Style: Goth rock, with aspects of symphonic metal (combining heavy rock instrumental sound & pop songwriting style with orchestral strings, piano, & choruses on some songs)
-Band influences: 90’s alternative rock, Metallica, Nine Inch Nails
Band info:
-Lead singer & pianist: Amy Lee
-Many changes of band members over the years, but Amy Lee lead singing and writing songs has remained consistent
-Band timeline- 1995-2012; 2015-present
-Most recent work: the album Synthesis released in 2017, a project remixing orchestral/electronic versions of previous popular songs, with new songs as well, such as Hi-Lo, featuring Lindsey Stirling on violin. I’m curious what they will do next, will they still use the rock style from earlier albums or are they focusing more now on the symphonic/electronic sound?
Common themes I’ve noticed in Evanescence songs: expressing the emotional side of hard life experiences such as loss, abuse, brokenness in relationships, etc.
How the music style is different from neighboring hard rock genres (such as punk & metal)- In my opinion it’s Amy Lee’s singing style that sets Evanescence apart the most, her singing seems elegant compared to the more scratchy or yelly voices I’m used to hearing in punk and hard rock. Lee uses a range of dynamics from belting (when she’s singing loud) to a more soft and operatic (often at the beginning of a song/in the less intense parts of a song).
Song I chose to present: Lithium
Album: The Open Door, 2nd studio album, released in 2006
Lee told Rolling Stone the album would be “a complete spectrum of darkness and scary stuff and emotion”.
Music sound aspects of Lithium:
– tempo: slow and deliberate; probably a ballad
– dynamic changes: soft beginning with just singer & piano, then band enters with a bang
-instrumental aspects I noticed: the distortion used on the guitar (acoustic or electric?) on the picking part adds a haunting/dreamy sound
Lyrics:
(Hook) Lithium, don’t want to lock me up inside
Lithium, don’t want to forget how it feels without
Lithium, I want to stay in love with my sorrow
Oh, but, God, I want to let it go
(Verse 1) Come to bed, don’t make me sleep alone
Couldn’t hide the emptiness; you let it show
Never wanted it to be so cold
Just didn’t drink enough to say you love me
I can’t hold on to me
Wonder what’s wrong with me
Lithium, don’t want to lock me up inside
Lithium, don’t want to forget how it feels without
Lithium, I want to stay in love with my sorrow
(Bridge) Don’t want to let it lay me down this time
Drown my will to fly
Here in the darkness I know myself
Can’t break free until I let it go
Let me go
(Verse 2) Darling, I forgive you after all
Anything is better than to be alone
And in the end I guess I had to fall
Always find my place among the ashes
I can’t hold on to me
Wonder what’s wrong with me
Lithium, don’t want to lock me up inside
Lithium, don’t want to forget how it feels without
Lithium, I want to stay in love with my sorrow
(Outro) Stay in love with you
I, I’m gonna let it go
Analysis:
What does “Lithium” mean, and what is the significance of it?
According to Genius.com, Lee has explained in an interview, “‘Lithium’ is definitely a metaphor. I felt like I was in love with my sorrow. I get into these moods where I write music. It’s not about so much about being depressed, it’s just the strange low that I ride. But at the same time I want to be free and break through and be happy. I think that was kind of me, getting ready to play [and saying], ‘That’s it, drop the ball and just change and move on.’” There is also an explanation somewhere about Lithium being a drug to treat Bipolar disorder, working as a numbing agent. Lee also said in an interview with MTV, “…describing happiness is lithium, it’s like saying ‘that’s numbness, I won’t be able to be an artist anymore if I’m happy,’ which is hilarious because that’s just not true, I’m happy. So it’s like this fight within the song of like ‘do I do this and get out of here and get happy or do I wallow in it like I always do?’…”
I think that tension is clear between wanting happiness but wanting to cling to the sorrow she’s so familiar with can be seen in the lyrics, “I want to stay in love with my sorrow…Oh, but God, I want to let it go.”
Lee has done a lot of explaining about this song in interviews, but I think the song meaning is ambiguous when you first listen to it. For example, when looking at the verses, is she still speaking to Lithium, or is she singing to a person- a past lover or ex? Or maybe both. It depends on how you look at it.
Here is a link to the music video- you don’t have to watch it to understand the song, but the visuals do add to the mood of the song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJGpsL_XYQI