🎵 Linkin Park Makes Long-Awaited Return With New Singer, Emily

Plus, Mount Eerie returns after five years with a stunning slow-burner. MJ Lenderman’s portraits of imperfect men.

Mic-Check
10 min readSep 9, 2024

Three years after joining Dr. Dre’s Super Bowl halftime show, Kendrick Lamar is set to headline his own next year. It’s a surprising choice given many assumed hometown favorite Lil Wayne would take the stage. Wayne’s performance would have likely included his Young Money crew, including Drake, adding another layer to the ongoing Drake-Kendrick rivalry.

Click here for a Spotify playlist with the songs mentioned in this article.

BIGGEST Songs of the Week 📈

If you weren’t coming of age in the early 2000s, you might not remember just how popular nu-metal was. Dozens of bands descended on the music landscape, each trying to capture a bit of mainstream success. Think Puddle of Mudd, Crazy Town, Drowning Pool. But there was never any doubt about who they were trying to emulate: a little sextet from Agoura Hills, California named Linkin Park.

In 2000, Linkin Park released their debut album Hybrid Theory, achieving a level of metal success surpassed only by Metallica’s Black Album and Led Zeppelin’s IV. It sold nearly five million copies…

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