About New Divide

"New Divide" is a song by American rock band Linkin Park. The song is released as a single and was recorded specifically for Michael Bay's film Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. The song serves as the film's main theme, and was released as a single on May 18, 2009. It received positive reviews from professional critics and remains one of the most critically acclaimed songs of Linkin Park's discography. It is one of the few songs to top the US Rock Songs, Alternative Songs and Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks at the same time. It is one of the band's highest-charting songs, peaking at number 6 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Its working title was "Megatron". Linkin Park's "New Divide" was included on the first Transformers soundtrack and it was played in the trailer for a short second. Mike Shinoda first alluded to "New Divide" on March 28, 2009, stating "We've been working on a new song in the past couple of weeks that has been a lot of fun. The backdrop for the song is built on layered, heavy synths and a sharp performance by [the band's drummer] Rob Bourdon." On April 24, Shinoda revealed that they were working with film score composer Hans Zimmer, writing various interpretations of "New Divide" to serve as thematic elements for the film. When discussing the Transformers sequel with Blabbermouth, Michael Bay said "I love Linkin Park... they really delivered with 'New Divide' — it's a great song that perfectly matches the film's intensity." Parts of the intro were used in the final Transformers trailer.

The cue "NEST" from Steve Jablonsky's Revenge of the Fallen musical score features instrumental excerpts from "New Divide". Linkin Park worked with award-winning composer Hans Zimmer to re-work "New Divide" in the musical score. As a result, the song was featured prominently in the film with instrumental clips of it played several times throughout the film in addition to the song being played during the end credits. The song was later adopted as the theme/opening song for the NHL's San Jose Sharks. The song also plays as the background music for the Medal of Honor E3 multiplayer trailer. A live version of the song was included as a b-side to "The Catalyst" and a bonus track for the Japanese release of A Thousand Suns. The studio version of the song was also included as the b-side to "Iridescent". On September 4, 2012, "New Divide", along with "Breaking the Habit", "Shadow of the Day", and "Burn It Down", were released in the "Linkin Park Pack 02" as downloadable content for the music rhythm video game, Rock Band 3. The instrumental version of this song was also featured on The Weather Channel's Local on the 8's playlist in January and February 2012.