Voice Notes is a recurring column where we ask singers how they developed their vocal approach.
EvanescencefrontwomanAmy Leehas one of the most powerful voices in music.
But it took a long time for her to feel comfortable using it.
“When I let myself not feel like I have to do a certain thing musically, I keep finding myself back here,” says Lee about the return of Evanescence.Credit: Eric Ryan Anderson for EW
“I was pretty insecure in the beginning; I always felt like I wasn’t that good.
I don’t feel that way now.”
“We all feel broken sometimes.
Eric Ryan Anderson for EW
It’s really, really healthy to be able to say that everything’s not okay.
You have to let it out.”
In doing so, she found the freedom to channel her honesty.
“I truly see it as an expression of myself,” she says of singing.
“It’s not a job to me; it’s my heart.
And I definitely hear a physical difference in my voice now.
When I sing, I’m not thinking about anything, I’m not nervous.
I feel a spiritual, centered transcendence.
Something takes over and I lock in and I know I’m where I’m supposed to be.”
I put my family on hold.
“That was honestly my biggest problem with it, or part of it,” she adds.
“It’s like, ‘You think I can’t do this by myself?
I got males all around me, there’s enough.’
Or maybe we would have been understood better.”
It all comes full circle onThe Bitter Truth, with Lee and her bandmates exerting full creative control.
“It’s awesome.
It’s what I always wanted,” Lee says.
“I don’t even know how to put that other than like, women!
I’m not going to make it so hard for myself.
But then it gets to the chorus that I have to!
And then it’s like, higher than ever.”
She laughs as she deadpans, “So, we’re f—ed.
But the challenge is what keeps me inspired and on fire about it.”
A version of this story appears in the April 2021 issue ofEntertainment Weekly.
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