We're talking about my personal story and his personal story, and there's also a layer of pop culture that plays a role in the lyrics of the song. Lead singer Chester Bennington talked about the song in an interview with MTV, saying what made the song interesting was "the really high energy and the really strong electronic melodies and hooks kind of set this song apart, which is why we chose it as our first single." Mike Shinoda, the band's rapper and producer, noted that the song's meaning can be open to numerous interpretations, with an example being "what we do in pop culture, where we build somebody up to be the next great thing and then we just like to destroy them at the end of the day, and we've lived through that, so I think there's a lot of personal energy that went into the connection of that story." In an interview with The Huffington Post, Shinoda clarified that his explanation of "Burn It Down" was based on the band's personal experiences, saying: The song's working title was "Buried at Sea" and was recorded in February 2012, as revealed by numerous LPTVs (behind-the-scenes footage) released in April and May 2012. Problems playing this file? See media help. A 23 second sample of the chorus and outro of "Burn It Down" where lead singer Chester Bennington showcases his "anguished yowl" before he and rapper Mike Shinoda showcases, according to Rolling Stone, their "call-and-response" which is "all over electro grooves."