A futile existence: Let's talk about "Heavy"

[bloodbath]

It's perhaps the most controversial song in the band's trajectory, something remarkable from the same group that already pulverized their established image with What I've Done 10 years prior. 

 

Wherever you feel about the song (I think it's wasn't bad, just generic), you can't deny it was a huge hit and could have even become a future classic.

 

But these 7 years of silence and the current state of the band have changed my perspective about the song: It was popular just for the sake of controversy, nothing else.

 

For many fans, because they felt betrayed by the band (the band had been "betraying" them since 2007, but you know what I mean...).

 

Mainstream audience on the other hand, found funny that the 04 nu metal poster boys became the opposite of what they represented (just talking about general perception, not reality).

 

But the song has been completely ignored, both in the Papercuts compilation and in the current setlist. Mike brought the song a few times during the PT tour and the song isn't that big on streaming services compared to other hits, despite all the "drama".

 

Even One More Light has become the representation of Chester's mourning and "everything sad" on TikTok.

 

In the end, it's kind of ironic that a song that fueled so much online love and hatred have ended up in the worst place possible: Indifference. A song with barely any relevance as of 2025 and possibly years to come.

 

What are your thoughts about it?

[NimaLP]

To me, it's not a bad song at all, it's just way below the standard I have for a Linkin Park song, not for a song in general. With Chester's passing, everything surrounding OML got very sad and dark. I see a lot of fans don't wanna revisit that time by listening to those songs. The same thing seems to be apparent with the band as well, since they're not playing anything from that album (Friendly Fire doesn't really count).

The negativity that the fan response to Heavy brought to the mix fuels that sadness even more. All the arguments online, some people saying the song is shit and some other people trying to defend its creative direction. I understand the band wanted to reach a wider audience with Heavy and the album in general, but in doing so, a lot of people who were already their fans lost faith in their music. Every album since MTM had fans feeling "betrayed" in a way, but OML was just in another level. You could barely defend it as a fan. Let's just be real here, OML is LP's weakest album. I've been seeing a lot of rankings on the FZ discussion thread. Don't get me wrong, it's a very good album on its own, but in comparison, not that good.

Now nearly 8 years later, nobody seems to care about Heavy anymore. I don't even know where Kiiara is and what she's doing anymore. It was a generic pop song, well guess what, you hear those almost everyday. There are way better pop songs coming out all the time.

There are people who have already forgotten that song exists, and there are people including me who don't wanna revisit that era of Linkin Park because of everything that happened.

[JZLP-Benningstrong]

Damn man the whole song its a mess.

 

The vibe, Chester sounds really bad but in the way of his feeling... He sounds like he's ashamed, or shy.

 

The lyrics sucks ass i dont understand how they got a whole team of writers and came up with this kind of lyrics.

 

Linkin Park having a song titled heavy and its just a kidz bopz jingle? 

 

Everything about OMS was so messed up.. It started wrong the moment Mike started trashing band like Chvrches (who actually do amazing pop music) and then writing a piece of shit like this whole album.

 

I fucking hate this album because people got really angry at Chester to even fighting him at concerts or on twitter.

 

This album should not exist, the band and specially Chester needed a long hiatus not this piece of shit.

[Justin]

On 11/29/2024 at 5:51 PM, bloodbath said:

It's perhaps the most controversial song in the band's trajectory, something remarkable from the same group that already pulverized their established image with What I've Done 10 years prior. 

 

Wherever you feel about the song (I think it's wasn't bad, just generic), you can't deny it was a huge hit and could have even become a future classic.

 

But these 7 years of silence and the current state of the band have changed my perspective about the song: It was popular just for the sake of controversy, nothing else.

 

For many fans, because they felt betrayed by the band (the band had been "betraying" them since 2007, but you know what I mean...).

 

Mainstream audience on the other hand, found funny that the 04 nu metal poster boys became the opposite of what they represented (just talking about general perception, not reality).

 

But the song has been completely ignored, both in the Papercuts compilation and in the current setlist. Mike brought the song a few times during the PT tour and the song isn't that big on streaming services compared to other hits, despite all the "drama".

 

Even One More Light has become the representation of Chester's mourning and "everything sad" on TikTok.

 

In the end, it's kind of ironic that a song that fueled so much online love and hatred have ended up in the worst place possible: Indifference. A song with barely any relevance as of 2025 and possibly years to come.

 

What are your thoughts about it?

I liked it when it was first released and I still like it now lol

 

I remember when Mike debuted it on IG live and the only thing I didn't like was how short it was.

 

I was never one to be like "Oh no it's too poppy sounding!" I try to take songs for what they are without preconceived notions about what they should be, and I think Heavy is a good song. It's not LP's best. It's probably not even in my top 30 LP songs, but some people's over the top response to it has always been silly to me.

 

As for the album as a whole, I think these songs would've been well received if they'd been released like 1-2 songs at a time on different albums. OML is like answering the question "What if FZ was full of songs like OEO or Stained?" Those songs were great as a change of pace, but when you sit down and listen to OML all the way through it is easy to find yourself wanting the band to kick into another gear just once. It says a lot that the outro of SFN is one of the most high energy moments on the entire album.

[DCrecelius]

I still think Heavy is a good song. Simple writing and basic structure yes, but I think it works. I liked the idea that it started off a little softer and continued to grow sonically, though I wish that the live instruments were a little more prevalent. 
 

I think had the OML era not ended in tragedy, a few of those songs would’ve been mainstays on the setlist. Hopefully in ‘25, Talking to Myself & Heavy (Mike on verse one, Emily on v2?) make their way onto the setlist again.