Powerless (song)

"Powerless" is a song by American rock band Linkin Park. The song was written by the band and produced by co-lead vocalist Mike Shinoda and Rick Rubin. Its working title was "Tinfoil", which instead ended up serving as the intro to the song. It was released on iTunes as a digital single from the soundtrack of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter on October 31, 2012, in Japan. The song was also released as a single worldwide through the official website of the band. The song was released as the third single from the album Living Things.^[1]^[2] The release included the "Powerless" artwork and featured just the one track.

Composition

	"Powerless" A 59 second sample of the chorus and the outro of the song.
Problems playing this file? See media help.

"Powerless" is a mid-tempo song^[3] that features a lock-step breaks, soaring harmonies and synthesizer whispers.^[4] The song has a piano-based production and is described by Spin as having a "electro-goth atmosphere like Bruno Mars on the most recent Twilight soundtrack".^[5] The Silver Tongue Online described the song as "a foundation of busy percussion and electronica, a sweeping chorus and Coldplay-worthy bridge".^[6] It's also been described as a "surging, slow-burning, classically Linkin Park anthem".^[7] Lyrically, the song is about a self-destructive friend or lover.^[8]

Promotion

"Powerless", the twelfth and closing track of the album, is featured in the closing credits to the film Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.^[9] A performance music video of "Powerless" featuring scenes from the film was released on Yahoo!, serving as the film's music trailer.^[10] The music video was directed by Timur Bekmambetov, director of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.^[11] The video was filmed in Berlin, Germany.^[11] Bekmambetov screened the film for the band, who reacted positively to the film, and believed that the band had a song that would fit into the film; hence, "Powerless" was chosen.^[11]

It was used in a commercial promoting the second season of the NBC show Revolution, following the usage of "Roads Untraveled" in a commercial promoting the first season.

Reception

Billboard lists "Powerless" as an example "of why Linkin Park remains vital while its nu-metal compatriots have more or less fallen by the wayside".^[4] AltSounds.com says the song is "certainly bigger and bolder than the majority of the album's songs, but it still doesn't shake you to your core like I wish it would".^[12]

Music video

Chester Bennington has confirmed in an interview that a music video will be shot for "Powerless".^[13] Music for Relief premiered the promotion video of "Powerless" on November 27, 2012.^[14] The two-minute video was a compilation between the "Powerless" footage filmed for the trailer of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and clips of the Music for Relief's Power the World campaign.^[14]

Track list

Digital single
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Powerless"	Linkin Park	3:44

Charts

Chart (2012)	Peak position
UK Rock (Official Charts Company)	40^[15]

Release History

Region	Date	Format	Label
Japan^[16]	October 31, 2012	single	Warner Bros.
Worldwide^[1]	October 31, 2012	single	Warner Bros.

References

1 2 Linkin Park - Powerless Linkin Park.
↑ Discography : Singles : Linkin Park Linkin Park
↑ "Linkin Park News - Linkin Park - Living Things Review". Artists.letssingit.com. Retrieved 2012-07-10.
1 2 "New Music Releases, Music Reviews, Album Releases & Song Releases". Billboard.com. Retrieved 2012-07-10.
↑ Wood, Mikael. "Linkin Park, 'Living Things' (Warner Bros./WEA) | SPIN | Albums | Critical Mass". SPIN. Retrieved 2012-07-10.
↑ Wesley, Justin (2012-06-21). "Linkin Park – Living Things". Thesilvertongueonline.com. Retrieved 2012-07-07.
↑ Grimmie, Destiny (2012-06-19). "Album Review: Linkin Park – 'Living Things'". Ology. Retrieved 2012-07-10.
↑ "Linkin Park - Living Things Review". Rock.about.com. 2012-06-26. Retrieved 2012-07-10.
↑ Gallo, Phil (2012-06-13). "Linkin Park Score 'Abe Lincoln' End Credits". Billboard. Retrieved 2012-06-14.
↑ "Linkin Park & Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter Exclusive". Yahoo!. 2012-06-16. Retrieved 2012-06-16.
1 2 3 "Linkin Park song featured in end credits of 'Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter'". The Philippine Star. PhilStar Daily. 2012-06-24. Retrieved 2012-07-13.
↑ "Review: Linkin Park – Living Things [Album] | Altsounds.com Reviews". Hangout.altsounds.com. 2012-07-03. Retrieved 2012-07-10.
↑ "VMusic - Music News - Latest local and international music news". [V] Music. Retrieved 2012-08-18.
1 2 "Music For Relief premiered the new POWERLESS Video 11/27". Lpassociation.com. Retrieved 2012-11-22.
↑ "2012-07-07 Top 40 Rock & Metal Singles Archive". Official Charts. Retrieved 2012-07-10.
↑ "Powerless - Single". iTunes Japan. Apple, inc. Retrieved 3 November 2012.

Linkin Park songs

Hybrid Theory	"One Step Closer" "Crawling" "Papercut" "In the End" "Points of Authority" "Runaway" "A Place for My Head"

Meteora	"Somewhere I Belong" "Faint" "Numb" "Breaking the Habit" "From the Inside" "Lying from You"

Minutes to Midnight	"Given Up" "Leave Out All the Rest" "Bleed It Out" "Shadow of the Day" "What I've Done" "No More Sorrow"

A Thousand Suns	"Burning in the Skies" "Waiting for the End" "Blackout" "Wretches and Kings" "Iridescent" "The Catalyst"

Living Things	"Lost in the Echo" "In My Remains" "Burn It Down" "Lies Greed Misery" "I'll Be Gone" "Castle of Glass" "Powerless"

The Hunting Party	"Keys to the Kingdom" "All for Nothing" "Guilty All the Same" "Wastelands" "Until It's Gone" "Rebellion" "Final Masquerade"

Collaborations	"Numb/Encore" "We Made It" "A Light That Never Comes" "Darker Than Blood"

Other songs	"Pts.OF.Athrty" "New Divide" "Not Alone" "Rolling in the Deep" "White Noise"

Book Category

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 6/9/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.