We all have that song that sticks in our mind indefinitely. Whether it be a piece of nostalgia, or an infinitely meme-able one, it's a song we can never quite escape. One song that seems to have that infinite staying power is "Bring Me to Life" by Evanescence.
"Bring Me to Life" was the debut single from Evanescence's debut studio album, Fallen in 2003. In 2017, a rearranged version of the song was recorded for the band's fourth studio album Synthesis, leaving out the rap portion of it. In August 2022, "Bring Me to Life" experienced another resurgence 19 years after its original release. The song was included in the soundtrack for the film Daredevil and throughout the years, peaked within the top 10 in more than 15 countries, and within the top 20 in several others countries. It was, also, certified platinum in 2003.
But even with its enormous acceptance, in March of 2021, vocalist Amy Lee told Alternative Press that the section with male vocals was sort of forced by the original label Wind-Up against Lee's wishes in order to market it in the musical landscape of the time. Nonetheless, the singer is happy she got to release a fresh rendition of the song without the rap interlude in it, two decades later: "At the time it was a big issue, it was our first single. I wanted people to understand who we were. That's a struggle you always fight as an artist. If we only had the one hit, if no one ever heard from us again, then nobody would understand who we were. We've made it past that point, so the rap doesn't make me angry anymore. I'm so glad to put a new version out there without the rap, though."
So, who was the chosen male vocalist? Well, it ended being recorded by Paul McCoy from the band 12 Stones. But in a recent interview with Josey Scott by The Metal Summit, one of the interviewers noted that the rap portion of the song was very stylistically similar to the singer, so he was asked about it, to which Josey responded: "I never did a song with Amy Lee. I was asked to do a song with Amy Lee but our schedules were mixed up or something, and I didn't get to do it. So, the kid from 12 Stones did it."
And hey, it worked out clearly because here we are talking about it 20 years later.
