Linkin Park released “One More Light” to U.S. Top 40 radio on October 3, 2017. The song had first appeared that May on their seventh studio album, One More Light, with Chester Bennington singing words Mike Shinoda and Eg White had written about losing a friend. By its radio release, fans were using those same words to remember Bennington.
That friend was Amy Zaret, a Warner Bros. Records employee whose connection to Linkin Park stretched back to their early years. She had helped promote the band at radio, including driving them between station visits in the Midwest. As Shinoda recalled to Kerrang!, learning that she had cancer and then hearing that she had died made her loss something he felt compelled to address in a song.
The band had begun approaching writing sessions through conversations about their lives, allowing the subject and lyrics to guide the music. For Shinoda, Zaret’s death left little room to consider anything else. He told Music Week that he entered the session with White wondering whether anyone would want to hear something so sad. The breakthrough came as they worked on the chorus: its question about whether a single loss matters needed a direct answer. Shinoda said, “I do,” and White became tearful. When they sent the demo to the band, bassist Dave Farrell cried too. The reaction gave Shinoda confidence in a song he had initially doubted. Its subject had been difficult to approach, but the response from his collaborator and bandmate showed him that it connected.
Bennington’s recorded vocal also followed a practical studio decision. Shinoda explained to Waves that the band periodically compared microphones without knowing which one they were hearing, checking whether their usual equipment still suited their voices. For this recording, a Flea 47, modeled on the Neumann U47, won against several U47 microphones. The choice came from listening to the performances, with Shinoda noting that voices change over time.
In May 2017, the song became a public tribute to another friend. After Chris Cornell died, Linkin Park changed the opening of their Jimmy Kimmel Live! appearance from “Heavy” to “One More Light.” Bennington introduced it as a dedication to Cornell. A song created around Zaret’s death was already helping the band acknowledge another loss before its later release as a single.
Bennington died on July 20, 2017. The band’s official music video, released September 18 and directed by Joe Hahn and Mark Fiore, assembled performance footage and moments from his life with Linkin Park. Hahn described making and watching it as an emotional process, intended to connect with people inside and outside the band’s immediate circle. Shinoda said fans had adopted the song in memorials, artwork and videos, offering support to the musicians who had recorded it. “We now find ourselves on the receiving end,” he wrote when the video was released.
The radio campaign coincided with another contribution from listeners. On the single’s release day, Linkin Park posted an official lyric video created by Nicola Drilling and fans around the world. Photographs, filmed contributions, animation and artwork illustrated the words. The band gave that collective fan project a place on its own official channel.
