Mike Shinoda teases new music with cryptic social media post

Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda appears to have suggested that he may be getting ready to release new music.

• READ MORE: Mike Shinoda on writing an album on Twitch, 20 years of ‘Hybrid Theory’ and Chester Bennington’s voice

The singer, rapper, producer and solo artist posted a 23-second video on social media yesterday (31 August) of him shaving his head – alongside the caption “soon”.

It would be the first new music from Shinoda since 2020’s ‘Dropped Frames’ trilogy of albums, which in turned followed on from his 2018 solo debut record, ‘Post Traumatic’.

soon pic.twitter.com/Nt9u6pE1Ay

— Mike Shinoda (@mikeshinoda) August 31, 2023

Speaking to NME earlier this year about the possibility of making more solo music, Shinoda said: “It’s weird to make songs without an idea of what they’ll end up being. Right now, I’m just making the stuff I want to make. I don’t know what it’ll end up being and at this point, I don’t care about defining that. I just want to make songs.”

Earlier this year, Shinoda released the heavy electro-pop song ‘In My Head’, featuring vocals from American singer-songwriter Kailee Morgue. The song was included on the soundtrack to the film Scream VI, as was the Demi Lovato song ‘Still Alive’, which Shinoda also produced and co-wrote.

Shinoda told NME in April how those two songs were partly inspired by the work he did on the 20th anniversary re-release of Linkin Park’s album ‘Meteora’. “I definitely got reminded of the fun of playing live instruments,” he said. “It’s been a while since I was in the studio with Linkin Park making anything and I was like, ‘Oh yeah, there’s an element of experimentation with live instruments that I just haven’t done in a while.’”

The expanded version ‘Meteora’ came out in April, including a host of previously unheard demos and live performances. Linkin Park’s most recent album was 2017’s ‘One More Light’, released two months before the passing of lead vocalist Chester Bennington.

Shinoda went on record earlier this year that the band would not consider performing with a hologram version of Bennington. “For me, that’s a clear no. I’m not into that,” he told 94.5 The Buzz.

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