Over the past few days, Linkin Park’s reunion has been extremely hectic. Along with a new record and a few tour dates, the band revealed Emily Armstrong as their new vocalist, which has created quite a stir. They also discussed the reasons behind the absence of original drummer Rob Bourdon. Linkin Park would subsequently disclose that Brad Delson, the band’s original guitarist, would continue to be involved behind the scenes but would not be touring with them.

So, new tour dates, new songs, and a new lineup—but why return as Linkin Park? Why not return as a different band or revive the original Xero name? In an interview with Q101, Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park stated that returning to the role of Linkin Park felt natural.

“In the middle of the process, we were open to, like, maybe the lineup is like a moving lineup, maybe there’s multiple vocalists, maybe it’s a different name, stuff like that,” Shinoda remarked. We thought, ‘This is as Linkin Park an album as we could produce,’ as the music started to take shape. We are fools if we call it anything else because it is so Linkin Park. therefore it would be considered deception. It would be absurd. And people will realize it as they listen to more of the CD.”

Shinoda, Brad Delson, Phoenix, Joe Hahn, Armstrong, and Colin Brittain are all featured in Linkin Park in 2025. Beginning this week, Linkin Park will perform a few performances in Los Angeles before releasing their next album, From Zero, on November 15.