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Post by princeofpersia on May 15, 2020 10:49:56 GMT -5
Evanescence's Amy Lee talks struggle with identity, finding their sound as a band and what to expect from the new album
Rebecca Vargese | Published: | 15th May 2020 10:21 AM
Amy Lee is no longer tethered to the past. It’s taken the front-woman of Evanescence some years now to find her perspective, but by her own accord, she now tends to “gravitate less toward melodrama than I did in our early days.” For the singer/songwriter, the last year has been that of introspection and change — ‘breaking old habits that she formed over the years’ (in terms of writing and performance). Talking to her fans on a Reddit discussion board, the singer had said, “You get into a way where you say this is what works for me. This is the formula...this where I sit, this is what I do and that makes you lean towards the same things. It makes you sound the same, which can be frustrating.” And this shift couldn’t be more apparent on the first single from their upcoming album, The Bitter Truth. Survival instincts
The song, Wasted On You, takes bold new steps by embracing electronic melodies and beat-driven passages along with Evanescence’s signature sound. Yet, more importantly, the evolution that is apparent is that the singer no longer holds singular attention in the song’s music video — a trademark that fans have grown to expect from them over the years. It instead transcends from being something that is a personal project to a piece that is cohesively Evanescence. “I struggled with the answer to that idea for a while. I’m at a point now in my life and career where I feel like I really have perspective. I can see the whole picture now. I know who I am and who we are and where we’ve been and I’m very proud to be where we are today,” offers Amy Lee.
Thrust into the limelight at the age of 21, the singer’s career took off in 2003 with the overwhelming success of Evanescence’s breakthrough single Bring Me To Life. Although the Arkansas outfit was neither the biggest innovator within the symphonic/goth metal movement nor the first to play the style of music, as the only group from the genre to make it onto the radio and popular music channels, they paved the way for bands fronted by female vocalists to break into the mainstream. “It’s funny when you think about it in terms of identity — Fallen was our most famous album, so the image that people have in their heads is of me at that time. That’s who you are for eternity for some people.”
Moments of truth
While this experience has caused the band to often revisit older hits like My Immortal, Lithium and even Bring Me to Life, over the years, Amy assures us that The Bitter Truth marks their first fully original album — in nine years. “Themes of disillusionment, new perspectives and a new fire for the fight are evident throughout the album. It’s been about growing up and realising that fairytales aren’t real. Things happen. There is no magic castle in the end. But there is a choice to be able to accept it and live with it or give up. But my choice is definitely to accept the bill and live in the moment,” says the singer.
Bridging the gap
However, despite this newly found vigour and enthusiasm to explore new sonic terrain, the album will not abandon the core sound of the group. “We’re hoping to launch our sound to a level that couldn’t have existed with the band when it started. I would never make a new album if I didn’t hope that something about it was better than anything we’d done before.”
Treading new territory, unlike their 2017 album Synthesis that documented the group’s evolving soundscape, The Bitter Truth attempts to highlight every element that makes up the band’s sound. “With this album, we are offering a full palate. One of the things we were aiming at was taking apart the individual elements of what our sound may be, and give each of them their own space to shine,” explains Amy, speaking about the record that she calls, “A deconstructed Evanescence”.
Fans are us
Having released the first song even before the completion of the album — ‘with only a third of it mixed and mastered’ — we learn from ongoing conversations that the musician has with her fans that some songs may not have strings, while others may be electronic or completely be orchestral space. “We have a pile of unfinished songs and are working remotely for the second round of recording. We are literally, at this moment, listening to our songs with the fans and that never happens. To release something we only wrote a couple of months ago is wild!”
Wasted On You premiered on Vh1 India on April 23 and is streaming on all leading online platforms.
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Thomas
Viscount/Viscountess of EvThreads
I was an eagle in flight...
Posts: 714 
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Post by Thomas on May 15, 2020 20:44:02 GMT -5
I was expecting brand new info about the album instead of things we already know. Amy always repeats the same things in her interviews. Haha
Good to know she's into Fiona Apple!
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Post by arlieimperfection on May 15, 2020 21:46:26 GMT -5
I was expecting brand new info about the album instead of things we already know. Amy always repeats the same things in her interviews. Haha Good to know she's into Fiona Apple! What do you meaaan I didn't know she wants to work with Daft Punk! |
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StormsxSaints
Baron/Baroness of EvThreads
Joined Florence Welch's coven
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Post by StormsxSaints on May 15, 2020 22:25:50 GMT -5
Good to know she's into Fiona Apple! Amy has taste  |
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Post by princeofpersia on May 16, 2020 10:39:12 GMT -5
What do you meaaan I didn't know she wants to work with Daft Punk!
She's a big fan of them. I remember years ago before Ev3's release (guess it was during the release of Tron movie? 🤔) she talked a lot about them in her interviews.
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nz
Baron/Baroness of EvThreads
Posts: 202
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Post by nz on May 16, 2020 12:56:39 GMT -5
I think she truly has a talent of teasing. She knows how to tell you just enough to keep you hooked, but keep a steady release of new material at her own pace.
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anto
Baron/Baroness of EvThreads
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Post by anto on May 17, 2020 11:30:46 GMT -5
Also, there's only so much info they can give us. She's mentioned in interviews before that she doesn't like to give concrete information for things that are still not fully realized because that puts pressure that she feels a need to go against or something to that effect.
They may have an idea in place, but if their writing takes a different turn than expected, fans may be disappointed and they'll present themselves as untrustworthy, compromising really any info Ev decide to give prematurely. Ev3 was a perfect example. Lots of fans were put off to some extent by Ev3 after growing to expect something more like Perfect Dream than what we ended up with. Even those of us who think the album was phenomenal might wonder how Made of Stone was "originally supposed" to sound. Or how Hi-Lo would have been on the broken record with completely synthetic instrumentation than what Synthesis provided.
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Post by arlieimperfection on May 17, 2020 12:05:49 GMT -5
Also, there's only so much info they can give us. She's mentioned in interviews before that she doesn't like to give concrete information for things that are still not fully realized because that puts pressure that she feels a need to go against or something to that effect. They may have an idea in place, but if their writing takes a different turn than expected, fans may be disappointed and they'll present themselves as untrustworthy, compromising really any info Ev decide to give prematurely. Ev3 was a perfect example. Lots of fans were put off to some extent by Ev3 after growing to expect something more like Perfect Dream than what we ended up with. Even those of us who think the album was phenomenal might wonder how Made of Stone was "originally supposed" to sound. Or how Hi-Lo would have been on the broken record with completely synthetic instrumentation than what Synthesis provided. Of course a lot of that came from having to redo the entire album because the label didn't like it. |
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nz
Baron/Baroness of EvThreads
Posts: 202
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Post by nz on May 17, 2020 12:18:32 GMT -5
Also, there's only so much info they can give us. She's mentioned in interviews before that she doesn't like to give concrete information for things that are still not fully realized because that puts pressure that she feels a need to go against or something to that effect. They may have an idea in place, but if their writing takes a different turn than expected, fans may be disappointed and they'll present themselves as untrustworthy, compromising really any info Ev decide to give prematurely. Ev3 was a perfect example. Lots of fans were put off to some extent by Ev3 after growing to expect something more like Perfect Dream than what we ended up with. Even those of us who think the album was phenomenal might wonder how Made of Stone was "originally supposed" to sound. Or how Hi-Lo would have been on the broken record with completely synthetic instrumentation than what Synthesis provided. Of course a lot of that came from having to redo the entire album because the label didn't like it. Absolutely. And I completely agree with anto, I've seen that happen not just in music but in other industries as well. It makes perfect sense not to divulge too much. That's actually why I almost always avoid trailers for anything. |
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TDS
Baron/Baroness of EvThreads
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Post by TDS on May 17, 2020 13:19:25 GMT -5
I wish Amy would do a Q/A where fans could ask questions about anything. We don't have to ask about The Bitter Truth or Worlds Collide, I feel like there is so much questions left unanswered about stuff that happened in the past. For example, what exactly happened with Narnia ? Did they hear about her song or not ? What happened at the Billboard awards in 2004 ? The songs she recorded for the first Underworld, what happened to that ? David talked about how he was laid off from Ev, did it exactly happened like that ? How did they create that sound at the beginning of End of The Dream (synthesis version) ?
I have sooo many questions...
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Post by princeofpersia on May 17, 2020 13:39:04 GMT -5
I wish Amy would do a Q/A where fans could ask questions about anything. We don't have to ask about The Bitter Truth or Worlds Collide, I feel like there is so much questions left unanswered about stuff that happened in the past. For example, what exactly happened with Narnia ? Did they hear about her song or not ? What happened at the Billboard awards in 2004 ? The songs she recorded for the first Underworld, what happened to that ? David talked about how he was laid off form Ev, did it exactly happened like that ? How did they create that sound at the beginning of End of The Dream (synthesis version) ? I have sooo many questions... I agree. fans or interviewers who are fans of Ev always make the best interviews.
Though in all the equal opportunities Amy gives the fans once in a while, it always turns to a CRAZY fast stream of questions or unrelated comments on twitter, facebook or reddit. 😐 I think we need more of those shows like the one with BUILD NYC, or What You Want's premier with James Montgomery or that Yahoo live show in 2007.
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Post by arlieimperfection on May 17, 2020 19:58:13 GMT -5
Well these interviews right now are about promotion for the album and the single. We’ll hear Amy talk about a lot of the same things, but there will be people tuning in who have just realized Evanescence is releasing new material. These interviews are more for those people than long time fans who aren’t learning anything new.
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Post by rionka on Feb 1, 2022 6:41:30 GMT -5
oooh i just found this! i didnt know that Amy Likes Gary Numan, seems that the post-apocalyptic aesthetics makes perfect sense! good  |
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