"I feel like all my writing life I’ve been trying to express myself and feeling like no one understood me," says Amy Lee, co-founder and voice of rock phenom Evanescence.
    "My ultimate goal was that they would get it. It turns out that not only a few people but millions of people all over the world have. I never got into this to be some huge international band. That was never the plan or anything I necessarily wanted. It’s a really cool surprise."
    Indeed it has been—both for this intriguing group from Little Rock, Ark., which blends metal, industrial and classical, among other elements, and for music fans everywhere looking for a fresh listening experience.
    Acknowledgement comes from members of the Recording Industry Association of America itself, which has selected Evanescence for an eye-popping five Grammy nominations—music’s highest honor: Album of the Year (Fallen), Best New Artist, Best Rock Album, Best Hard Rock Performance ("Bring Me To Life") and Best Rock Song ("Bring Me to Life").
    The other awards shows that they have been to are fun, Lee says, but she views them as "mostly a pageant. But the Grammys are really special. They are the one thing that has been around forever. They really stand out and mean something. People in the industry vote for the awards. I was hoping to get one nomination. The fact we got five is a shock to me."
    For anyone still surprised that all this music comes from a band from Little Rock, Lee reminds, "Music comes from inside. It doesn’t matter where you come from. We’re not influenced by the next door neighbor’s banjo playing." She laughs.
    It’s not about geography, she says. It’s about the need for an artist to be open-minded. "We are very open-minded. Some of the best bands come out of the middle of nowhere."
    Also recognizing that fact is that Evanescence received two Billboard Awards for New Group Artist of the Year and Soundtrack Single of the Year ("Bring Me To Life," from the Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner film, Daredevil). The band also received the Best New International Artist title at the MTV Latin America Awards and Best Rock Song of the Year at the Teen Choice Awards.
    A confirmation of a vision realized? "It’s a great congratulations for a job well done," she says. "We all worked very hard. This is sort of like a really, really nice pat on the back. I feel gratified that we have done something. I really put my heart in this album and it worked. It’s cool to see someone go out of their way and go ‘Wow! Good job!'"
    Why has the music of Evanescence resonated for people? "If I knew that, it would be the secret to everything and putting out another album and having it do as well," Lee says, laughing again. "I really like that people can feel the honesty in the music. A lot of music out there is not genuine. Our music is in our hearts. I like to think people can feel that it is very genuine and honest. And I’ve always been very open and honest about what I’m going through."
    Lee says music has always been about her life. "If people can connect, hopefully I’ve said things other people are afraid to say."
    It’s important that people realize they are not alone with their problems, she suggests. "Music to me is therapy. If nobody bought it I’d still be writing. The fact it can also serve a purpose, and people realize they’re not alone, is good. Everyone feels alone."
    Lee, 21, insists she wouldn’t mind being a social worker someday, "or having a job that allows you to be there for kids with problems and women who have been abused."
    She says she would like to work with people who have been hurt and help handle problems. "I feel I understand them very well. I know it’s so hard to listen. You feel no one can understand how you feel. I do understand and empathize."
    She appreciates that sensibility can come through in her music. It might be the closest way for her to be a social worker right now, she says. "Music mixes both," she says. "I hope people take anything from my music that helps them through what they are going through. I hope people learn to open their minds and ears and imagine the unfathomable."
    For themes and subject matter, Lee says she is drawn to "whatever my heart is saying. There are things I want to talk about and say to people, but you have to wait for it to come to you and be inspired by it."
    Lee assumes that she probably will be writing more with the departure of Evanescence co-founder and lead guitarist Ben Moody. "Ben and I basically wrote 50-50. I wrote lyrics. And Ben wrote a lot of the music. We have great writers in the band."
    She looks to her past for her source of creativity. "I went through some pretty dramatic experiences when I was a little girl. Not that I’m glad they happened, but I’m very grateful for the way we have come out of it. I feel I owe a lot of what happened to me to my little sister, who passed away when I was a child. We were kind of best friends. After she died it was like I was picked up and dropped in a different world from then on. I never felt like anyone was like me, for whatever reason I couldn’t understand."
    Lee feels that in many ways her sister is her muse for everything. Music remains her therapy. "I’ve never gone to therapy. I’m a very healthy person emotionally and mentally. I know how to balance things. I’ve definitely been through situations where things weren’t handled the way they should. I’m balanced through using my art."
    It seems appropriate to ask if this is a bittersweet time for Evanescence right now, a time in which the band, despite its accolades, finds itself out of balance because of Moody’s departure.
    "I can’t tell you how happy we are. I wish everyone could see us for one day backstage," Lee says. "We’re happier now as a band than we’ve ever been. Things are just working better. It’s hard when you’re not all on the same page. We are all a single unit now."
    Earlier in the year she told a writer, "Nobody has ever understood the band’s vision except Ben and me together." Does she now see herself as the caretaker of that vision, or does it now embrace more people?
    "I feel like I’m the leader of the vision, like the one still stuck with the understanding. I feel like each album is unique. I don’t expect to make another album like Fallen. Fallen is one thing we had the vision for together. It couldn’t have happened without Ben. For the future, it will still be Evanescence, but different."
    She says she wants to keep the band around for a very long time. The best piece of advice she received from her radio DJ father about dealing with the music business is to have fun. "That’s a thing I heard most of the time from him in my life and there’s a lot of truth to it: ‘It’s short, have fun. OK, Amy, do your best, smile. Most of all have fun.’"
    She really seems to be.
    The industry is acknowledging Evanescence as the first female-led band to attain Number One since Courtney Love’s Hole in 1998.
    Lee says she does not give much consideration as to whether she is carrying on a torch of tradition. "I know a lot of girls are looking up to me. I go to our shows and it’s scary the amount of teenage girls and older women who look up to me and watch my every move, and guys too," she says. "In some ways I feel proud that I’m doing something really based on talent and not on the way I look. I don’t think I use the way I look at all. It’s not like there isn’t any sensuality in our music. I’m the big sister in my family and I feel responsible for setting a good example."