After Wind-Up Records insisted the group bring on a full-time rapper and the band refused, Evanescence went home, assuming they no longer had a record deal. However, the label contacted them again and a compromise was met – one song would feature a guest rapper, and that was “Bring Me to Life”.

It is the band’s debut single and breakout song, bringing them international fame and success, helped by its inclusion on the soundtrack to the 2003 film Daredevil. It went to #1 in Italy, Australia and the UK, and reached the top 5 in Germany, Canada and the US in the spring of 2003.

In the UK, it was the last guitar-driven chart-topper to stay at #1 for four weeks until 2021 when Olivia Rodrigo’s third single “Good 4 U” accomplished the same – eighteen years later.

Lead singer Amy Lee and guitarist Ben Moody shared in an interview with AOL Sessions that the song was inspired by the desire to make the most out of life. Later, Lee told Songfacts it was inspired by a moment during a rough time in life when her future husband suddenly asked her if she was happy.