, I am being let down softly rather than all at once on release day.

 

If they wanted to go the pop route, I was hoping for something along the lines of Purity Ring, Chvrches, The Weeknd, or Bruno Mars. Instead it looks like we're getting material reminiscent of Selena Gomez, Katy Perry, and Twenty One Pilots.

 

I'm still holding out some hope for OML, Talking to Myself, and Sorry for Now because I quite enjoyed what I've heard of those songs so far.

 

Such a sad state of affairs for someone that has been following the band since 2000 and has loved most of the bands output since. Well, I guess 17 years wasn't a bad run eh? Better than most!

[Jesper]

This will be interesting, I basically love everything currently, the songs seem to grow quickly on me. So I am very curious to hear how this song sounds.

[RogueSoul]

Oh man. It's becoming more clear every day that this is not going to be an album for me. The good news is that with all the info and leaks trickling in, I am being let down softly rather than all at once on release day.

 

If they wanted to go the pop route, I was hoping for something along the lines of Purity Ring, Chvrches, The Weeknd, or Bruno Mars. Instead it looks like we're getting material reminiscent of Selena Gomez, Katy Perry, and Twenty One Pilots.

 

I'm still holding out some hope for OML, Talking to Myself, and Sorry for Now because I quite enjoyed what I've heard of those songs so far.

 

Such a sad state of affairs for someone that has been following the band since 2000 and has loved most of the bands output since. Well, I guess 17 years wasn't a bad run eh? Better than most!

This is probably the most balanced and thoughtful "I won't like this album" post I have seen. Thank you for giving me hope for this fanbase

 

For what it's worth, Ross Golan wrote the song 'One More Light' too, so maybe this one will surprise you.

[JZLP-Benningstrong]

If they wanted to go the pop route, I was hoping for something along the lines of Purity Ring, Chvrches, The Weeknd, or Bruno Mars. I

 

Mike did this remi for Metric, that direction would have been so fucking awesome.

It's my favorite non-LP Shinoda remix.

 

Edited March 27, 2017 by JZE

[xxHybridXeroxx]

This is a little worrying for me, but I'll of course listen to the songs first, And who knows? They might be good, but even If I don't like this album, I'll still be a fan... (On a side note, I look more for lyrics than sound, so as long as the lyrics are ok, I'll probably listen to the song, The ONE issue I have with pop songs, is that they're are all about the same thing, This doesn't seem to be)

[Jesper]

The odd thing about this album seems to be the most logical thing. They worked with pop songwriters and ended up with a poppy sound. But more interesting would it have been would they have tried to lift the lyrically catchiness these songwriters normally offer to an other level with a little more daring productions. We know Mike is easily capable of that. Both BS and Heavy grew immensely on me and I listen both songs on a regular basis, and ofcourse we can;t just properly judge yet since we only officially heard two proper studio songs, but I hope they will actually show us some big suprises with the rest of the album and the overall sound.

[AdamArtz]

Blackbear is confirmed 100% to be on Sorry For Now? Fuck yeah

[arasLP]

I don' expect very much from the sound of this song, but I put my trust in the lyrics.
They highligheted multiple times that the lyrics of this album are deep and deal with tough personal topics but I have the feeling that they put out the less personal songs as singles or at least those with more simple lyrics, so I am expecting more in terms of lyrics content from the rest of the album. The sound is another things and I am not expecting anything better than what we heard so far.

Btw I still hope there's something sounding a bit like Twenty One Pilots on the album because I am starting to like them in these days and it's a kind of electropop that I enjoy.

[JozM]

Oh man. It's becoming more clear every day that this is not going to be an album for me. The good news is that with all the info and leaks trickling in, I am being let down softly rather than all at once on release day.

 

If they wanted to go the pop route, I was hoping for something along the lines of Purity Ring, Chvrches, The Weeknd, or Bruno Mars. Instead it looks like we're getting material reminiscent of Selena Gomez, Katy Perry, and Twenty One Pilots.

 

I'm still holding out some hope for OML, Talking to Myself, and Sorry for Now because I quite enjoyed what I've heard of those songs so far.

 

Such a sad state of affairs for someone that has been following the band since 2000 and has loved most of the bands output since. Well, I guess 17 years wasn't a bad run eh? Better than most!

 

 

This is probably the most balanced and thoughtful "I won't like this album" post I have seen. Thank you for giving me hope for this fanbase

 

For what it's worth, Ross Golan wrote the song 'One More Light' too, so maybe this one will surprise you.

 

 

Haha so true!

[rd1994]

I still wonder who thought that this was a good idea.

[lpliveusername]

I still wonder who thought that this was a good idea.

Someone who wanted to make money. Say what you want about those guys' work, but it sells.

[dagla]

A personal record they said.. written by random people?

[Justin]

A personal record they said.. written by random people?

Cowritten. I don't see how that means it's not a personal record.

[hellomoto170]

Someone who wanted to make money. Say what you want about those guys' work, but it sells.

This is my biggest issue: why, after all these years, being one of the most famous bands ever with all the fame in the world, would LP decide they need to make their most poppy album yet?

 

I know talk is cheap and I'm not in that position, but if I were in their shoes, I imagine I'd be making whatever the hell I want to make... Not thinking "Oh that Justin Bieber's doing well in the charts, I wonder who writes his stuff".

 

It just doesn't reflect well on a band like LP, who are known for being their own sound, their own genre, to be teaming up with people who should represent everything that LP shouldn't be.

[Skipees]

This is my biggest issue: why, after all these years, being one of the most famous bands ever with all the fame in the world, would LP decide they need to make their most poppy album yet?

 

I know talk is cheap and I'm not in that position, but if I were in their shoes, I imagine I'd be making whatever the hell I want to make... Not thinking "Oh that Justin Bieber's doing well in the charts, I wonder who writes his stuff".

 

It just doesn't reflect well on a band like LP, who are known for being their own sound, their own genre, to be teaming up with people who should represent everything that LP shouldn't be.

Maybe it's more like a state of mind of "we can make by ourselves any subgenre of Rock or Hip-Hop but Pop isn't really our territory so let's bring people who knows better than us how to create a good pop song". I did this connection as soon as I heard the words "pop" and "guest writers" but I haven't heard yet the band members saying something like this.

[Astat]

This is my biggest issue: why, after all these years, being one of the most famous bands ever with all the fame in the world, would LP decide they need to make their most poppy album yet?

 

I know talk is cheap and I'm not in that position, but if I were in their shoes, I imagine I'd be making whatever the hell I want to make... Not thinking "Oh that Justin Bieber's doing well in the charts, I wonder who writes his stuff".

 

It just doesn't reflect well on a band like LP, who are known for being their own sound, their own genre, to be teaming up with people who should represent everything that LP shouldn't be.

This isn't unprecedented from them. Let's put it this way, if nu metal had somehow remained popular during the gap between Meteora and MTM, their third album absolutely would have been the "Hybrid Theory Part 3" they've always sworn they would never make.

[hellomoto170]

This isn't unprecedented from them. Let's put it this way, if nu metal had somehow remained popular during the gap between Meteora and MTM, their third album absolutely would have been the "Hybrid Theory Part 3" they've always sworn they would never make.

I'm not saying they should make nu metal again - Minutes to Midnight was great in my opibion - it obviously was a change from the first two albums but it was still LP, it was unique, it was original in many ways... The point is, it was an album that came about as a result of them thinking that they need to go into a new direction and they did just that.

 

I'm all for changes and new sounds, I'm just questioning why they think the way to do this in 2017 is to work with the most mainstream of the mainstream. Don't get me wrong, I'm still hella positive for the album, I like all LP and that won't change. I'm just surprised that the band collectively feel this is the way to go... Just my view.

Edited March 30, 2017 by hellomoto170

[mrfox]

if I were in their shoes, I imagine I'd be making whatever the hell I want to make...

 

And LP do whatever they want. One More Light has a sound which they currently like, deal with it. Hell, most of the band are on their 40's, have kids growing up, it's a huge change of mind for them and it projected into their music. I don't like Heavy nor Battle Symphony nor piano-only stripped down versions, but I respect them. I'll probably go to the shows and buy some OML bundle, 'cause this is a band that I love almost 17 years.

[hahninator]

it was an album that came about as a result of them thinking that they need to go into a new direction and they did just that.

 

I'm all for changes and new sounds, I'm just questioning why they think the way to do this in 2017 is to work with the most mainstream of the mainstream. Don't get me wrong, I'm still hella positive for the album, I like all LP and that won't change. I'm just surprised that the band collectively feel this is the way to go... Just my view.

 

This is exactly what it is - a result of them thinking they need to go in a new direction.

 

They wanted to go pop, so they went full pop here. They brought in songwriters to get a new sense of how to write songs. Am I a fan? Of course not. But that's the decision they made.