Amy Lee of Evanescence is still reeling from watching The Rehearsal.
The show stars series creator Nathan Fielder, who helps ordinary people rehearse upcoming difficult life events. In the episode that aired on May 4, Fielder theorizes that Evanescence’s “Bring Me To Life” influenced Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger when he landed US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River in 2009.
Why? Sully references Evanescence more than any other musical act in his memoir, Highest Duty.
To fully present this theory, Nathan and HBO asked Amy for permission to use her smash hit in this Rehearsal episode. “Literally, my response was, ‘Sounds really weird and fun. Thanks!’” she told Vulture in a new interview.
Amy said that HBO gave her a rundown of the episode and how the song would be used, but she still struggled “to understand the concept” of the show.
But after watching, Amy is now a fan. “And I have to say, of all the episodes I’ve watched, this one, which features our song, had the most awkwardness of anything I’ve seen so far leading up to it,” she said. “The part with our song is just so beautiful. I don’t even know what word to put on it.”
“The Rehearsal is really strange and thought-provoking,” she explained. “I’m laughing out loud at parts that aren’t even funny, but, like, I just can’t believe it.”
The episode highlights how, in the black-box recording of Sully’s flight, there are 23 seconds of silence as he navigates the descent. The Rehearsal suggests that Sully used that moment to put on his new iPod and listen to the chorus of “Bring Me To Life,” which happens to be 23 seconds long.
Amy says that the theory is “totally possible.”
“The show is so brilliant,” says Lee. She wasn’t familiar with Nathan Fielder’s brand of awkward comedy, but says she’s “now clued into the fact that he’s some kind of genius.”
“Bring Me To Life” was a massive hit when released in 2003. It reached No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and went to No. 1 in multiple countries.
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