EVANESCENCE's AMY LEE On 'Bring Me To Life': 'My Biggest Fear Was That We Were Gonna Be A One-Hit Wonder'
In a new interview with Tom Power, host of "Q" on Canada's CBC Radio One, EVANESCENCE singer Amy Lee once again spoke about how the band's original record label Wind Up threatened not to release the group's debut album, "Fallen", if she and her bandmates didn't add a male voice to lead single "Bring Me To Life" to make it more palatable for radio.
The album version ofĀ "Bring Me To Life"Ā ā which featured guest vocals fromĀ Paul McCoyĀ ofĀ 12 STONESĀ ā reached No. 5 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and wasĀ EVANESCENCE's first U.K. No. 1 single. It was included on the soundtrack of superhero filmĀ "Daredevil"Ā which helped propel sales.
Regarding whyĀ "Bring Me To Life"Ā featured a male vocal,Ā LeeĀ said (as transcribed byĀ BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Yeah, it was a label thing. Our music was never that. But we were coming up in a time where what was happening, what was trending was nu metal, which was dude driven. It was all guys. And then we had this sound that had similarities to that, obviously, in our music, but not with the vocal. And to me, honestly, that's what made it special.Ā OneĀ of the things about it that made it special was the fact that it didn't sound like that in the vocal. It was a female voice for a change. But I think that typical industry head space is, like, we need aā¦ I kept hearing this word, 'point of entry'. There needs to be some familiar thing that somebody can grab on to and go, 'Oh, it's like the femaleĀ LINKIN PARK.' Or 'it's like the female this or that.' And I just absolutely hated that. I was, like, 'You're watering it down. You're cheapening it. You're not being brave. You're being scared.' Like, 'We need to be brave. Let us do this by ourselves,' and it was a huge fight. So it turned into this fallout fight where they're, like, 'Well, forget it then. You're shelved. You're not gonna make an album. Go home.' And we went home from L.A., and I'd already left home and said goodbye to my parents and everything, and I had to go back to my parents' houseā¦ So, we went home for a whopping three weeks. And then they called, and they were, like, 'Okay, all right. Look.' 'Cause the original thing wasn't about justĀ 'Bring Me To Life'. They wanted us to hold auditions and hire a rapper to be in the band for, like, 10 out of 12 songsā¦ It was, like, 'Change who you are.' That's why I was, like, 'Absolutely not.' So we went home, fought that fight, and then they came back about three weeks later, and they were, like, 'Okay, great news. There's this movie soundtrack,Ā 'Daredevil', and they love you. They want you in. They wanna use at least one, probably two songs. But there's a catch. What we pitched to them is this thing with the rap in it forĀ 'Bring Me To Life', so you have to do it.' And I was, like, 'Could it at least be the second single?' And they were, like, 'No, absolutely not. It has to be the first single.' And I was, like, 'Okay. Well, then can it at least be, like, somebody super famous so that people understand who we are and that it's a collab? It's just gonna be confusing.'"
She continued: "My biggest fear was that we were gonna be a one-hit wonder, that people are gonna hear that one song that was different from everything else that we were ever gonna do next, and then they... It's like a 'bait and switch'. Then they would hear the rest of our music and be, like, 'Oh, this is not what I thought it was.' Like, 'You lied.' And they were, like, 'We'll do our best.'
"It was a hard thing for everybody back then, even the artists, the famous ones that wanted to do it, their representation advised them not to because a chick-rock-band thing wasn't gonna work," Amy added. "Well, they all get on stage with us now. And it's a great, beautiful, full circle, full show. But anyway, all that to say as much as I resisted,Ā Paul McCoyĀ fromĀ 12 STONESĀ was on our record label. And they were, like, 'Check outĀ Paul.' We were already friends. They were recording their album at the same time, and he came by, and he was great at it. And it always felt like a concession to me to have to do it at all, but it was, like, 'If we have to do this, we're gonna make it great. We're gonna control it.' I wrote the rap part. I remember Paul being so sweet and understanding and excited for us and pouring his heart into it. And then, of course, for years I've had to tell the story that I never get time to tell the end of, and it makes him sound like the bad guy. He was absolutely a hero in the story to make it as positive of an experience as it possibly could have been for me. And then we overcame it. The whole thing was, 'You just have to do it for this one song.' I was, like, 'Okay, we're gonna make this one song really great.' And it definitely flew higher than anybody expected it to. And we did release another song and another song that were fortunately also understood, accepted and embraced. So there we are."
LeeĀ went on to say that people were more accepting of a track that was a collaboration because "it was a soundtrack song. I think generally when you're doing something for a film, there's a little bit of a license for it to be kind of different 'cause it's fitting the film," she explained. "And the thing about this film was the scene where the two are fighting... Well, it's likeĀ ElektraĀ andĀ DaredevilĀ are fighting each other. So it's, like, 'Oh, the dude's voice and the girl. Okay, that makes sense.'"
Back in February 2022,Ā EVANESCENCE's music video forĀ "Bring Me To Life"Ā surpassed one billion views onĀ YouTube. TheĀ Philipp Stƶlzl-directed clip, which was uploaded toĀ YouTubeĀ in December of 2009, was filmed in Romania in January 2003. It featuresĀ AmyĀ in a night gown and barefoot, in her room, inside a tall building in the city at night. The rest of the band is playing on a higher floor of the building.
In 2021,Ā AmyĀ spoke to Germany'sĀ Sonic SeducerĀ about the lyrical inspiration forĀ "Bring Me To Life". The song reached No. 5 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and wasĀ EVANESCENCE's first U.K. No. 1 single.
"I remember what I wroteĀ 'Bring Me To Life'Ā about, because I wrote it about my current husband before we were married," she said. "There was this moment ā I was in a tough place and in a bad relationship. And my husband now,Ā Josh, at the time was just a friend and a person that I barely knew; it was maybe the third or fourth time we'd ever met. And we went in to go grab a seat at a restaurant while our friends parked the car. And we sat across from each other, and he looked at me and he just said, 'So, are you happy?' And it took me so off guard, and I just felt like it pierced my heart, because I felt like I had been pretending really well, and it was, like, somebody could see through me. And then that whole first verse came out of it: 'How can you see into my eyes, like open doors.' It really made me feel and recognize the sense of yearning that I had to get to a better place. And it really kind of set me out on a journey. And it's amazing that that became the song, the first song that broke us on to the scene and made everyone hear of us, because it was about something ā I don't know ā something so personal that I was recognizing in my life."
Last month,Ā "Bring Me To Life"Ā was certified eleven times platinum by theĀ Recording Industry Association of AmericaĀ (RIAA),surpassing the diamond threshold.
In the U.S., diamond certification is awarded to songs or albums that reach 10 million certified units.
EVANESCENCEĀ is currently touring North America in support of its new albumĀ "Sanctuary", which was released in June.
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