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"Burn It Down" is a song by American rock band Linkin Park. The song was released to radio airplay, as well as a digital download and CD as the lead single from their fifth studio album Living Things on April 16, 2012, through Warner Bros. Records, and a European EP of the song was released on May 18, 2012. The song was written by the band and produced by co-lead vocalist Mike Shinoda and Rick Rubin, who co-produced the band's studio albums Minutes to Midnight (2007) and A Thousand Suns (2010). The song was recorded in NRG Recording Studios, primarily during February 2012. Shinoda stated that the song's lyrical content can have multiple interpretations, his being the negative effects of celebrity life. The song mixes elements from each of the band's previous music, with the rap rock elements prominently featured in their older material combining with the band's recent experiments with electronic music.

"Burn It Down" has received mixed reviews from music critics, who lauded the vocals of lead singer Chester Bennington, however the song's lyrics were considered clunky. Despite this, the song was a commercial success, peaking at number 30 in the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the band's tenth top 40 single on the chart. The song also peaked at the top spot of the Rock Songs and Alternative Songs charts. A music video for the song was directed by Linkin Park turntablist Joe Hahn. The song was extensively promoted through live performances, with the band performing "Burn It Down" at numerous award shows, as well as being included in the set list of the 11th Annual Honda Civic Tour (2012).

Background and composition
As with the rest of Living Things, production of the song was handled by Rick Rubin and Mike Shinoda, who is also the band's rapper. 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. 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." Shinoda 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:

"...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. For example, people build up a certain celebrity or musician or actor or whatever and they're popular one minute and the next thing, you know either they've done something wrong or they've done nothing wrong and there's just a bad rumor that goes around about them and then everybody's attacking that person. That's just the way things are. We've actually lived through that as a band. All that stuff plays a role."

"Burn It Down" is primarily an alternative rock and electronic rock song that incorporated the band's iconic rap rock elements, which Rolling Stone describes as Bennington and Shinoda's "call-and-response". It has a length of three minutes and fifty-one seconds, and is in the key of D Minor. Bennington's vocal range in the song spans from the low note of D4 to the high note of A5. Some critics noted that the song contained the electronic sounds of Depeche Mode. Bennington's verses contained lines such as "The cycle repeated / As explosions broke in the sky / All that I needed / Was the one thing I couldn’t find" which was interpreted by some reviewers to be directed to a political being. The chorus showcases Bennington's signature "anguished yowl". Shinoda's verses were described as "vigorous lyrical jabs", which included lines such as "I played soldier, you played king." Aside from rapping, Shinoda also plays the synthesizer for "Burn It Down". The beats of drummer Rob Bourdon has a "club vibe" that contained a "danceable swagger". Guitarist Brad Delson's riffs are minimal, as they "[weave] in and out of the electronics."

Release and promotion
On March 28, 2012, Shinoda confirmed that the first single for Living Things would be "Burn It Down". On April 5, 2012, the band released a series of sliding puzzles at the band's official website to unlock snippets of the song. The last puzzle was completed on April 11, 2012, revealing the cover art. Another game was released, in which the snippets of the song were finally unveiled. A 30-second preview of the song was released by radio station SONiC 102.9. The song premiered on numerous modern rock radio stations in April 16, 2012. On the same day, the song was released as a digital download and as a CD single. An EP was released to European regions on May 18, 2012.

To promote the single, the band teamed up with the Lotus F1 team to create a musical racing iPad app entitled Linkin Park GP, where players drive a Lotus E20 and interact with an environment that allows the player to create a remix of "Burn It Down", as well as zooming into individual sections of the song. Linkin Park GP was released on May 24, 2012. "Burn It Down" was released as part of the "Linkin Park 02" downloadable content pack for Rock Band 3 on September 4, 2012.

"Burn It Down" was heavily promoted through live performances. The band performed the single for the very first time at Third Encore Rehearsal Studios in Burbank, California on May 16, 2012, to an audience who won passes from radio station KROQ. The band performed the single at numerous award shows, namely: the 2012 Billboard Music Awards at the MGM Grand Las Vegas, TV total Autoball at the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, Germany. the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards Japan at the Makuhari Messe, and the American Music Awards of 2012 at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. "Burn It Down" was also included in the set list of the 11th Annual Honda Civic Tour (2012), where the band's performance of the song was accompanied by pyrotechnics. The band also performed the single at the 2012 Rio+Social conference, which supported United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Sustainable Energy for All Initiative. The band performed a small concert in Jimmy Kimmel Live! and performed a number of songs, including "Burn It Down"; "Burn It Down" was televised on June 27, 2012.

Critical reception
"Burn It Down" received mixed reviews from numerous professional critics. Praise was directed towards Bennington's vocals, while criticism was pointed to the song's lyrics. Nick Catucci from Rolling Stone described Bennington's verses as his "prettiest ever" and concluded that the song "leaves open the option of just dancing the night away." He believed that the song is one of the band's best singles. According to Chris Martins of Spin, "Burn It Down" is "seared but still high-sheen slab of cross-pollinated pop driven by four-on-the-floor pump and the pulse of guitars and synths irreparably fused together." Rick Florino of Artistdirect hailed "Burn It Down" as "one of the most incendiary tracks of 2012," awarding the song with a perfect five stars. Anne Erickson of Loudwire praised Bennington and Shinoda's vocals, commenting that the song is "packed with subdued rhythms, riffs and raps, draped in a sea of atmospheric electronics." AOL Radio listed "Burn It Down" as the best rock song and the second best alternative song of 2012, defining "Burn It Down" as "the perfect example of how Linkin Park has been able to stay relevant and become one of the most popular rock bands of today."

Andrew Unterberger of Popdust felt mixed towards the song, commended Bennington's vocals, while criticizing Shinoda's raps and the song's lyrics. Tim Grierson of About.com noted that the song "enrapture[s] the ear...but the words aren’t nearly as captivating, dealing in a familiar love-as-Armageddon conceit." Genevieve Koski and Steven Hyden of The A.V. Club were both negative towards "Burn It Down", in which Koski said that the song "amplifies its mediocrity with its preening self-importance" and "seems to be competing for some sort of award for Vaguest Lyrics." Jeff Sorensen, writing for The Huffington Post, thought that the song's lyrical content was "like they were flipping through a dictionary and put crappy drop D guitar riffs to it."

Music video
The music video was directed by Joe Hahn, the band's turntablist. Filming for the video commenced on March 28, 2012. Warner Bros. Records announced that a lyric video would also premiere on April 15. It was released through YouTube, and depicted a "volcanic-looking" Bennington. Bennington described the music video's set as an "electronic pod, full of wires and cables," as well as stating that the video features numerous visual effects. He compared the video to their live performances, saying "we're really trying to capture a live kind of element with the band just playing just very similar to how we would perform live." He also noted that Hahn pushed the group in making the video - "And, for whatever reason, I usually get it the worst. I've almost drowned, I had all this powder thrown in my face. ... On this new one, I was sweating like crazy. It was intense." "Burn It Down" was used in the promotional teaser for the 2012 NBA Playoffs on TNT, featuring previews of the music video. The music video premiered on May 24, 2012 on MTV.

Reception
The music video of "Burn It Down" received positive critical reception. Perri Tomkiewicz of Billboard praised the music video of "Burn It Down" as "simple yet striking...[it] displays the group's new electro influences without relinquishing their long-standing and rebellious rock roots." Mark Graham of VH1 compared the video to the band's previous music video for "Waiting for the End", as well as "the undeniable combination of the organic and the mechanical present in the setting in which the band performs" of the film Alien. James Montgomery of MTV noticed the band was "pushed to the absolute limit ... to the point where, when the band bursts into flames at the end, you can't help wondering if they didn't just spontaneously combust." Marc Hogan of Spin noted that the video "soundtracks an emotion-wracked live performance accompanied by — you guessed it — fiery visual effects." Chad Childers of Loudwire described the video as "a not-so-standard performance piece with the band members in a sweltering room seemingly filled with light and energy that only intensifies as the video progresses." David Greenwald of MTV echoed similar comments, calling it a "darker, industrial offering, with trippy sci-fi special effects and a Matrix-y all-black wardrobe palette."

The music video had been nominated for the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards in two categories for the Best Rock Video and Best Visual Effects, however they lost to Coldplay's "Paradise" and Skrillex's "First of the Year (Equinox)", respectively. The music video was the twenty-seventh most watched video on VH1 in 2012. The video peaked at #5 on VH1 India's Top 50 Videos of 2012. It was also #11 in Fuse's Top 40 Videos of 2012.

Contest
Linkin Park, Warner Bros. Records and Genero held a contest in which fans can create their own music video of "Burn It Down". The winner chosen by the band and Warner Bros. would receive $5,000 and the winning video would premiere on MTV worldwide. On August 7, Jem Gerrard's video was declared the winning video of the contest.

Chart performance
"Burn It Down" debuted at number 30 on the US Billboard Hot 100, selling 115,000 downloads in its first week. The song slid down to number 62 the following week on the US Billboard Hot 100. The song debuted at number 11 on the US Billboard Hot Digital Songs chart in its first week and number 2 on the Rock Songs chart. The song peaked at number 1 on the US Alternative Songs chart as well as the US rock songs and US mainstream rock songs chart becoming their second song after new divide to do so. It has sold over a million copies in the US as of 13 February 2013.

In Poland, "Burn It Down" peaked also at number 1 and in Germany, it peaked at number 2, becoming their most successful song in these countries. It is also their first single to chart in France since "Shadow of the Day" peaked at number 20.