Evanescence, Wasted on You | Track Review 🎵

“Wasted on You,” the promo single from The Bitter Truth, the forthcoming LP by Evanescence, takes on additional meaning thanks to COVID-19.

Sometimes, musicians go through extraordinary means to complete music. That’s sort of what happened with “Wasted on You,” the single released by Grammy-winning rock collective Evanescence. “Wasted on You” is definitely a product of the abnormal state of the world during a pandemic, ultimately finished through a mixture of studio and remote work. Featured on Songs That Capture & Embody the Pandemic, Vol. 3, “Wasted on You” is set to appear on the band’s long-awaited new studio album of brand-new material, The Bitter Truth.

“Wasted on You” is definitely emotional and hard hitting.  Throughout its course, we see Amy Lee balance subtler, tenderer vocals with a more overt, oomph-filled approach.  As always, the sound is very ‘Evanescence,’ if you catch my drift.  Piano arrives in an accompaniment role early on, with synthesizers and souped-up guitars eventually filling things out. Nick Raskulinecz certainly does a fine job of producing. The end product is strong, particularly considering the circumstances in conception.

As far as the songwriting, it’s very emotionally driven. Amy Lee is so chocked-full of pain that a degree of numbing can’t even hope to assuage the pain.  “Numb my head / ‘Til I can’t think anymore / But I still feel the pain,” she sings on the pre-chorus. The chorus, which makes a reference to ‘six feet’ (albeit death), is where Lee is completely ‘wasted on him,’ in the context of a sketchy relationship:

“I don’t need drugs
I’m already six feet low
Wasted on you
Waitin’ for a miracle
I can’t move on
Feels like we’re frozen in time
I’m wasted on you
Just pass me the bitter truth.”

Amy Lee has so many questions about what the future looks like. On the chorus, she exhibits little hope, stifled by her situation.  The same can be said about the world – “Feels like we’re frozen in time.” The bridge really nails it, but also exhibits more optimism:

“Will I ever be the same? (Will I ever be the same?)
Am I strong enough to change? (Am I strong enough to change)?
Is it in my blood?
Shield my eyes to face the day
Come too far to slip away
But it’s killing me to go on without you.”

Final Thoughts

All in all, “Wasted on You” is a strong comeback single by Evanescence.  Many of those signature cues by the band, and Lee at the helm, are firmly in place.  A song arriving during pandemic that wasn’t written about it, it is ultimately one of many songs with a meaning that has become applicable to some degree to the emotional toll of COVID-19.

Evanescence • The Bitter Truth • Evanescence / BMG Rights Management • Album TBA 2020

Photo Credits: Evanescence / BMG Rights Management