Women of Nu Metal: The Forgotten Demographic
Nu Metal is an interesting case study of societal change. The genre came to prominence during the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, and interestingly enough, the genre largely reflects the demographics of the United States during the time. African Americans, Latinos, and even men with Asian heritage are part of some of the most well know Nu Metal acts, in this case Rage Against the Machine and Linkin Park. However, women are often left out of the discussion. Interview almost anyone and it’s almost certain they will know either of those bands, but if you ask that person if they know Evanescence- the most well known act with a female lead which won multiple awards- that person will most likely not remember who Amy Lee and Evanescence are.
That is likely because the musical style and traits of Evanescence’s “Bring Me to Life” are different from the male dominated genre of Nu Metal. Like the rest of the Nu Metal bands, the economic and social downturns of the new millennium influenced the sound, as the song has a slow tempo and distorted string instruments. However, Evanescence distances themselves from the pressures from the rest of the metal/rock industry to assimilate into the Nu Metal genre. To do this, the band returned to melodically focused structure of more classical music, straying from the rhythmically driven rap rock of Nu Metal.
In “Bring Me to Life” by Evanescence, one specific musical trait in that song that I will discuss is actually a lack of a certain trait. You see, the prevailing genre at the time was Nu Metal. The defining characteristic of Nu Metal is that there is an element of rap in the song. As “Bring Me to Life” was anticipated to be the band’s debut hit, they wanted to differentiate themselves from the rest of the Nu Metal scene. Thus, the band left out many traditional rap elements. Frontwoman Amy Lee stated in an interview “we didn’t want a rapper in the song… since that was our first song,” (Edwards, B.). Instead, the band took that part into their own hands. In order to have a rap-esque part of their song, Amy Lee and company “wrote the part, [they] took a lot of care in creating it the way that [they] wanted it to be,” (Edwards, B.), and incorporated the part during the bridge instead of as an integral part of the song. Despite having a rap part in the song, the band still made their mark by returning to a more melodically and harmonically focused sound for most of the song, then a very rhythmically focused rap part during the bridge. Amy Lee said that “branching out, and trying different things… playing around a little bit in a classical way, those are all things that this band does… you have to do your best to sum up who you are,” (Edwards, B.), and since Amy Lee was introduced to music in a classical way, she summed up who she was with “Bring Me to Life” by staying true to herself and straying from the status quo. Thus, the social factor of the pressure to stay within the bounds of the hot genre of Nu Metal influenced the sound of this song by Evanescence actually being different, and standing out from the crowd.
Leading up to the time in which “Bring Me to Life” was written, the United States was full of doom and gloom. Between an economic crash, terrorist attacks such as 9/11, and the ensuing wars, the people of the United States did not have a positive outlook on the world. Thus, many young Americans found solace with Nu Metal anthems that helped them express their emotions during these hard times (Szatmary 2014). The prevailing theme with many Nu Metal anthems, aside from their lyrics which were often critical of society and the government, were a slow tempo and down tuned, distorted timbres of the string instruments, often a guitar. “Bring Me to Life” reflected this by not only having somber lyrics and meaning, but also having a very distorted guitar and a slow tempo through most of the song. At the time the song was written, the band members of Evanescence were young, impressionable, and themselves going through hard times. As their first big song, “Bring Me to Life” represented the trials and tribulations that Evanescence’s members were going through. Their personal stories resonated in their music, not just the lyrics. Societal pressures of job insecurity (especially for musicians) and contextual factors of dark times found themselves in Evanescence’s music through the downtuned guitars and slow tempos.
Thus, the prevailing social and contextual factors to impact the musical style and traits of Evanescence’s “Bring Me to Life” are the economic and social downturns of the new millennium as well as the pressures from the rest of the metal/rock industry to assimilate into the Nu Metal genre. These factors influenced the sound by having a slow tempo and distorted string instruments, as well as a return to melodically focused music, in order to reflect the depressing times and return their mindsets to a previous time.
Edwards, B. (2018, February 14). The story behind Bring Me To Life by Evanescence. Retrieved from https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-story-behind-bring-me-to-life-by-evanescence
Szatmary, D.P. (2014). Rockin’ in Time. United States: Pearson Education
