Amy Lee opens up about new Evanescence album, Sanctuary, creating her most exciting music video yet, and how the record reconnected her with the music that started it all.

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For over 20 years, Evanescence has built a catalog of music that has become a safe haven for millions of fans. Growing up, The Open Door was that album for me — an album I could return to over and over again. Amy Lee has always had a gift for turning complicated feelings into something cinematic and deeply relatable.

With the release of their sixth studio album, Sanctuary, Evanescence continues that legacy. Amy wrote the record with the fans at the forefront of her mind, crafting a body of work that pays homage to the production of 2003’s Fallen and the sweeping string arrangements that defined 2006's The Open Door.

Lyrically, Sanctuary carries an overarching theme of hope across its 12 tracks. Closing song "Wide Open Heart" reflects on "facing the weight of the world" with an open heart, while title track "Sanctuary" reassures fans that Amy is "with [us] all the way down."

Chatting with Amy always feels like chatting with an old friend, and we hopped on Zoom to dive into the album (available now), discuss the making of the video for "Who Will You Follow," and hear what she’s most excited about as Evanescence prepares for their upcoming tour.Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

BuzzFeed: I want to start with the incredible video for "Who Will You Follow." It is so badass, and it's been getting a lot of attention. What is your reaction to such a positive response?Amy: It makes me so happy. Art takes time, money, and a lot of people pouring their minds and bodies into it. These days, you don't profit from a music video. Back in the day, we could put it on MTV and actually count it as a stream, and you'd get a tiny piece of revenue.

But I think now, the currency that we get from a video is so much deeper than money. It feels really good to invest in creating something like that with great artists. I love that people love it. It's cool to see people recognizing that the video was done really thoughtfully.

We had a huge, amazing crew with [director] Jensen [Noen] and his team, a whole bunch of actors, and we even worked with rats. I called Jensen after meeting him through the "End of You" video. I saw some of the other work that he had done, and it blew my mind. He is such a master of creating other worlds, which takes a lot of skill.Jensen and I talked about the song's meaning and what I wanted to express, and we swapped a lot of ideas before landing on the final product. It was a great combination of his ideas, my ideas, and things coming together in the moment.I think it's our best video yet.

There are so many elements, like the elevator, the rats, the cars — do you have a funny behind-the-scenes memory from the making of the video?Amy: Oh, there are a lot. The rats were a lot more fun than we expected. It was one of those things we threw in at the last moment. In the song, I say "the rats in the wall are already coming through," so we thought we could have some rats scurry by for that one second. That idea turned into so much more.

It's always cool to work with live animals, and we've done it a few times. We got to work with hybrid wolves on the "Call Me When You're Sober" set. It's always fun when you get to do something different than sitting in the studio and writing a song — so I really enjoyed that part.

The actors on set had to sit really, really still, like they're frozen — and the rats were squirming all over the place. There were definitely a couple of times we had to do another take because someone screamed or had to take a moment when a rat crawled across their chest.

But the rats were very popular. We all enjoyed that part very much. We spent the afternoon with them, and they were happy, well-trained rats.

Sanctuary is an incredible album. I want to take a moment to highlight my favorite track, "Wide Open Heart." It has a gorgeous closing message, and the orchestral moments are so vibrant. Can you tell me more about the inspiration?Amy: "Wide Open Heart" started in that first session with [producers] Jordan Fish, Zakk Cervini, [guitarist] Troy [McLawhorn], and me in the spring of 2025. It was one of the first songs that burst out of us that first week and, during that time, I finished the chorus.The core of the song is about looking around at what we're up against. It's about the state of the world and how we move forward through life's trials.I think about it like a relationship. Let's say you go through a breakup, and somebody was really terrible to you. It can be hard to open your heart back up again. You have to harden yourself to survive a struggle like that — and the challenge is to not let it change you. Don't let forces beyond your control snuff out your light.With everything in our lives, in a world that we have to be strong against — don't let it take your identity or steal your soul. You need to maintain your heart.I finished the lyrics while walking around the woods in Nashville, just searching for pieces of the song in my heart. Sometimes lyrics come quickly, and sometimes months go by, and you get a line every once in a while. It always feels great when a line just hits you out of the blue. (Laughs) By that time, I was so ready to just listen back and to not think about it anymore. It feels great to be done.

I'd also like to hear from you — which song from the album would you like to highlight for the fans?Amy: I love "Calm Down." I think it's unusual and groovy, and I love listening to it. It was one of the first ones we did on that first batch with [producer] Nick [Raskulinecz]. It started with me at home playing with my synthesizers. Then I got together with [bassist] Emma [Anzai] a bit, and she wrote that incredible bass line.The song is like a feminist anthem to me. I love it. It's bitchy as hell, and I can't wait to sing it live.Another cool part is the vocal moment in the intro [BuzzFeed: Amy riffs the line, and she sounds incredible]. I was just playing in my studio, and I reversed the vocals. I flipped them around for fun. I was like, "That sounds cooler."It’s been empowering to have the ability to record at home over the last 20 years, and I can use Pro Tools well enough to build songs and demos. It's another instrument, you know? That really helps the creativity flow.

Sanctuary feels connected to Fallen and The Open Door while still sounding fresh. How did you approach balancing those past and present sounds?Amy: The real key that unlocked that door was when we got in there with Jordan and Zakk, because I could see the music through their eyes. They're looking at the production from the perspective of people who loved Fallen when it came out. They're a little bit younger than me. That's an album that they really understood, and it came out at an influential time in their lives.Working with them allowed me to see some things from the early days differently. It's kind of like when your friend thinks something is really cool, so you see that in a new light.It helped me remember how I felt back when those albums were made. We can do it in a new way, in a new era, with a fresh, sharp energy — but with that full-picture understanding, love, and appreciation for the older work.It's sort of my job to be our biggest critic. I think to some degree that made me a little bit cynical about the early music, and more excited about the growth. But Jordan and Zakk unlocked something in me — some of that old energy coming back in a way that made me fall in love with our early music again.

Speaking of the early music, I don't know if you've seen this yet, but "Bring Me To Life" just hit 2 billion streams on Spotify. How does it feel to join this elite club of songs?

Amy: Amazing. It's an amazing gift, and that song has definitely stood the test of time. I think it's beautiful that people are still loving the music that we were working on when I was just out of high school. I'm very proud of that.I also feel it's a testament to the fact that we're still making music all this time. When people hear one of our new songs, like "Who Will You Follow," they want to go back and watch the "Bring Me To Life" video. That also makes me really proud.

Evanescence is about to embark on a massive tour. You mentioned "Calm Down," but which other songs from Sanctuary are you most excited to debut live?Amy: I can't wait for rehearsal. We start in two days. I think we're doing every song on the new album except for one, so there's a lot of new music to perfect. There's also a lot of work with vocal memory — learning how to sing these songs live — because it is a little bit different.I'm looking forward to playing all the new songs, for sure. We are obviously playing just as many other songs as well. I think we have a really beautiful collection of all kinds of music from our catalog. I'm excited about that, and I have a few surprises planned.

Finally, to end on a bit of a reflective note, I feel like Sanctuary has been such a full-circle journey for Evanescence. What would Fallen-era Amy think about Sanctuary? What does Sanctuary-era Amy think about Fallen?Amy: I would have been blown away to hear Sanctuary back then. It contains things I wasn't capable of at the time. It's a level deeper. I would have been a big fan. I think I would have been intimidated by it too, like, "Will I really be able to do this in the future?"Looking back at Fallen, I think about the journey. It feels like we've shared a lot of life together, us and the fans. I think about all the times we played those songs live, and all the stories people have told us — what "My Immortal" means to them, moments in their life where they felt heard, or pulled back from the edge, or even falling in love. I think it's important for me to remember, and it's good for me to remember.It's so much bigger than me and my story. I feel honored to be part of something that's bigger than myself or even the band. We get to make music for people and become a part of their stories and their lives.It's been so cool having the people that jumped in from the early days coming along for this lifetime of a ride.

Sanctuary is out now. Catch Evanescence on their upcoming tour, kicking off June 11.Check out my 2025 feature with Amy, and don't miss the incredible video for "Who Will You Follow."