Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda unveiled two new songs, “Prove You Wrong” and “What the Words Meant.” Both tracks appear on the new deluxe edition of Shinoda’s solo debut, Post Traumatic.
“Prove You Wrong” finds Shinoda alternately spitting and singing as the song deftly moves between a stomping verse and a solemn chorus. This back-and-forth steadily builds to the song’s final moments, where Shionda bellows, “So welcome to the breakdown/Tired of playing games now/Make it no mistake/I will prove you wrong.”
“What the Words Meant” is a more atmospheric track, with heavy electronic drums clattering through an expanse of synths. “I thought I understood what the words meant,” Shinoda sings, “I thought that they were written for me/A message spelled out in a language/That only those who’ve been there/Been there can read.”
Shinoda released Post Traumatic last June, almost a year after the death of Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Shinoda discussed how much of the album is about his struggle to understand himself without Bennington in his life.
“When I wrote some of that stuff, I was like, ‘Oh, should I say that? Does that sound weird?’” Shinoda said. “But I think it would be true for anybody in this situation. When you go through a difficult situation, sometimes you question stuff you don’t need to question. And I did. At a certain point, I was afraid just to write a song or record something, which is natural.”