Award winning singer songwriter and co-founder of Linkin Park Mike Shinoda is back with new single “Happy Endings” featuring iann dior and UPSAHL. With the launch of this single, Shinoda becomes the first ever major label artist to release a song via a NFT Auction. NFT, or Non-fungible token, being a type of cryptographic currency.

“Happy Endings” is bright and clear in its subjectivity, that is, to pursue one’s own ambitions and to strive to write one’s fate out. It is a clear-cut proclamation of independence. There is a relevancy to the lyricism too, its flourishes include witty bars on the current state of the pandemic and “Karen’s.” iann dior pops in and out, providing a concise break for Shinoda, who steers the ship primarily, only playing back and forth with the chorus section courtesy of UPSAHL. There is a mélange of genres boding well here, with alternative, hip hop and pop intermingling.

iann dior rose quickly to prominence after the insuroutnaable success of his billboard number one collaboration with 24KGoldn titled “Mood.” dior inked a deal with Elliot Grainge’s label 10K Projects in April 2019. UPSAHL utilizes social media platform TikTok to generate buzz on her trending tracks like “Can You Hear Me Now” and “Drugs.” Today, she has nearly 2,000,000 TikTok videos, reaching number six on the TikTok Viral Chart.

Shinoda has spent the past year creating brand new music with fans and teaching production live each morning on Twitch, and, in recent weeks, producing tracks by fans. One of the tracks that procured from this was the single “Open Door.”

photo credit: Shareef Ellis