Wasted on You

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General information

Written by: A. Lee, T. McCord, J. Majura, W. Hunt and T. McLawhorn

Wasted on You is the first single from Evanescence's fifth studio album, The Bitter Truth, that was released on April 24, 2020. It's one of the four songs the band worked on with Nick Raskulinecz in early 2020. The song wasn't planned to be released as the first song off the album, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic the band decided to release it first, saying "the feeling and meaning [changed] of what we wanted to say right now."

"We were recording this music right up until we couldn't go into the studio anymore, and finished it remotely through file sharing and phone calls. Tweaking mixes, adding background vocals, creating the video and album art all from home has been like water in the desert for me, my light in a dark time. We are still writing and have a lot more work to do on this album, but this time we wanted to release the songs individually, as we create, to live more in the moment with our fans and our music. 'Wasted On You' wasn't the song we were planning to release first, but when the whole world went into indefinite lockdown and everything changed, so did the feeling and meaning of what we wanted to say right now. I didn't write these lyrics about what we're all now going through, but somehow that's exactly what they are."

Amy said the song was written on New Year's Eve and explained how she had a change of heart about releasing Wasted On You first instead of the song originally planned to be the first single:

I started writing it on New Year’s Eve. So it’s really recent. It’s definitely completely different for us to write something so recently and be able to have the gratification of releasing it so shortly afterwards – we weren’t expecting that. The band came in and really made it what it is when we were together. With the song we were planning on doing first – and I can’t describe it, I don’t want to give it away – it’s powerful in a different way. Over the past couple of months, it’s really felt like every day is a new situation a lot of the time. Like, ‘OK, what’s the emergency today? Where are we going? How long will this last? What is this feeling?’ Two months ago I was in Japan on a totally different track, getting ready for a really big tour, putting on the biggest production we’ve had in years, and so many things that have now totally shifted in a new direction. Everything feels fluid. And I want to live that way on all levels of my life if I can: hold loosely to strict plans and think and live more in the moment as a person, and as an artist. Just a few weeks ago, I was like, ‘This isn’t the right time for the other song’. It felt so right, and then it didn’t in this moment. [Wasted On You] did, so we said, ‘Let’s go with it – let’s go with our feelings and release this now.’

The band didn’t intend for this particular track to be The Bitter Truth’s lead single, but its meaning resonated more as lockdowns began, prompting a change in plans:

‘Wasted On You’ wasn’t supposed to be about this moment that we were all in—feeling frozen in time and stuck in place and wanting to break up with a moment and all those things—it just already existed and suddenly applied in a way that had more gravity than it did before.

Amy further explained how she was feeling when she wrote the song and how it mirrored the world pandemic:

Sometimes it just feels like your mind tunes into the right frequency and you catch a song. This idea started forming in my head in the last days of 2019. I was feeling frustrated and a bit like an animal in a cage, ready to break up with my own toxic cycle and feeling the passage of time like a weight. Only a couple of months later those lyrics starting holding a more literal and universal meaning because of what is now going on all around us. I couldn't tell you why... I think it was just meant to be.

A teaser containing some of the song's lyrics was uploaded on the band's social media on April 20.

50 people who pre-saved the track were randomly chosen to get a first listen of the song on a Zoom call with Amy on the 23rd. Watch the Zoom call here.

Amy said the song's bridge was rewritten "like 7 times".

Tiago Nunez programmed the song, and Amy and Will "Science" Hunt did additional programming.

Lindsey Stirling and Amy performed a special rendition of Wasted on You which was published on Lindsey's String Sessions YouTube series on May 5, 2020. Click here to watch the video.

Versions

Studio Versions

Wasted on You

• Recording date: January - February 2020
• Status: Released, Available
• Released On: April 24, 2020 as the first single from The Bitter Truth

The Bitter Truth (Track #6)

• Length: 4:22

Live Versions

Wasted on You (Acoustic feat. Lindsey Stirling)

• Performing dates: May 15, 2020
• Status: Released on YouTube
• Example: Lindsey Stirling's String Sessions with Amy Lee from Evanescence

Wasted on You (Acoustic with backing vocals from Troy McLawhorn)

• Performing dates: June 4, 2020
• Status: Released
• Example: Magenta Musik 360 #DaheimDabeiKonzerte (At home concert aired for Germany, Austria and Switzerland only)

Lyrics

I don't need drugs
I'm already six feet low
Wasted on you
Waiting 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

Love - don't you remember?
We were the ones
Nothing could ever change, and
Love - it's easier not to believe
We have broken everything
But here we are

Numb my head
'Til I can't think anymore
But I still feel the pain

I don't need drugs
I'm already six feet low
Wasted on you
Waiting 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

Once this was a garden
This was our world
All of the nightmares stayed in the dark
A little too much time by yourself
And you become the enemy
Just look at us now

Drowning slowly just to stay true

I don't need drugs
I'm already six feet low
Wasted on you
Waiting for a miracle
I can't move on
I feel like we're frozen in time
I'm wasted on you
Just pass me the bitter truth

Will I ever be the same?
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

I don't need drugs
(I'm already six feet low)
Wasted on you
(I'm wasted on)
Waiting for a miracle
I can't move on
Like we're frozen in time
I'm wasted on you
(I'm wasted on you)
Just pass me bitter truth

Video

The official music video for Wasted on You premiered on YouTube on April 24, 2020 at 11AM CT. Amy answered fan's questions in the comments when it went live. The video was shot by the band themselves due to the social distancing to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and was edited by Paul R. Brown. It was nominated for Best Rock Video at the 2020 MTV VMA's.

• Watch the music video here.

TikTok video

On May 18, 2020, the band announced they will put together a second official video for Wasted on You using TikTok clips sent by fans. Clips up to 30s shall be submitted on the band's TikTok account by June 19. Billed as the "Official Fan Video", it was released on June 24, 2020.

• Watch the TikTok music video here.

Commercial Release

Main article: Wasted on You Single

The digital single was released on April 24, 2020.

Tracks released with the single include:

• "Wasted on You"