Every band is going to find themselves having to make compromises whenever they try to hit it big.
It’s always invigorating seeing all of that hard work pay off, but that doesn’t come without having to make some pretty big sacrifices along the way. And once Evanescence finally reached the top of the metal world, they had to do it with one member that they weren’t as keen on.
Speaking to Loudwire after the fact, Amy Lee actually talked about not actually wanting to have someone join as a rapper and was willing to leave their major deal behind, saying “We had to leave that place in California, say ‘nevermind, I guess we’re dropped’ and we’re not doing anything. Going back to Arkansas with tears in our eyes.”
Once the label realized what they would be leaving on the table with Amy Lee’s voice though, they eventually relented, but still insisted that a rapper be featured on ‘Bring Me to Life,’ with Lee saying “When we got there, we actually called their bluff enough to where they were like ‘Okay, we have a movie opportunity and we’re going to let you do your thing but you have to have a rapper on this one song, because they specifically asked for it.’”
Even though ‘Bring Me To Life’ ended up being their most successful song, Amy is still not that jazzed about the rapping sections being in there, saying to Louder “It was something that we had to do, it was a concession that we had to make to our label. But at least when we did it, I wrote the part, we took a lot of care in creating it the way we wanted it to be, and I worked with Paul (McCoy) to get it the way we felt still fit our band.”
Once it was finished, the label’s decision for it to be the lead single still rubbed Amy the wrong way:
“It was one of our big early struggles, that big rap thing. Having that male vocalist on our first song to me was a lost battle in a lot of ways. That’s confusing, like, ‘What is this band?’ That really worried me being our first song. I wanted it to be ‘Going Under.’”
While Evanescence were able to move past their one breakout hit, Amy did eventually get to record ‘Bring Me to Life’ the way she wanted as well, making a more orchestral version of it for the album Synthesis well after the fact.
Now fans can listen to the song as it was meant to be enjoyed. Check that version out below. Which do you prefer?
