Linkin Park’s New Singer Emily Armstrong on the Pressure & ‘Passion’ of Singing Chester Bennington’s Vocals

Emily Armstrong is taking the bitter with the sweet as she steps into her new role as Linkin Park co-vocalist amid the band’s surprise comeback.

While speaking to Billboard‘s Jason Lipshutz about the rock group’s secret return, the Dead Sara co-founder opened up about both the excitement she feels as well as the emotions that come with filling in for Chester Bennington, whose death in 2017 led Linkin Park to take a seven-year hiatus. “There is so much to this band — this is a very, very important band to this world,” Armstrong said in Billboard‘s exclusive published Thursday (Sept. 5).

“I’m on cloud nine, but then it hits you that there’s a lot of work to be done,” she continued. “And going into these [older] songs, by a singular voice that’s beloved by so many people — it’s like, ‘How do I be myself in this, but also carry on the emotion and what he brought in this band?'”

“It’s Chester’s voice, and it’s mine, but I want it to still feel the way I feel when I listen to the song, because that’s what the fans love,” Armstrong added. “There is a passion to it that I’m hoping I can fill.”

The interview arrived on the same day Linkin Park announced its grand return, with Armstrong on board as Mike Shinoda’s new co-vocalist and Colin Brittain signing on as drummer and co-producer. The band also has a new album, From Zero, arriving Nov. 15, and plans to embark on a major tour starting with six arena shows this fall.

The group also spoke to Billboard about keeping their reunion under wraps leading up to the big announcement, wanting to make sure everything was done perfectly in respect to their late bandmate. “Part of working under darkness was simply the fact that we didn’t know how far we would get in our efforts,” DJ/visual director Joe Hahn said. “We didn’t want to set ourselves or anyone else up for disappointment if we weren’t able to do it.”

He added, “This has been years of struggling to understand what it can and should be.”