Why I Love Evanescence

The first moment I started listening to Evanescence was when I turned on the radio one day and heard their song, "Bring me to life." I was quite amazed, frankly
speaking, partially because I had never heard a metal band with a female lead singer. Of course, I was later to discover bands such as Lacuna Coil in the near future. My younger brother, who was probably about eleven years of age, also fell in love with the song after hearing it a few times. It was the year 2002, so the song was played quite often on radio, whereas it is only played up to twice a week this very day.

He told me that this was the first time he heard sad rock. All the rest he had heard were all jolly, happy, or angry. But, this was something different. This was something very different, indeed. The beauty of Amy Lee's voice was so euphonious that it haunted me thoughout the day. I would have said that it's beauty combined with the hard rock in the back provided with a superb beat and soothing sound together.

It wasn't difficult to find her other songs, since her voice is pretty noticable. I could tell My Immortal was written and sung by her as well because of the uniqueness of her voice. Seether's Broken featured her as well, and I was pretty quick at catching that and so did my brother.

I came to love the band.

One of the issues I had with Amy was her appearance. For some reason, I believe I had become so accustomed to the anorexic form of the supermodel that I believed straight away that Amy was fat. Even during the Fallen times, I thought she was a little chubby. After the Open Door, I was even more shocked. Surprisingly, I had already discovered that I was attracted to more curvy women in my life, yet I found it hard to find a curvy supermodel attractive. That was very interesting. Quite recently, I checked her BMI index and it was a 23.2. That is ideal weight. She is probably 140 pounds and she is about 5'3", yet she is probably the most healthy celebrity you could come across. I must say, if she looks fat on television, then all those supermodels must be either very unhealthy or naturally skinny to the bone. Today, because of Amy, I had come to believe that the audience's expectations on celebrities has gone to far. We start pointing out zits on their faces even though our soul mates have more. We talk about how often celebrity romantic relationships break up so frequently, when we often do so as well, if not more. And I have to say that I am extremely shameful for calling Amy Lee fat when my present day girlfriend, whom I think is the most attractive woman in the world, has more junk in the trunk. How screwed up my mind must have been. What did I want Amy to do? Die? Plus, she's a singer and her weight contributes a lot to the power of her voice. My expectations were way up there.

Now that I have already mentioned what Amy has taught me about celebrites, let me talk about how her band has helped me through my life. Entering puberty, I felt the world being torn away from me. I didn't feel like myself anymore. I felt traumatized from having to develop new strategies of self-control since the ones I used as a child did nothing for me after the hormonal changes. Although I don't think the song was intentially related to that, I loved the song "Field of Innocence". I felt like I could related to it because it reflected the pain and the loss of happiness I gained through entering this hurtful stage. Now that my puberty is ending, I am grateful, but I shall never forget the band for showing a way to reach out to those who feel that their feelings and pains are too inappropriate or selfish to be heard. I knew that puberty was a "good" thing, but being good didn't make it a happy thing. Of course, I had good times, but I found it hard to feel in control over my body and myself. I tried grasping onto the childhood that was slowly escaping because I wanted to feel secure. That song helped me to get through that experience and to get used to the person I was becoming.

Evanescence also helped me with my poetry. Their lyrics were so surreal and beautiful that I could not help but be inspired by them. They were deeply emotional and Amy's powerful voice really showed their dramatic undertones.

Evanescence also helped me musically. I learned from them that, playing the violin, beautiful music required contrasting material. You need VERY loud parts and very soft areas. You need to keep the music flowing like the waves of an ocean. Amy's voice had the ability to sing like it was going to blow you away and then die down to a gliding whisper. I applied that to my violin playing and now I received a music scholarship to college.

As a whole, I believe that Evanescence is a wonderful band, even though Amy seems to be the heart of it. I love it and will probably learn to love it more.

I can't wait till the next album comes up. I bet it would be even more awesome. It would be helpful to my life as well as to you Evanescence fans out there.

Thank you for letting me express myself and to become a more confident person, Evanescence. I shall be eternally grateful.