Amy Lee On Evanescence's 'The Open Door' And New Music

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Evanescence's Fallen launched the band into stardom in the early 2000s with Amy Lee's haunting vocals and the band's blend of orchestral and rock elements. I'll never forget the first time my sister put Fallen into the car's CD player; we were instant fans from the opening chords of "Going Under." We had both Fallen and The Open Door on repeat, and eventually didn't refer to the songs by their titles — just by their track numbers.
Following multiple tours and releases — including their self-titled album, the orchestral Synthesis, the deep cuts of Lost Whispers, and 2021's The Bitter Truth — Evanescence is back in 2025 with incredible new material.
To celebrate the band's first number one on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Airplay and the release of the "Fight Like a Girl" music video, I sat down with rock icon Amy Lee. Read on as we discuss the making of "Fight Like a Girl," explore upcoming music, and reflect on Evanescence's earliest releases.
Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
BuzzFeed: You recently released "Fight Like a Girl" for the film Ballerina. How did the collab come about?
Amy Lee: I worked with Tyler Bates, who is the composer for all the John Wick films. We've always wanted to work together, but we just hadn't found the right thing. He called me, and I was like, "Hey, I think I finally found our thing. Let's do this song together for Ballerina!" So it was just really laid-back and easy.
I watched the film, and listened through and looked for inspiration — it feels so good to see a woman kicking ass right now! Once I had that "Fight Like a Girl" part down, the rest of it happened pretty quickly.
I also got to collab with one of my favorite artists, K.Flay. I got to that bridge part, and I didn't know what to sing. It just occurred to me, and I kind of heard her voice in my head. I literally hadn't met her before, but I always liked her. She's one of the coolest people! I love it when you're a fan of somebody, and then you meet them and they are absolutely everything you wanted them to be.
I love the use of fire and rain in the music video. Is it fun filming in the pouring rain, and with all the fire around?
So fun! It's cool when we get to play in a different world, because we spend the majority of our time focusing on every little detail within the music and the audio. Here, we get these opportunities to really branch out and think about the visual and be artists in that realm.
It's great creating visually with people, especially when they're as awesome as Chad Stahelski [producer of Ballerina, director of the music video, and prior John Wick films]. When we get opportunities to work with film directors, I always want to make it as cool and fun and big and exciting as possible. And obviously Chad was very into that, too. He was like, "We need to set someone on fire." I was like, "I think that sounds appropriate!"
Is there a favorite behind-the-scenes moment you would like to share about the video?
Chad and I were originally talking about working in clips of Ballerina throughout. We wound up getting so much great footage [for the music video] that we didn't end up doing that in the main part of the video — so we ended up trying to match specific scenes. I combed through the movie and screenshotted parts that I thought had a cool look, and one of those was the elevator. The lighting is so cool, it actually reminds me of Fallen a little bit with that very metallic, kind of hyper-future look.
So I was like, "Can we find an elevator?" They were like, "No, we really can't, we're just gonna have to build one!" I got there on the set, and there was this amazing elevator with buttons and everything, all lit up exactly like the movie. So we really were shot-matching stuff, and I thought it turned out really cool.
This was also the first time that my son, Jack, got to come on set for a video shoot like that. He's really into the production of our live shows, like the lasers and visual effects. That elevator was the first part that we were shooting, and we walked through it with Chad, and Chad was explaining to him how it works.
Talk about the world's greatest "Take Your Kid to Work" day!
Do you approach writing for TV and movies differently than writing for an Evanescence album?
Yeah, for sure. One of the coolest things about getting to do music for a film or even a video game is that it's always a collab in some way. You're working with the director and whoever's making the movie, and they care about the music in the film and want it to fit the film. So instead of the priority solely being, "Let's make whatever we want and how we want it to feel," it's more about fitting a character, the vibe of a scene, or wrapping up a film at the end titles.
Ballerina has been really fun because it was going to be just one song, and then it spun out into two different, really cool songs with different collaborations. "Hand That Feeds" kind of came in halfway through the process of working on "Fight Like a Girl." Halsey showed up with this song idea, and we just had a blast. We got to create together and then make that fun music video, and that was all just, like, gravy.
This has been a time when I've felt the universe calling me to make music. Music has always been the place where I feel like I belong and where I can make some kind of change, and hopefully, put something good into the world. I just feel compelled right now to do whatever I can to shine some light in the world, and I hope, in whatever I do, that it comes across as meant to empower and inspire.
Alex Seaver, who I've worked with before, sent me the beginning of "Afterlife," and I loved it right away. We originally built the song just for a scene, but it got so cool that we went for it. I took it to the band and Nick Raskulinecz [producer]. We got in a room together, garage-band style, finished the song, and then went into the studio. It felt really good to get in there, and also with Emma [new bassist, Emma Anzai started in 2022]. She has brought so much to the band, and it's been a real pleasure working with her. So anyway, it feels amazing. It feels like things are lining up for a reason.
It's funny, because they were giving me those numbers and I'm thinking about "Bring Me to Life" — that hit number one on the Top 40 chart. But, as far as the rock chart, this is extra special. I guess we finally earned our place in the rock community, and that means so much.
Is there anything that you can confirm about the next album?
Yeah! We're working on it. We're partway through. I think we're going to continue to release music as we go, because it feels really good to celebrate with our fans while it's still fresh. We'll release it as a full album when it's all done, but you can expect to have the hits keep coming this year. So stay tuned — we're going to keep this momentum up!
Love to hear that! You're also touring with Metallica in the fall. It's an understatement that Evanescence songs are not easy to sing. What are some ways you're mindful about vocal health on tour?
There's so many tricks you can do and so many warm-ups, stretches, specialties, and so on. But to be honest, I feel like there are three things that are the hardest on your voice: talking nonstop, not getting enough sleep, and just overuse in general. Like, don't blow your voice out by booking three nights in a row singing a full show. I can't do that anymore. I don't want to. Also, getting a full night's sleep and drinking plenty of water is really important.
What really ends up hurting my voice more than anything is stressing that there's going to be something wrong. I think to myself, just calm down, shut up, and play a video game. Don't freak out! Something I've come to trust more than I used to is that your voice comes from your heart. When you really need it, as long as you're not sick or something, when you need it to happen, it's going to happen. It's a power that will come out of you when you want it to; it's about feeling it and going for it and not stressing out about it.
I'm curious, which songs on tour are the most vocally challenging?
I've learned how to pace the set list better and, if a song is easier for me, I'll make sure and get one or two of those in between. Instead of thinking, "This is what's best for the momentum of the set list," now I'll make decisions based on when I need a break. Maybe I'll sit down for "Lithium" for a second before we go into "Better Without You" or whatever.
I have been putting some of the hardest songs at the top of the set to get them out of the way while my voice is fresh. Well, I'll tell you what's hard — "The Change" is a really hard one, "Sweet Sacrifice" is incredibly hard, and that's why we only do it once in a while. "Better Without You" is a difficult one; it's just really high!
I got better at learning when to go falsetto in a way that feels like I still mean it. I'm learning to flip my voice and not feel ashamed of that. When I was younger, it had to be full power all the time. Then I'd have a crappy voice by the end of the show, because I wasn't ever willing to let it flip. Falsetto sounds really cool sometimes! Then you save up your gas when you really need it.
What about "Bring Me to Life"? I feel like at this point you can sing it in your sleep!
I can do that no matter what's going on. It does have that really long note. I would only be scared of "Bring Me to Life" because it is usually the last song in our set. So if I'm ever sick or, like, exhausted at the end of the show, I just try not to be nervous. That's one of those moments where I have to tell myself not to freak out and worry that your voice isn't going to be there.
But other than that, like no matter how tired my voice is, you know, it's "Bring Me to Life," so the rest of it's easy for me. But when we get to that part at the end, I just have to trust and take the leap! You just gotta take the leap without fear. That's the trick!
Your fans will love you either way! Throwing it back to your first three albums [ Fallen, The Open Door, Evanescence ] — is there a song you feel is underrated now that it's been some time?
It's hard to say that anything is underrated by your fans. When we were first coming out, I felt like, "I hope people like me, and that we're able to last. I hope that people hear our second single and our third single, and not just the very first song, and then throw us away." I have such a different feeling now, when we have people all over the world who love our music and grew up with our music. It means something to them, you know, they love the deep cuts as much as the hits.
To be honest, I feel so much more appreciation for all of our music than I ever expected when we were starting out. It's hard for me to sit around and think about what's underrated when I feel like everything's been rated much better than I expected! [ We laugh. ]
Amy Lee, Evanescence / Via open.spotify.com
There are songs that I like that we didn't end up making into singles. If I could go back in time, I would have fought for "Imaginary." That's such an Evanescence song to me.
That was our first album so I had to fight for a lot, all the time. It was constant fighting for the art and my vision. For whatever reason, the suits wanted "Everybody's Fool," and I love that song, too! But I really felt like "Imaginary" was meant to be that single at that time, and I would have loved to make a beautiful video for it. I've kind of always had it in the back of my head, maybe someday we'll make a video.
It's never too late!
My last question for you — The Open Door is my favorite album, and its 20th anniversary is next year. When you look back, is there a song you appreciate more over time, or a song that you are extra proud of?
I'm proud of that album. That album came out of a time that was a coming-of-age moment for me. And it's right there in the title, like it was time to go out on my own, show what I could do, and prove some things. It was liberating and fun, and I also put a lot of pressure on myself. So the fact that people think of The Open Door as their favorite album, it means so much to me.
I mean, things you wouldn't think of as rebellious were. Like, I love organ. Organ is an instrument that I've always super dug. It just didn't fly at the time for Fallen. This time, I was in control. It was like, I'm gonna do organ, I'm gonna do harpsichord, I'm gonna do whatever classical crap I want. I'm going to be sassy, and I'm also going to break the rules about not having vibrato or whatever.
I had a lot of rules for myself, honestly, because I was younger on Fallen. But for The Open Door, it was like, okay, it's up to you! There's not just one song for me. I'm so proud of that album, really.