PeppePark

Mike answered to some questions under the "Happy Endings" music video on YouTube, check it out. Any advice for someone who wants to explore more their creative side? "It’s OK to make mistakes while learning. And we’re always learning." What was the writing/making process behind happy endings like? "We did it on Zoom lol — it was a collaboration with Upsahl, Sam Ronson, and Pete Nappi, at the end of 2020" This is probably a stupid question: what exactly does the artwork for happy endings represent? Is it a face? "Actually yes! It’s Cain’s version of me!" "Cain started it, and I worked on it second" Question for you Mike: How did y'all come up with the idea of the animated video? Did you have rough ideas of how the video will be animated or did pix3lface just do their job and it was a surprise till the end? "PIX3LFACE and I brainstormed on it a bit. He and his team led the process, but I did contribute some animations (which you might recognize!)" I don’t know if you’ll ever perform this song live, but if you get the chance to do it, how do you think you’re gonna pull off all the vocals? "With a little help from my friends lol" What’s your biggest accomplishment of 2020? "Not going crazy" What can we expect from you in the future on NFT's? "I’ve been looking at NFTs in two ways 1.) like gallery art, and 2.) as a new technology that, while it’s fun, is less important than the emotional / narrative / conceptual content you’re trying to communicate. So I’m focusing on concepts, not the medium." Which plugins did you use on Happy Endings? "Only Ableton stock EQ" Would you like to have a "TikTok dance" for Happy Endings? 💃🕺 "Sure. Please tag me when you make one. lol" Hello Mike! Massive fan here. What’s the story behind this song? Also once it’s safe do you plan to do shows in the uk? It’s a dream of mine to see you perform live one day. Also also how are you Mike haha. "It was just a reaction to how insane last year was. And I'm good, thanks!" Hey! You said that we could ask questions so here goes. Do you like being in a band or being a solo artist? "I like both!" Covid must have been also affecting the way you guys had to shoot the music video for #HappyEndings .so if Covid wasn’t a thing now, would you consider shooting it any other way? "I think the video came out so good. I don't think I would've chosen a different approach, COVID or not" It is very beautiful what you did during the first lockdown and you are still during this very difficult phase for all humanity. As a fan of your work, ever since I pretended to be you miming your songs while listening to the DSP of the 2008 concerts😂, I think it is really generous what you can do today, especially with many emerging artists, which surely (and I know yours story), they didn't. will there be other projects like this and shinodaproduceme in your future? thanks Mike "Thanks! I'll be back on Twitch doing ShinodaProduceMe next week, let's talk about it then" I saw you’re answering questions... any chance of a tour when COVID is over? "I have no idea!" How did you came up with the guitar chords of the song? Was it an old idea or it was the starting point for Happy Endings? "I think the chords came first, yeah. New idea, not a re-purposed demo" After writing about last year, what do you find yourself writing about now? Thank you for all that you do to connect with your fans. We greatly appreciate it!! "Thanks! I write about whatever's going on in my life...either literally or as an emotional reaction" Great track everyone. I just found out today I might be Nerdcore. Have you ever heard of that genre? "No, but I feel like I'll be looking it up today" Would you do a breakdown of Happy Endings on Twitch? Talking about the production, listening to the multitracks and stuff... "sure" About how long did it take to write/produce the song? "It was in progress for a few months. Not every day though" How fun was this video to make on a scale of 1 to 10, Mike? "The concept and result were a 10...however, I had quarantine fatigue from not going out and doing anything , so I was actually really sore from doing the video shoot hahahaha" Is there any version of Happy Endings sung by Samantha Ronson before UPSAHL joined you? "Sam doesn't sing!" How'd the Platonic Love collab come together? "Instagram DMs, lol"

Watch Mike's interview with Alejandro Marín, for the Colombian radio and podcast La X 103.9FM Bogotá - Más Música. He talks about "Happy Endings", #ShinodaProduceMe, NFTs and what he's listening right now. Full article (in Spanish) on their website.

Daniel Sherman announced on his Twitter that his track "What You Want" will be released on April 9, 2021. Mike produced it on Twitch, as part of his #ShinodaProduceMe initiative, in three different days back in February. You can pre-save it on Spotify here!

Mike released a sneak-peek of the project on his Instagram account. Read the full description by Esteban Diácono here. UPDATE Two more preview before the release, read the full thread for Esteban's commentary about the pieces and Mike's music! "Mike's score reminded me of the jumpy and attentive nature of bunnies, while maintaining a joyful and nostalgic vibe that completes the vision for this animation." https://twitter.com/estebandiacono/status/1375508583161360386 "Mike score sounded to me like a cacophony of voices, a reminder of the many visual incarnations of the Utah Teapot and the voices of all the people who encountered it during their journeys, and learned to love it." https://twitter.com/estebandiacono/status/1375868258503524353

Thank you!

Another song from the #ShinodaProduceMe initiative got its release date! Megan Lenius announced that "Not Your Games" will be released on March 26, 2021. Mike produced the track on January 29 and February 2, 2021, live on his Twitch channel. Pre-order here.

Watch the new Mike Shinoda interview with Kerrang! Radio, covering NFTs, "Happy Endings", Linkin Park's influence on modern music and more! "Linkin Park legend Mike Shinoda sat down for a video call with Kerrang! Radio's Sophie K (ft. guest appearance from Wilson the pup). They spoke about everything from working with iann dior and UPSAHL on 'Happy Endings', to Linkin Park's role in breaking down musical genre barriers, and artists like Post Malone, Trippie Redd and more who are blending rock and rap. They also discussed Mike's Twitch production sessions, and his thoughts on NFT and its role in the music and art industries. Oh yeah and Mark Hoppus interrupted on text to say hi! 👋"

In a new interview with HYPEBEAST, Mike Shinoda talks about the hot topic of the moment, NFTs, mentioning the "One Hundredth Stream" jam and "Happy Endings". Earlier this year you sold your first piece “One Hundredth Stream” on Zora, and you followed that up with another debut of your single “Happy Endings” as an NFT on the platform. How did you first get introduced to the world of NFTs and what draws you to it? "I collected crypto enough to get a sense of it, just to watch it. Sometimes I’ll do that. I’ll go on Robinhood and buy one share of something just to have it and watch it, for it to be on my radar and be invested that way. That’s kinda what happened with crypto. I bought a few different coins, and I just watched them, paid attention. And then a friend of mine who goes by the name RAC — he’s like an expert in the space — he introduced me to the dudes from Zora, and I liked their style. I feel like their approach was the way that I wanted to do things. If you want to do anything in NFTs, you’ve got to start somewhere, and I felt like they were a good starting point because their perspective on it was a little less like a platform. The difference between Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 — one of the primary differences that we’re all looking for is they don’t want a platform, say Facebook, standing between the creator and the fan and monetizing that relationship. I felt like Zora was the closest thing to that Web 3.0 promise, and that’s why I minted with them. But there’s others! I’ll probably do stuff on Nifty or other platforms in the future." You’ve now become the one of the first artists to debut a single in the form of an NFT auction. How did the idea first come up? "I wanted to do something special and different. I like to play around and debut stuff with new technology or ideas if I can. I had a Fort Minor song called “Welcome” that was one of the first 360° videos, and I did it because YouTube had just turned on 360°, so I thought “now’s the moment to go after this.” We’ve debuted Linkin Park stuff with games, special digital releases and things like that. To me, this felt like introducing the fans to the subject was important to me. I could see the trend is going towards this direction and everybody’s going to be talking about this. I am a part of it already, so I want to represent. It was actually the first major-label NFT, at least that any of our labels have dealt with. So on my song it’s me, iann dior and UPSAHL. I wrote the song with UPSAHL and Samantha Ronson and Pete Nappi, and Sam and Pete are on Disney, so it’s like Universal, Disney and Warner Records and so on. All these labels and publishers, and I said, “I want to debut this as an NFT” and they said, “how are we going to do this?” But we made it happen." As NFT is a relatively new concept, many fans might find it hard to see why they’d spend a significant amount of money on a piece of art or music that they could then stream for free on Spotify or YouTube. What do you think is the core value of owning an NFT that separates it from accessing the material through other channels or platforms? "I think NFTs are a very special thing. You can create and sell something, and every time it resells, I can take a small percentage and everyone who’s in touch with it or sold it, all our names are associated with that item. That’s a game changer. That’s a big deal. Some people like to use this example, like “oh it’s a digital Mona Lisa.” Maybe in some cases yeah, but just imagine this if you can. Let’s say Ninja or a pro gamer buys a skin for their character and they play in a world championship with it. They win the game with like a Michael Jordan-level action — they’re playing Valorant, they get an ace, they kill everybody, they win the game. Everyone’s freaking out, and it’s the greatest moment in esports history. They can then sell that skin and say, “this is the skin from that memorable moment.” And people, when they buy it, it’s not hearsay. They can look at the blockchain and the information written on the item and say, “it was first owned by Ninja and now it’s owned by me,” and when they sell it, that [next owner] can prove that it was owned by Ninja. That’s a big deal. I mean, you can’t even get that when you try to buy a Michael Jordan-signed basketball. You have to trust that that person isn’t lying. In this case you don’t need trust, you can just look at the chain." Turning to your single “Happy Endings,” how was the experience of working with the newer generation of musicians? Were there any specific lessons or techniques that you learnt from iann dior and UPSAHL? "Okay, let me put it in context. This song comes in an interesting time in my career. When quarantine started last year, I started doing Twitch streams because everyday started feeling the same. Have you ever seen Groundhog’s Day? I felt like it was Groundhog’s Day, where it just repeated over and over, so I started streaming on weekdays and that helped me do a creative thing every day. I decided to make something new from scratch five days a week, and then chill on the weekends. I ended up making over 100 instrumentals. I made all that stuff and even put out three mixtapes or compilations called Dropped Frames. But I’ve been doing it every single day, and when I’m not on those, I might be developing other things, working with other artists or writing. I basically did a Zoom writing session with UPSAHL and my friends Samantha Ronson and Pete Nappi, and we wrote this song, and the more we played it for people, everyone was like, “dude that’s so dope, you’ve got to put this one out.” So we ended up eventually getting iann dior on it and putting it out this way. The response has been great. This year I’ve been producing fans’ vocals. Fans will upload songs, and they use a hashtag — and this is good for HYPEBEAST readers too because I really want some different kinds of vocalists. All you’ve got to do is put up your demo with a minimal track or no track even, and I want acapella vocals, and use the hashtag #ShinodaProduceMe. Me and the fans from Twitch will go looking through all the submissions on the hashtag and when I find something I like, I’ll contact that person and I produce my favorite ones on the stream, on Twitch in front of fans. I’ll give the artist that finished mastered track back, and they can release it however they want. Some of these kids I’m producing, they have like 2,000 fans, 3,000 or 4,000 fans, and now they’ve got a track produced by me and they can go to labels with it, go to Spotify with it, whatever they want to do. I think those things all kind of work together in one sense, like how I stay sharp and I keep creative things going." Read the full interview on the HYPEBEAST website.

Ryan Shuck posted a video on the Dead By Sunrise Instagram account talking about Chester's birthday and the new Julien-K album, Trauma Echoes. He also added that they're planning to do a Patreon series where they'll break down songs from Out Of Ashes. "We're gonna talk about the making of Out Of Ashes. We're gonna actually gonna get through every song, through a few months, track by track. We're gonna go through the demos, and we're gonna isolate Chester, we're gonna isolate all parts, the guitars and all of this kind of stuff. And just spend some time really talking about it and celebrating an album that we know that Chester loved and did such an amazing work on it. And you know, these demos, a lot of people haven't heard them. If you haven't already joined us on our Patreon we do a lot of cool events and stuff, but we're gonna do that very special thing for our Dead By Sunrise fans too. It really hit me today that I want to do this, I want to share this stuff with you, because it really matters to me that we continue to share Dead By Sunrise and support you guys and you guys support us." Stay tuned in the next months for more details!

Mike Shinoda announced his collaboration with Esteban Diácono, a motion graphics designer from Buenos Aires, Argentina. This art project, called "Platonic Love", will feature Mike's original music and it will be released on March 29th. Here's what Esteban Diácono said about it, on Twitter: "Very happy and very excited to announce "Platonic Love", a collaboration between myself and the the great @mikeshinoda. We'll be debuting our first collaboration on March 29th, exclusively on @niftygateway. ""Platonic Love" is a humble homage to 3D Graphics and how I fell in love with the art and the craft. The collection features original compositions and sound design by @mikeshinoda, who through his music, added a whole new dimension to the visuals. March 29th, only @niftygateway." Check Esteban's website at https://www.estebandiacono.com/

Good point, when he first talked about NFTs on Twitch there wasn't even one person who knew what he was saying 🤣

Another ShinodaProduceMe track gets its release date! 'Enough' by the singer Kitsuku will be released on April 16th. Mike produced it live on Twitch on February 3 and February 4, 2021. Here's her message on Instagram: ""Enough", produced by @m_shinoda, will be available everywhere on Friday April 16th 💜 can't wait to share the magic with you all 🦋🧚‍♀️"

New release date, March 12, 2021. https://www.instagram.com/p/CLw8OX6HftN

Alex McMillan announced the release of his song 'Bones', produced by Mike on Twitch on January 15 and January 18, 2021, as part of his #ShinodaProduceMe initiative. The song is coming out on February 12th and you can pre-save it on Spotify here.

Almost a year later the #SingOpenDoor challenge that led fans to be featured on "Open Door", Mike Shinoda is engaging his fans again. On January 4, 2021, he introduced the #ShinodaProduceMe initiative: this time he'll produce a track for you! If you're a vocalist/rapper and songwriter you could have your track produced by Mike himself live on his Twitch channel! He's searching for songs with just vocals and one or two instruments, like piano and guitar, not fully produced tracks, just to get the idea of the structure and the chords. He could mute the original instruments in his version of the track. He won't add any vocals by himself and there will be no back-seat producing, he'll work to the song until he thinks it's ready. It could be any genre, but not covers. If you're a songwriter but not a singer, or viceversa, you could team up with someone else and submit your track together. If you're a producer then this isn't the right chance for you, but Mike teased the idea of doing remixes once he's done with the songs, so stay tuned! This isn't a contest or a challenge, so there's no deadline: your goal will be just to get noticed on social media. Share your song, use the hashtag #ShinodaProduceMe, chat and get the attention of the other fans from the Twitch community, they'll be Mike's A&R (in fact he chose the name AnRmy!) If Mike likes your track he will get in contact with you, so be sure to turn your DMs open! Watch his official announcement on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. "For 2021, I wanted to find a way to give back to my amazing community online. I’m looking for voclaists, rappers, and songwriters who need help getting to the next level. If I find someone great, I’ll produce their track, live on my Twitch channel. There’s no formal contest, just an intention. The fans on Twitch will help me find the right vocalists. my only “rules” are 1.) I’m not doing vocals, 2.) I’d like the artist to only contribute vocals and one instrument, nothing filled-out, just the “song,” and 3.) no back-seat producing, the track has to be in my hands until I feel like I’m done. If you want to participate, go talk to the fans on Twitch.tv/OfficialMikeShinoda"

No, there are just these TikTok clips and of course the livestreams. By the way, added a new one, KarmaKon!

Well, I don't think @Stranger was acting sassy or having an attitude. He was genuinely asking for help and a lot of people thought the same things. All my friends who bought the box set asked me the same questions, "What did you write? Anything specific? Do I need to write what's wrong? Do they ask for a confirmation of the order?" When I said like, "I sent just a generic e-mail and they later asked me for my address" everyone thought: "Oh, so they really send everything without asking for anything?" It doesn't mean they wanted to take advantage of Warner, it's just a legitimate thought. I also wondered the same thing, actually, I was sure they would have asked for a receipt or the order number, at least. No problem for that, of course, I bought my box set. The tweet didn't give any tips, so it's understandable that people want to be sure before sending anything, to not miss the opportunity of getting the replacements. Imagine missing it because there was something you needed to do but you didn't, how could you know it? Anyway, I got all my three answers before all of my friends who sent their e-mails hours or days after me, so I guess the answer also depends from that, not sure tho. But that's just to reassure who still hasn't received anything. When you'll get some updates, let us know, we're in the same boat!

That's really weird because they said "no matter where the initial purchase was from."

Did you get another answer after you wrote your address? I'd like to know if they will inform us about the shipping and if we'll get a tracking number, or they just send the package and that's it 😂

Got an answer from Warner, they asked for my shipping address!

Found a new working title on Ableton!