Evanescence's Amy Lee has expressed her appreciation of the integral role that music has played in helping her process her emotions during some of the most traumatic and challenging periods of her life.
The 44-year-old Californian vocalist shared her thoughts on the cathartic power of creating music and art during an interview conducted for British pop star Sophie Ellis-Bextor's Spinning Plates podcast.
The subject arose when the English singer complimented Lee on the emotional weight of her lyrics, noting that Lee isn't afraid to tap into dark memories in her efforts to convey honest, sincere and authentic emotions to those prepared to listen. Ellis-Bextor added that, thanks to Lee's open-hearted lyrics, she felt that she was given genuine insights into the US star's character. Without explicitly laying bare the specific personal tragedies that have impacted Lee's life and subsequently inspired Evanescence songs, the podcast host salutes Lee for how she has channelled her feelings into relatable and revealing art. Here Ellis-Bextor is referencing the fact that Lee has drawn upon the pain of losing two siblings - her sister Bonnie and brother Robby - at various points across Evanescence's career.
Thanking Ellis-Bextor for her insight, Lee tells her, "That grief was really the first thing that made me make music in a serious way."
The English singer then suggests that, in dealing honestly with pain and loss, Lee has accrued a wisdom, and empathy, that others can relate to and identify with.
"At this age, most people have had to experience death on some level," Lee agrees. "And it feels like there is so much love in grief. Like to grieve someone is to love them, is to not forget. I don't want to lose the memories of my brother or my sister, so I'm gonna keep talking about them. And I'm gonna keep diving into all the parts of it, not just focused on the sadness of their loss, but like on who they were as people. It does bring some sad feelings to remember, just because we can't have them now, you know? But like the memory that puts love in my heart every time."
During a 2023 interview with Metal Hammer's Danni Leivers, Amy Lee was asked how the loss of her sister Bonnie - who died aged 3 when Lee was six years old - shaped her.
"It made me look at the world in a different way, see it from a bigger perspective than the kids around me," Lee replied. "I spent a lot of time being creative by myself because I was trying to express something that I couldn’t say. Whether it was poetry or music or drawing, I was trying to paint a picture of the inside and it has become my way through life... it started this soul, spirit-searching, expression mode."
Listen to the Spinning Plates podcast below.
