Fresh off the release of “Who Will You Follow,” Evanescence have revealed plans for their upcoming album, Sanctuary, due out June 5. Amy Lee joined Abe Kanan for an Audacy Check In to talk touring, the inspiration for the album, and what it means to balance motherhood and music.
LISTEN NOW: Audacy Check In with Evanescence
The album has been a work in progress for "3 years solid," with Amy sharing that the new song, "Who Will You Follow," was the second-to-last track written for the project. “I felt very fueled, by the state of the world creatively,” she says of the song and album. “I feel like I have a ton to get off my chest. This music is a sanctuary for me."
"I've been kind of underground for the beginning of this year. I just sort of had to disappear and finish all the lyrics, which seemed more important than ever, and finally pulled my head up and we just finished the album.”
Lee views the music, and the new album Sanctuary, as a personal haven and a space for self-expression without censorship. She also notes that she is now less "precious and insecure" about collaboration than earlier in her career, working with 3 producers on the new project. “It's just like, here it is,” says Amy. “I'm not afraid of rejection. I want to open my heart to hear what somebody else has to say.”
“I feel like, when we were making our first music, when we were making our first album, I was just shy. It was hard to share with anybody and also, you know, really trying to prove myself in those first couple of albums, especially like as a writer. Everybody knows I'm a singer, but like let me do my s*** all myself, a lot of the time, when it just doesn't have to be that way.”
“Music is from the universe, like all these things that we share, this is spiritual, this is deeper than one person's journey, but at the same time it's all very, very specifically personal to me in my life.”
For more from Amy Lee of Evanescence, check out the full conversation above.
‘Sanctuary’ arrives everywhere on June 5
‘Sanctuary’ arrives everywhere on June 5
