Evanescence‘s Amy Lee, Spiritbox‘s Courtney LaPlante and Poppy have spoken to NME about their ground-breaking new collaborative track ‘End Of You’ – and the chances of the trio releasing more music as a fully-fledged supergroup. Check out the new single below.
Released today (September 4), after an initial teaser of the artwork last week sent shockwaves of anticipation through heavy music fans, ‘End Of You’ confirms this first-time collaboration from three of rock’s most iconic modern-day vocalists.
Flitting between a movie theatre to a dark tower, crystalline palace and an emerald hallway, the striking video mirrors the structure of the track. Lee leads the first verse and Poppy enters in verse two, before LaPlante announces herself in the breakdown with her signature screams. It then builds to a commanding shot of the trio, side by side.
The track originated from an idea between Poppy and former Bring Me The Horizon member turned go-to metal producer Jordan Fish, who was behind the desk for ‘End Of You’ as well as Poppy’s latest album ‘Negative Spaces’.
“I knew he was friends with Amy, and I thought she would really be a great person to meet and get to talk to,” Poppy told NME. “It was mine and Jordan’s idea to start with, and then we thought, ‘What if we made our version of a dark Moulin Rouge, like ‘Lady Marmalade’?”
Lee revealed that she was “already working together a little bit” with Fish (presumably on her recent ‘Hand That Feeds’ collaboration with Halsey for Ballerina) before he suggested something between herself, LaPlante and Poppy. “It was literally the concept of, ‘Let’s just get us all together,’ that started the song, which is really fun,” she told NME.
“Poppy and Jordan came over to my house and we flushed a lot of it out together,” Lee continued. “The first verse came to me mostly cooked, the part that I was going to start the song with. It’s funny, because Poppy wrote my words and I wrote hers.”
She added: “Poppy’s drummer and guitarist did drums and bass, Jordan and Mike [Stringer, Spiritbox guitarist and LaPlante’s husband] ended up doing some guitar, and Courtney did her thing – that was the last layer that came in. It was this stacking project of adding things based on what each person did, which was really fun and unusual.”
‘End Of You’ ebbs and flows between soaring arena-rock, glitchy modern metalcore and knife-like heaviness, mashing up styles that we associate with LaPlante, Lee and Poppy under one cohesive umbrella. “We all have a different shade that we bring to not only the equation, but multiple genres,” said Poppy. “It’s our own flavour, colour, and ingredient.”
Lyrically, the track stemmed from the empowering line “The end of you is the start of life for me,” which Poppy brought to Lee and LaPlante. “It’s more of a universal message,” suggested Poppy. “I don’t want to classify it, but I know what it means to me. Watching the video of all of us together, it feels strong and powerful: ‘Imagine the things they can do when they’re united!’ It’s grounded in strength.”
Lee echoed these sentiments, telling NME why she resonated with that lyric when it was introduced to her. “For me, it’s about taking on the patriarchy. In order to make way for the new, we have to let some old ways die, and I don’t feel that should be as hard as it is. I love change, and things can stand to definitely get a lot better than they are right now. It’s about challenging the norms and showing how strong we are when unified as women.”
‘End Of You’ comes after LaPlante and Poppy were involved in a viral mix-up earlier this year, where an interviewer on the Grammys red carpet mistakenly introduced LaPlante as Poppy – and she played along with it. Though the two performed Spiritbox’s ‘Soft Spine’ together at Kentucky’s Louder Than Life Festival last October, this track marks the first studio single they have both worked on.
“Instead of just dreaming about it, Poppy really went for it and made it happen,” LaPlante told NME of the mindset that got ‘End Of You’ over the line. “Instead of half-assing it, Amy went full out and crushed it. All I can do is rise to the occasion and show them the respect they deserve, that they have also shown to me.”
LaPlante initially hinted at future collaborations with both Poppy and Fish in an interview with NME earlier this year. “There is always going to be some way that we work with Jordan, because both of us really like collabs,” she said at the time.
“Maybe it’s not [Spiritbox’s] song, but we could help him with another artist.”
Having crafted the track between Lee’s Nashville home and remote sessions, the music video shoot in Los Angeles marked the only day the full trio have spent together in-person. “Our group chat is great,” said LaPlante. “When we did hang, it was so fun and kept morale high through the long 18-hour day.”
“There was lots of laughter,” recalled Poppy, who likened herself to the “proud little sis” of the group. “It’s like [we are] the representation of the eras of life, your 20s, 30s, 40s – and the spirit of each,” added Lee. “I am definitely at the, ‘I’m done giving a fuck what anybody thinks’ phase, ready to just take over the world, and that spirit is a little bit of a flow-through.”
She continued: “[Another] thing that flows through all of us is to be able to take femininity, embrace it and bring it into a world of heavy music, rather than be masculine, rise to that and just match. I think that both of them really do beautifully embrace that femininity. Courtney’s stage presence… she’s flitting across the stage, as cool as can be, and then to be able to scream like that?”
LaPlante returned the compliments, when asked if this collaboration feels historic from the inside. “Those two do something historic every year – break a record, go on national television,” she said. “I’m sure we are gonna do good!”
Later this month, Poppy is set to open for Evanescence at three US shows in Tuscaloosa, Milwaukee and Saint Paul, creating a potential opportunity to perform ‘End Of You’ live for the first time. Meanwhile, Spiritbox’s only scheduled September tour date is at Louder Than Life, two days before Evanescence play the festival, although Poppy is not on the line-up.
“The first time we perform the song, it should be the three of us,” stated Poppy. “We’re just gonna have to find the right venue for that,” added Lee, who shut down the chances of a performance happening this month.
“I hate to give away that it’s not happening, but I might as well rip the rug out so people aren’t asking for it up until showtime. We thought about it, but we really want to do it with Courtney.”
When asked about the possibilities of future material from the trio, Poppy maintained that it was “just ‘End Of You’, for now”, although it “could be fun” for the trio to collaborate together again. “I do feel like the song is so exciting that it deserves its time first,” she told NME. “It feels like people are ready for it. I feel like it’s the start of something.”
“For this one little moment in time, it’s like we’re all in a band together,” added Lee, who laughed when asked if the trio had discussed potential band names for this supergroup.
“Now we’re in the phase of, ‘What fun things can we do together?’ I don’t want to give it away in case it works out, but we were joking about game shows that we could possibly go on. I’m not kidding. We’ll see what fun shenanigans could come out of this collab!”
She concluded: “It would be so rad if we could do a tour together… there’s a lot of schedules to work around. I don’t know if a full tour would ever happen, but we are determined to create a situation where we can play the song live.”
‘End Of You’ by Amy Lee, Courtney LaPlante and Poppy is out now. Check out all three artists’ full upcoming tour dates below.
Evanescence on tour
Visit here for tickets and information.
SEPTEMBER
11 – Tuscaloosa, AL
13 – Tampa, FL (supporting My Chemical Romance)
18 – Milwaukee, WI
19 – Saint Paul, MN
21 – Louisville, KY (Louder Than Life Festival)
NOVEMBER
1 – Burswood, Australia (supporting Metallica)
5 – Adelaide, Australia (supporting Metallica)
8 – Docklands, Australia (supporting Metallica)
12 – Milton, Australia (supporting Metallica)
15 – Sydney, Australia (supporting Metallica)
19 – Auckland, New Zealand (supporting Metallica)
Poppy on tour
Visit here for tickets and information.
SEPTEMBER
5 – Richmond, VA
6 – Baltimore, MD
8 – North Myrtle Beach, SC
9 – Raleigh, NC
11 – Tuscaloosa, AL (supporting Evanescence)
12 – Cincinnati, OH
14 – Grand Rapids, MI
15 – Indianapolis, IN
18 – Milwaukee, WI (supporting Evanescence)
19 – Saint Paul, MN (supporting Evanescence)
21 – West Des Moines, IA
22 – Tulsa, OK
23 – Kansas City, MO
25 – Albuquerque, NM
27 – Anaheim, CA
28 – Ventura, CA
30 – San Diego, CA
OCTOBER
2 – Las Vegas, NV
4 – El Paso, TX (KLAQ Rocks The Park)
6 – Dallas, TX
11 – Mexico City, Mexico (supporting Avenged Sevenfold)
12 – Mexico City, Mexico
Spiritbox on tour
Visit here for tickets and information.
SEPTEMBER
19 – Louisville, KY (Louder Than Life Festival)
NOVEMBER
12 – Ontario, CA
13 – Las Vegas, NV
15 – Albuquerque, NM
18 – Cedar Park, TX
19 – Oklahoma, OK
21 – Minneapolis, MN
22 – Omaha, NE
23 – Kansas City, MO
25 – Nashville, TN
26 – Cincinnati, OH
28 – Columbus, OH
29 – Buffalo, NY
30 – Detroit, MI
DECEMBER
2 – Greensboro, NC
3 – Virginia Beach, VA
5 – Lancaster, PA
6 – South Kingstown, RI
7 – Wallingford, CT