Music Review: Linkin Park "Somewhere I Belong"
Linkin Park
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Somewhere I Belong
Album: Meteora
Year: 2003
Chester Bennington (with DJ Mike Shinoda), lead singer of Linkin Park, is searching for himself in the wearisome "Somewhere I Belong."
Stretchy guitars and boisterous drums followed by incompatible record scratching open the single. Shinoda raps the first verse. He says he couldn't talk about how his depression. He enveloped himself in his numbness. He wasn't able to articulate his emotions. But once he sought some therapy, he realized the emotion wasn't something he discovered. Words have no meaning. He just says them but for him, it's the closest thing he has to an emotion. He's can't get out his depression and still feels alienated because of it. He feels sorry for himself, saying everything bad happened because of his crappy decisions. "(When this began)/I had nothing to say/And I get lost in the nothingness inside of me/(I was confused)/And I let it all out to find/That I’m not the only person with these things in mind/(Inside of me)/But all the vacancy the words revealed/Is the only real thing that I’ve got left to feel/(Nothing to lose)/Just stuck, hollow and alone/And the fault is my own, and the fault is my own."
In the chorus, Bennington shouts that he wants to get past his depression and feel happiness. He doesn't want to be held back by the pain anymore and vows to get to rid of it. He wants to feel like a person again and not a shell. He wants to find a place where he is accepted. "I wanna heal, I wanna feel what I thought was never real/I wanna let go of the pain I’ve held so long/(Erase all the pain till it’s gone)/I wanna heal, I wanna feel like I’m close to something real/
I wanna find something I’ve wanted all along/Somewhere I belong."
In the second verse, he thought he was going to hit rock bottom. He believed certain places were idyllic and would welcome him with open arms. But he found they had their own cliques. He wonders what he's about. He identifies himself with anger. It's the only feeling he knows but yet he doesn't know why. People give him strange looks when he acts out but he can't help it. "And I’ve got nothing to say/I can’t believe I didn’t fall right down on my face/(I was confused)/Looking everywhere only to find/That it’s not the way I had imagined it all in my mind/(So what am I)/What do I have but negativity/’Cause I can’t justify the way, everyone is looking at me/(Nothing to lose)/Nothing to gain, hollow and alone/And the fault is my own, and the fault is my own."
From the chorus, Bennington's monotonous shouts continue into the bridge. He says he can't have any guiding his way. He has to find out who he is by himself. He has found out why he's angry and depressed all the time. He decides today will be the day he will be a new person. " I will never know myself until I do this on my own/And I will never feel anything else, until my wounds are healed/I will never be anything till I break away from me/I will break away, I'll find myself today."
The chorus ends the single.
In the woeful "Somewhere I Belong," Bennington attempts to use his many years of secretly watching Oprah to solve his depression. However, by doing so, he sends the wrong message that depression can be gone with a simple vow of "breaking away from himself."
Shinoda adds a pretentious and mocking tone to the single. His slick raps are the opposite of self-pity. He's composed and full of attitude. He does not sound the least bit melancholy.
With the two opposing tones, "Somewhere I Belong" seems like two songs spliced together.
Album: Meteora
Year: 2003
Chester Bennington (with DJ Mike Shinoda), lead singer of Linkin Park, is searching for himself in the wearisome "Somewhere I Belong."
Stretchy guitars and boisterous drums followed by incompatible record scratching open the single. Shinoda raps the first verse. He says he couldn't talk about how his depression. He enveloped himself in his numbness. He wasn't able to articulate his emotions. But once he sought some therapy, he realized the emotion wasn't something he discovered. Words have no meaning. He just says them but for him, it's the closest thing he has to an emotion. He's can't get out his depression and still feels alienated because of it. He feels sorry for himself, saying everything bad happened because of his crappy decisions. "(When this began)/I had nothing to say/And I get lost in the nothingness inside of me/(I was confused)/And I let it all out to find/That I’m not the only person with these things in mind/(Inside of me)/But all the vacancy the words revealed/Is the only real thing that I’ve got left to feel/(Nothing to lose)/Just stuck, hollow and alone/And the fault is my own, and the fault is my own."
In the chorus, Bennington shouts that he wants to get past his depression and feel happiness. He doesn't want to be held back by the pain anymore and vows to get to rid of it. He wants to feel like a person again and not a shell. He wants to find a place where he is accepted. "I wanna heal, I wanna feel what I thought was never real/I wanna let go of the pain I’ve held so long/(Erase all the pain till it’s gone)/I wanna heal, I wanna feel like I’m close to something real/
I wanna find something I’ve wanted all along/Somewhere I belong."
In the second verse, he thought he was going to hit rock bottom. He believed certain places were idyllic and would welcome him with open arms. But he found they had their own cliques. He wonders what he's about. He identifies himself with anger. It's the only feeling he knows but yet he doesn't know why. People give him strange looks when he acts out but he can't help it. "And I’ve got nothing to say/I can’t believe I didn’t fall right down on my face/(I was confused)/Looking everywhere only to find/That it’s not the way I had imagined it all in my mind/(So what am I)/What do I have but negativity/’Cause I can’t justify the way, everyone is looking at me/(Nothing to lose)/Nothing to gain, hollow and alone/And the fault is my own, and the fault is my own."
From the chorus, Bennington's monotonous shouts continue into the bridge. He says he can't have any guiding his way. He has to find out who he is by himself. He has found out why he's angry and depressed all the time. He decides today will be the day he will be a new person. " I will never know myself until I do this on my own/And I will never feel anything else, until my wounds are healed/I will never be anything till I break away from me/I will break away, I'll find myself today."
The chorus ends the single.
In the woeful "Somewhere I Belong," Bennington attempts to use his many years of secretly watching Oprah to solve his depression. However, by doing so, he sends the wrong message that depression can be gone with a simple vow of "breaking away from himself."
Shinoda adds a pretentious and mocking tone to the single. His slick raps are the opposite of self-pity. He's composed and full of attitude. He does not sound the least bit melancholy.
With the two opposing tones, "Somewhere I Belong" seems like two songs spliced together.