Amy Lee finally reveals who Evanescence’s Bring Me To Life is about
Evanescence singer Amy Lee has finally spilled the beans on who she’s singing about in Bring Me To Life.
Almost 20 years after it came out, those wondering who Evanescence’s Bring Me To Life is actually about can finally rest easy. Amy Lee has revealed the song’s inspiration and, in the spirit of Occam’s Razor, the answer isn’t actually that surprising.
"I wrote it about my current husband before we were married," Amy confirms in an interview with Sonic Seducer. “There was this moment, I was in a tough place and in a bad relationship, and my husband now, 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. We sat across from each other, and he looked at me and he just said, 'So, are you happy?’
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“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 recognise the sense of yearning that I had to get to a better place, and it really kind of set me out on a journey. 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 so personal that I was recognising in my life."
Evanescence recently released their fourth album, The Bitter Truth, their first full-length in a decade. Speaking to Kerrang!, Amy explained how the record helped her analyse a range of things that needed addressing, but also on moving forward and the importance of change. Living through a pandemic has only thrown this into sharper focus…
“I believe it’s in us as a human race to survive this time,” she says. “Absolutely, I believe we will get through this. But, of course, I don’t know for sure. Ending the album with Blind Belief was deliberate, particularly the line ‘love over all’, because that’s impossibly hard to say, especially when we’ve seen the evil that’s crept out of the dark corners in broad daylight in the last few years. Not that we’ve never seen that before, but it’s just been so in our face, especially as Americans.
“Even so, I believe we do need love over all. It should be simple, but it is complicated. The album is a journey through grief, among other things. The ending is reaching that seemingly impossible point of acceptance. Forgiveness, honour, remembrance and love over all. And when I come to the end of all those feelings – including the rage, the grief, all of that all mixed up – I feel released. I feel like I want to step into the future.”
The band recently rescheduled their Worlds Collide tour with Within Temptation to next year. You can now catch them at:
March 2022
16 Germany, Leipzig, Quarterback Immobilien Arena
17 Germany, Berlin, Velodrom
18 Poland, Gliwice, Arena Gliwice
20 Belgium, Brussels, Palais 12
21 Belgium, Brussels, Palais 12
23 Germany, Dusseldorf, Mitsubishi Electric Halle
24 Luxembourg, Esch-Sur-Alzette, Rockhal
26 Germany, Munich, Olympiahalle
28 Italy, Milan, Mediolanum Forum Milan
30 France, Paris, Accorhotels Arena
April 2022
1 Germany, Hamburg, Barclaycard Arena
4 Leeds, First Direct Arena
5 UK, London, The O2
7 Glasgow, The SSE Hydro Arena
8 Birmingham, Arena Birmingham
11 The Netherlands, Amsterdam, Ziggo Dome
12 The Netherlands, Amsterdam, Ziggo Dome
13 Germany, Frankfurt, Festhalle
15 Switzerland, Zurich, Hallenstadion