Linkin Park "Fighting Myself" Official Lyrics & Meaning | Verified

Shinoda's a genius.

Linkin Park. In 2023. On Genius. WHAT?

This is the closest to a live version we are going to get

Linkin Park will always be one of my favorite bands growing up

to think this was away for 20 years like damn.. they never miss. Lyrically they always deliver 110%

Mike and Chester were the best combination in the music world (for me as a fan). I can't explain what I feel in those last moments of Fighting Myself when they sing together. It's a mix of emotions, I get goosebumps every time I hear it. I miss LP so much ❤

Please do more Linkin Park. Hearing Mike speak on this stuff is like listening a scientist do research and explain it. So methodical, technical and logically correct. So smart, and he knows everything he’s singing about

“I can’t see cause I’m focused on the past” this line alone is super powerful, dwelling on past mistakes can get really dark

best band to ever exist

I immediately knew this was my favorite track from the "new" stuff before even the first chorus came on. It hits so hard

Now watch closely kids, this is a REAL musician.

Mike's ability to give voice to Chester's voice in his verses is brilliant. Not many vocalists have ever been able to collaborate so effectively. I've always struggled with mental health issues and I've been dealing with medical issues the last few months, and I've been listening to this song almost every day. Sometimes music isn't about making you feel better, it's about making you feel heard and understood. This song, like lots of Linkin Park songs, makes me feel heard and understood. Such a brilliant song that holds up so well, even 20 years later.

This song has been the of the biggest things to save me form self harm. Thank you everyone in Linkin Park! RIP Chester. You saved me! 💙

Mike Shinoda is a gift to music and to humankind

Shinoda is so down to earth man.

Even though Chester's gone, he lives through the songs like he never left and I miss him. LOST is by far my favorite right now and FIGHTING MYSELF is my go to song when I want to jam I love LINKIN PARK Thank you sooo much❤❤❤❤

Even without base or music at all, Mike just rocks it out of the park, this man is a national treasure

seeing mike on here without chester makes me want to cry 😢

The fact they made this 20 years ago and it sounds like it could be released today is amazing

Solidarity is the word I’ve used to describe Linkin Park for the longest time, and this Genius dissection from Mike Shinoda shows why: there’s an emotional intelligence in Linkin Park’s music. Beyond that, they include holding yourself accountable, and personal responsibility in their lyrics. That’s important whether it’s, “Fighting Myself,” off Meteora or, “Heavy,” off One More Light. There’s no finger pointing. Mike explained that he’s not writing about himself or Chester sometimes, and that he was observing other people he knew and their relationships, and then found the through line between those people or relationships. Sometimes that can be really zoomed out like how we, as a society, treat certain types of people (that’s what, ‘Burn It Down,’ is about, in part). Some of, “Burn It Down,” is about how we treat certain public figures or celebrities in a disposable way as they inevitably make mistakes, or over their old, ‘dirty laundry,’ and that we build them up only to tear them down. It’s also about how they saw the face change from President Bush to President Obama, yet President Obama was doing some of the very things they’d criticized Bush for. Hence that’s the line, “The cycle repeated as explosions broke in the sky.” And, the lyrics don’t solely fall on his or Chester’s shoulders. Dave aka ‘Phoenix’ (their bass player) is almost the in group philosopher and counselor. He’s actually got his bachelors degree in something related to giving sermons if I’m not mistaken. They’re quite the melting pot in that respect: Dave is very loosely Christian, Mike is Agnostic, Brad is Jewish. Shoot, 1/3 of the band is Asian. They’ve all got very unique perspectives that also overlap (they’re an excellent Venn Diagram). Brad has always helped with lyrics as well. He’s very analytical, and can get very bird’s eye. Mike asked for Brad’s input for the Fort Minor record for a reason. You can watch Brad doing that on the LPTV episode where they’re working on, ‘Until It’s Gone,’ off of The Hunting Party. Brad noticed Chester had started to get a little too poetic and flowery with his language, and it’d made the song deviate from the topic a little too far. He more or less said, “What you wrote sounds good, but it’s losing the original meaning… so what if instead the lyric was, “A fire needs a space to burn, a breath to build a glow. And I could finally see your light when I let go?” All of the guys are very emotionally intelligent, and they all bring something to the table. Also, as Rick Rubin aptly put it, “Linkin Park is a group of producers who work like a hip hop production team with an in group leader, and that being Mike Shinoda.” That’s to say all of them are capable with production to some extent. That’s important for getting, ‘seeds,’ or effective sketches of ideas, or variations on an existing idea everyone had been enjoying. So what Mike’s doing looking to external relationships, and looking for the through line? Any line of work benefits from that type of thinking whether you’re a mechanic, you write novels, you write lyrics, you’re an identity systems and graphic designer negotiating with clients, whatever you like. Looking for through lines and symmetry to the logic is very important quite honestly. EDIT: Ha! Too funny. I’d paused this dissection to type this, and hadn’t finished watching yet. Here I get to the end of the video, and Mike specifically cites emotional intelligence 🤣🤝