Julia Michaels co-wrote a song with Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington before his death, and she was one of the performers who took the stage for the Linkin Park-hosted tribute concert held this weekend.
Joined by Kiiara to perform “Heavy” — the song she co-wrote with Bennington and the band — Michaels delivered an exuberant performance, jumping around onstage and smiling widely.
This, however, led her to be criticized by fans who felt such behaviour was inappropriate at a concert honouring the late rocker, who took his own life in July.
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Answering the haters, Michaels took to Twitter to fire back in a series of tweets.
“I refused to look bored and solemn for someone that wasn’t either of those things,” she tweeted.
She continued, adding that she “was there to help celebrate his life and his art and everything he’s accomplished and all the lives he’s changed. Not to mourn him.”
In a followup, she wrote: “Just an FYI to all the people that wrote horrible things about me jumping and smiling during the Chester Bennington tribute… And also, people are so F**king mean. So unnecessarily mean. Whoever hurt you, I’m sorry.”
While many fans came to her defence, so did fellow musician Bebe Rexha, who tweeted: “Julia, unfortunately this world is filled with love and hate. Hate is confused love. You’re amazing keep your head up. Xoxo.”