In late 2016, Shinoda revealed that he had worked with British songwriter Eg White on a song. In an interview leading up to the reveal of the album's lead single, "Heavy", Shinoda revealed that White had worked with him on the song "One More Light" while Brad Delson attended the funeral of one of the band's friends. When asked what he wanted to write about by White, Shinoda said that the only thing he could think about was the friend who had passed. He revealed that, in spite of the horrible inevitability of loss, the song is about letting people know that you care. Later on the band revealed the friend was Amy Zaret, a 25-year veteran of Warner Bros. Records who died in October 2015 following a cancer diagnosis. Mike said, The band surprised some of the people who worked at Warner with the song, and people reacted very emotionally to it, with some weeping, giving hugs, and telling stories. They played the song on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and dedicated it to their late friend Chris Cornell who had died a day before. After lead singer Chester Bennington's suicide on July 20, 2017, the band selected "One More Light" as their next single. Shinoda wrote "One More Light was written with the intention of sending love to those who lost someone. We now find ourselves on the receiving end. In memorial events, art, videos, and images, fans all over the world have gravitated towards this song as their declaration of love and support for the band and the memory of our dear friend, Chester. We are so very grateful and can’t wait to see you again." On October 25, 2017, American DJ/Producer and Linkin Park collaborator Steve Aoki released his remix of "One More Light", as his second tribute song to Bennington following his mashup, "Darker Than The Light That Never Bleeds", which was released a month earlier.
Music video
The official video was uploaded to Linkin Park's YouTube channel on September 18, 2017, and directed by Joe Hahn and Mark Fiore. It features footage of Chester performing in the middle of fans, footage of him at live shows such as Live in Texas and, and past music videos for their past singles "Burn It Down", "Waiting for the End" and "Powerless", as well as the band themselves through the years. On making the music video, Hahn said:
Upon its release, the video racked up 3 million views on YouTube in the first 24 hours. As of June 12, 2020, the video has reached over 165 million views.
Lyric video
On 3 October 2017, Linkin Park uploaded an official lyric video to YouTube. This video was created by Nicola Drilling and fans of Linkin Park from around the world. As of June 8, 2018, the lyric video has more than 5 million views on YouTube.
