Linkin Park’s “One More Light” Lyrics Meaning

The premise of Linkin Park’s “One More Light” is the band memorializing a friend by the name of Amy Zaret who had suddenly died. Accordingly the lyrics themselves are heavily centered on the concept of death. However, this is not a grieving song and in fact can be perceived as the opposite.

You see, the title “one more light” is actually a metaphor which is synonymous with an individual’s life. And the sentiment that Chester Bennington and co. are relaying, in its most fundamental form, is that every life matters.

Or more to the point, the addressee can be interpreted as someone who is grieving the death of a loved one or perhaps even as an individual who is knocking on death’s door himself. And in the midst of this situation, Linkin Park is asserting that the passing of this individual is indeed something to care about and to be mourned. Thus the implication, such as presented in the first verse, may be that the deceased was someone who was not properly appreciated while they were here. Or as illustrated in the second verse, it can be the case of a mourner perhaps feeling they are overreacting to this loss. But despite the different scenarios, the singer is assuring that the deceased was indeed a very-important person, even if he didn’t properly show it when said person was around.

So in a roundabout way, you can say this song is actually based on the age-old adage of giving a person their flowers while he or she can still smell them. The primary sentiment expressed isn’t one of mourning a fallen loved one. After all, you can’t tell a person how you feel about them after they’re already gone. Rather it is about, in Mike Shinoda’s own words, “letting people know that you care”. Or perhaps another way of looking at it is that the members of Linkin Park wish they had to opportunity to tell Amy Zaret how much she meant to them before she actually passed away.

Who was Amy Zaret?

Amy Dee Zaret (1963-2015) was a lady who worked for Warner Bros. Records, in varying capacities for 25 years until her death in 2015. By all accounts she was beloved. And at the time of her passing, she served as the label’s SVP of Sales. 

Amy was especially close to Linkin Park as, according to Mike Shinoda, she was actually instrumental in the band becoming a success. And throughout the years, just as they were blowing up they concurrently witnessed her climbing up Warner Bros.’ organizational chart. Amy left behind one child who was young at the time of her passing, a son by the name of Jake.

Music Video 

The music video to “One More Light”, as is usual with the band, was directed by Linkin Park’s own Joe Hahn. And he had further assistance from Mark Fiore.

The music video was a success in and of itself, having garnered three-millions views within 24 hours of being posted on YouTube. Moreover it was nominated for a MTV Video Music Award in 2018.

Writing Credits for “One More Light”

Linkin Park members J. Hahn, D. Farrell, B. Delson, R. Bourbon and C. Bennington are amongst those credited as co-writers of “One More Light”. But in terms of the lyrics themselves, the primary writers are acknowledged as another band mate, Mike Shinoda alongside a prominent British musician by the name of Eg White. And the reason they penned a song about this particular subject was because at the time Shinoda had ‘nothing else on his mind’ outside of the unexpected death of Amy Zaret.

 Meanwhile Delson and Shinoda also produced the song with an artist who goes by the name RAC.

 Release Date of “One More Light”

“One More Light” originally came out on 19 May 2017 as part of Linkin Park’s seventh album. That album was also entitled “One More Light”.

Later, on 3 October 2017, the song was also issued as the third and final single from that project. As such, it was the second Linkin Park song released after the suicide of lead singer Chester Bennington (1976-2017) and also the last of the band’s singles to actually feature his vocals.

Chris Cornell Tribute

Although this song was originally composed with Warner Bros. music executive Amy Zaret (1963-2015) in mind, when Linkin Park performed the song on “Jimmy Kennel Live!” in May of 2017, they did so in memory of Chris Cornell (1964-2017). Chris Cornell was the lead singer of the rock band Audioslave, who took his own life on 18 May 2017.

Ironically it was Bennington who appeared especially devastated by the loss of his “friend”, Chris Cornell. And the reason this is ironic is because a couple of months later, on 20 July 2017, Bennington also took his own life. In fact the music video to “One More Light” actually serves as a tribute to Bennington, and Linkin Park decided to release this song as a single specifically in the aftermath of his suicide. And their inspiration for such was the outpouring of touching condolences they received in memory of Chester.

Chart Performance of “One More Light”

As for the track’s faring commercially, “One More Light” charted in 15 different countries. Some of these countries include the likes of Ecuador, the Philippines and of course the United States.

Indeed “One More Light” has been certified Gold in both the United States and Italy.