A Light That Never Comes

"A Light That Never Comes"
Single by Linkin Park x Steve Aoki
from the album Recharged
B-side	"Until It Breaks" (Datsik Remix)
Released	October 11, 2013 (see release history)
Format	CD stream
Recorded	2013
Genre	EDM electronic rock rap rock[1]
Length	3:49 (album version)
Label	Warner Bros. Machine Shop Dim Mak
Writer(s)	Linkin Park Steve Aoki
Producer(s)	Mike Shinoda Steve Aoki Brad Delson
Linkin Park singles chronology
"Castle of Glass" (2012) "A Light That Never Comes" (2013) "Guilty All the Same" (2014)
Steve Aoki singles chronology "Boneless" (2013) "A Light That Never Comes" (2013) "Delirious (Boneless)" (2014) Music video "A Light That Never Comes" on YouTube "A Light That Never Comes" (Lyric Video) on YouTube

"A Light That Never Comes" is a song written and recorded by American rock band Linkin Park, and is their first collaboration with American musician Steve Aoki. It was included on the band's second remix album, Recharged. It is the twenty-sixth single by the band. The song appears as the opening track on the album while a reboot version produced by Rick Rubin serves as the closing track. In addition to the song being released in advance when Recharged was partially released early on September 16, 2013,^[2] "A Light That Never Comes" was released to radio and made available to stream as a promotional single on digital music service Xbox Music on the same day.^[3][4] The CD single was released on October 11, 2013.^[5]

Background and promotion

	"A Light That Never Comes" A 48 second sample of the chorus and outro of "A Light That Never Comes".
Problems playing this file? See media help.

According to Mike Shinoda, "The coolest part about the song is it was really organic in how it came together ... Steve Aoki and I first talked on Twitter, and then we were emailing, and then we started throwing music back and forth."^[6] In an interview on August 30, 2013, with Shinoda and Aoki, Shinoda said that they began working on the song "no less than a half a year ago". He said they did not constantly work on it, but "the ideas would flow whenever...something new came up".^[7]

HBO featured the song in their 2013 fall preview advertisement.^[8] The band released the song's official lyric video on September 16 when players from across the world unlocked the track on LP Recharge,^[9] their first Facebook game.^[10] The song was heavily contributed in the 2014 documentary film The Distortion of Sound, which features Mike and Steve. The Rick Rubin Reboot of the song was also featured in the soundtrack of 2014 American ensemble action film The Expendables 3.^[11]

Live performances

Shinoda, Bennington, and Aoki performed the song together for the first time at the Summer Sonic Festival on August 10, 2013, in Tokyo, Japan.^[12][13] Aoki said, "we just kind of threw this show together like...it was very just raw." At the time, Shinoda said that there were no plans to perform the song again with Steve, however, he said "I imagine it will happen," but he did not know if it would be the same set up as the Summer Sonic show, or if it would be the full band and Steve. He said he could see both happening.^[7]

On November 15, 2013, Mike, Chester, and Steve performed the song with Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker at the Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall.^[14] On November 26, Mike, Chester, and Steve performed the song on Jimmy Kimmel Live!.^[15]

On January 9, 2014, at The Joint in Las Vegas, Linkin Park performed the song for the first time as a full band without Aoki.

Critical reception

Stupid Dope gave the song a positive review, saying "The track is packed full of dope energy, heavy melodic elements, and of course, the patented sound of Linkin Park, as they mesh together nicely with Mr. Aoki."^[16]

Commercial performance

In its first week of release, the single sold 55,000 downloads in the US.^[17]

Music video

On October 6, 2013, Joe Hahn confirmed a video for "A Light That Never Comes" is in production, by posting two behind the scenes pictures, and a short video preview on his Instagram account.^[18] The video was released a couple of days later, albeit on several sites across the world appealing to their respective regions only.

The music video was then officially released worldwide on YouTube on October 17, 2013.^[19] A behind-the-scenes feature of the video is on Dell's official website.^[20] It features the band and a statue of Steve Aoki in a cyber world along with an unnamed actress.

Track listing

Stream
No.	Title	Length
1.	"A Light That Never Comes"	3:49

CD single
No.	Title	Length
1.	"A Light That Never Comes"	3:49
2.	"Until It Breaks" (Datsik Remix)	6:00

Remixes

A Light That Never Comes (Remixes)
EP and Remix album by Linkin Park x Steve Aoki
Released	January 21, 2014
Recorded	2013–14
Length	33:48
Label	Warner Bros. Dim Mak
Producer	Mike Shinoda Brad Delson Steve Aoki
Linkin Park non-studio album chronology
Recharged (2013) A Light That Never Comes (Remixes) (2014) Steve Aoki EP chronology It's the End of the World As We Know It (2012) A Light That Never Comes (Remixes) (2014)

A Light That Never Comes (Remixes) is the third extended play released to the public by American alternative rock band Linkin Park and the second released EP by American electro house musician Steve Aoki.^[21] It features seven remixes by seven various artists for the collaborated single, "A Light That Never Comes".^[22] This is one of their few extended plays that were not released by Machine Shop, which was founded by the band's co-vocalist Mike Shinoda. The whole album was available on Aoki's and Dim Mak's official YouTube channel.^[23][24]

Background

A Light That Never Comes (Remixes) features EDM remixes of the single. The EP was confirmed by the band on their Facebook page. The EP included artists like Rick Rubin, Angger Dimas, Coone and various others. The Vicetone remix was originally available for digital download when people Shazamed Linkin Park and Steve Aoki's performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! straight to their own mobile phones or other electronic communication uses, which was recorded and aired on TV on November 26, 2013. The remix was actually a winner of the A LIGHT THAT NEVER COMES remix contest. The reboot by Rick Rubin for the song was also included in the band's second remix album, Recharged. It served as the closing track of the album.

Promotion

The EP was not promoted well but still it was commercially a success by the online shopping websites. For the promotion of the EP, there were two music videos for the Coone remix and the Vicetone remix, which were available on their YouTube channels. The video of the Coone remix is a live performance and also includes some lyrics of the song, but it was not declared as a lyric video. The video was directed by Editz. The video for the Vicetone remix was a remix of the official video of the single, which was an animated video, taken from the official video of the song by the band and Steve Aoki.

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"A Light That Never Comes" (Rick Rubin Reboot)	4:40
2.	"A Light That Never Comes" (Vicetone Remix)	3:53
3.	"A Light That Never Comes" (Angger Dimas Remix)	4:53
4.	"A Light That Never Comes" (Twoloud Remix)	5:40
5.	"A Light That Never Comes" (Coone Remix)	5:45
6.	"A Light That Never Comes" (Vicetone Remix Dub)	4:57
7.	"A Light That Never Comes" (Brian Yates Remix)	4:00
Total length:		33:48

Personnel

Linkin Park

• Chester Bennington – vocals
• Rob Bourdon – drums
• Brad Delson – lead guitar, backing vocals
• Dave "Phoenix" Farrell – bass, backing vocals
• Joe Hahn ("Mr. Hahn") – turntables, samples, programming, backing vocals
• Mike Shinoda – vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboard, piano, synthesizer

Additional musicians

• Steve Aoki – programmer, producer
• Mongol Stres - Double Turntables,Producer

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2013) Peak position Australia (ARIA)[25] 56 Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[26] 21 Belgium (Ultratip Wallonia)[27] 21 Canada (Canadian Hot 100)[28] 51 France (SNEP)[29] 81 Germany (Official German Charts)[30] 8 Ireland (IRMA)[31] 72 Italy (FIMI)[32] 30 Japan (Japan Hot 100)[33] 71 Poland (Polish Airplay Top 100)[34] 15 Portugal Digital Songs (Billboard)[35] 47 Scotland (Official Charts Company)[36] 29 Slovakia (Rádio Top 100)[37] 73 Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[38] 15 UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[39] 34 UK Dance (Official Charts Company)[40] 8 US Billboard Hot 100[41] 65 US Hot Dance/Electronic Songs (Billboard)[42] 8 US Hot Rock Songs (Billboard)[43] 11 US Rock Airplay (Billboard)[44] 15 US Alternative Songs (Billboard)[45] 7

Year-end charts Chart (2013) Position Germany (Media Control Charts)[46] 91 US Hot Rock Songs (Billboard)[47] 55

Release history

Region	Date	Format	Label
Worldwide	September 16, 2013	Stream	Warner Bros. Machine Shop
Austria	October 11, 2013[5]	CD	Warner Bros.
Germany
Switzerland
Worldwide	January 21, 2014	Remix EP[48]	Warner Bros. Dim Mak

References

1. "Hear Linkin Park and Steve Aoki’s ‘A Light That Never Comes’ on Facebook". Spin. Retrieved October 18, 2015.
2. "Recharged". iTunes. Retrieved 17 September 2013.
3. "A Light That Never Comes (Feat. Steve Aoki)". Xbox Music. Retrieved 17 September 2013.
4. "Hear Linkin Park and Steve Aoki's 'A Light That Never Comes' on Facebook | SPIN | Newswire". SPIN. 2013-09-12. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
5. "A LIGHT THAT NEVER COMES(2TRACK)". Warner. Retrieved 21 September 2013.
6. "Listen To The New Linkin Park + Steve Aoki Track ‘A Light That Never Comes’ « The World Famous KROQ". Kroq.cbslocal.com. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
7. Linkin Park (August 30, 2013). "Mike Shinoda and Steve Aoki discuss "A LIGHT THAT NEVER COMES"". Youtube. LPTV. Retrieved September 17, 2013.
8. "Steve Aoki & Linkin Park’s "A Light That Never Comes" Featured In HBO Ad". Retrieved September 23, 2013.
9. Linkin Park Recharge
10. Linkin Park (September 16, 2013). "LINKIN PARK x STEVE AOKI - A LIGHT THAT NEVER COMES: Official Lyric Video (FULL SONG)". Youtube. LPTV. Retrieved September 17, 2013.
11. The Expendables 3 (2014) Soundtracks IMDB Retrieved August 20, 2014.
12. "A Light That Never Comes - Linkin Park (Chaz & Mike) & Steve Aoki @ Summer Sonic 2013". YouTube. 2013-08-11. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
13. "LISTEN: Linkin Park & Steve Aoki - 'A Light That Never Comes'". Kiisfm.com. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
14. "Photos: Chester Bennington & Mike Shinoda w/ Steve Aoki Live in LA".
15. "Linkin Park & Steve Aoki Set For ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!" Performance Next Week".
16. "Linkin Park & Steve Aoki – A Light That Never Comes | New Music | stupidDOPE.com | Music, Fashion, Travel, Art & More!". stupidDOPE.com. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
17. Trust, Gary (2013-09-27). "Chart Moves: Ylvis' 'The Fox' Scampers Up Hot 100, Pearl Jam Ties Alt Rock Record, Luke Bryan Stays Atop Hot Country Songs". Retrieved 2013-09-27.
18. "Instagram". Instagram. Retrieved 2013-10-08.
19. "Linkin Park x Steve Aoki - A LIGHT THAT NEVER COMES (Official Music Video)". YouTube. 2013-09-12. Retrieved 2013-10-19.
20. "Dell". Dell. Retrieved 2013-10-19.
21. "A Light That Never Comes (remixes)" iTunes Retrieved July 2, 2014.
22. "A LIGHT THAT NEVER COMES (Remixes) EP"linkinpark.com Retrieved July 2, 2014.
23. "Extended Play on Youtube" YouTube Retrieved July 2, 2014.
24. "EP on YouTube" YouTube Retrieved July 2, 2014.
25. "The ARIA Report: Issue 1231 (Week Commencing 30 September 2013)" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. p. 2. Retrieved June 16, 2014.
26. "Austriancharts.at – Linkin Park & Steve Aoki – A Light That Never Comes" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved December 12, 2013.
27. "Ultratop.be – Linkin Park – A Light That Never Comes" (in French). Ultratip. Retrieved December 12, 2013.
28. "Linkin Park – Chart history" Canadian Hot 100 for Linkin Park. Retrieved December 12, 2013.
29. "Lescharts.com – Linkin Park & Steve Aoki – A Light That Never Comes" (in French). Les classement single. Retrieved December 12, 2013.
30. "Offiziellecharts.de – Linkin Park & Steve Aoki – A Light That Never Comes". GfK Entertainment. Retrieved December 12, 2013.
31. "Chart Track: Week 39, 2013". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved December 12, 2013.
32. "Italiancharts.com – Linkin Park / Steve Aoki – A Light That Never Comes". Top Digital Download. Retrieved December 12, 2013.
33. "Linkin Park – Chart history" Japan Hot 100 for Linkin Park. Retrieved December 21, 2014.
34. "Listy bestsellerów, wyróżnienia :: Związek Producentów Audio-Video". Polish Airplay Top 100. Retrieved December 12, 2013.
35. "Linkin Park – Chart history" Billboard Portugal Digital Songs for Linkin Park. Retrieved December 21, 2014.
36. "Archive Chart: 2013-09-28". Scottish Singles Top 40. Retrieved December 12, 2013.
37. "SNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: insert 201347 into search. Retrieved December 12, 2013.
38. "Swisscharts.com – Linkin Park & Steve Aoki – A Light That Never Comes". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved December 12, 2013.
39. "Archive Chart: 2013-09-28" UK Singles Chart. Retrieved December 12, 2013.
40. "Archive Chart: 2013-09-28" UK Dance Chart. Retrieved December 12, 2013.
41. "Linkin Park – Chart history" Billboard Hot 100 for Linkin Park. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
42. "Linkin Park – Chart history" Billboard Hot Dance/Electronic Songs for Linkin Park. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
43. "Linkin Park – Chart history" Billboard Hot Rock Songs for Linkin Park. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
44. "Linkin Park – Chart history" Billboard Rock Airplay for Linkin Park. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
45. "Linkin Park – Chart history" Billboard Alternative Songs for Linkin Park. Retrieved December 12, 2013.
46. "Top 100 Single Jahrescharts 2013". Retrieved December 21, 2014.
47. "Hot Rock Songs: Year End 2013". Billboard. Retrieved December 21, 2014.
48. https://itunes.apple.com/au/album/light-that-never-comes-remixes/id795527397

External links

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics