‘I play video games almost every day’ – singer Amy Lee talks writing Devil May Cry’s killer track

With the new Evanescence song, Afterlife, revealed in anticipation of Netflix's new Devil May Cry series releasing next week, we spoke to lead singer Amy Lee to learn about how the unique collaboration came to be.

Following the reveal of Evanescence’s new song, Afterlife, we talk to singer and frontwoman Amy Lee about how she wrote it with Netflix’s Devil May Cry series in mind.

When it comes to penetrating the pop culture zeitgeist with its music, Evanescence is an alternative rock band that knows a thing or two. Having first made a name for itself with the 2003 breakout album Fallen (two tracks from which heavily featured in the Ben Affleck-starring Daredevil movie) the band went on to enter the video game realm by recording a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s The Chain, recorded explicitly for Gears 5 in 2019.

Fast forward just a few years later, and earlier this week we saw the band reveal a totally new track, Afterlife, which it has specifically written to go alongside the upcoming anime series announced last year based on the Devil May Cry video game series hitting Netflix on Thursday, April 3.

The track very much stays true to the roots of both Evanescence and the beloved Capcom series by capturing some appropriately early '00s vibes, complete with soft-sung verses and a powerful chorus in which lead singer Amy Lee belts out the track’s title.

In all these ways and more, the musical collaboration between the Devil May Cry TV series and Evanescence seems like a match made in heaven – or should that be hell? To learn more about how Evanescence came to be involved with this TV adaptation from Netflix, we sat down with Amy to talk about how she and the other band members tackled writing the track, as well as her favourite video game series.

First off, how did you first come to be involved with the new Devil May Cry series on Netflix?

They reached out to me, which is just the coolest when that happens. It was one of those things where you either are really into something and love it or not, and Mako [the show’s composer] already had a really cool start already. So I instantly was like, ‘okay, this is awesome. What's the show like?’. And then I got to see some of the show and it was really well done. I got really excited and we just started getting into it. It just came to me. It was one of those ones where it just falls in your lap. It's amazing. It's so rare.

Were you a fan of the games originally, or did you have to catch yourself up to speed?

I hadn't played the game. I'm aware of it. I am aware of the imagery and have seen what it looks like, seen gameplay, but I had never played. This has been my introduction to the world of Devil May Cry and I love the story. I love the art.

In that case, did it feel intimidating entering this space as a relative newcomer?

It's one of those things I've gotten to a place where I just know if there's something that I really care about and want to do. [The] number one thing is the music. ‘Am I going to find myself in this?’ and that was a total yes. Everybody on the team has been so cool… I think it was something that we were all equally excited about working together, so it was just a natural choice.

How does writing a song, knowing it's explicitly for a TV show, differ from writing a regular song if at all?

I just watched the whole first season, and without trying to make real notes or anything, you just sort of get in there and get it. Then when you’re working on your song you need to know what's going on, what are we talking about? For me that just gives you a clear path. I like it, it is different. When I'm writing for myself there's less rules in general. It's like, ‘oh, just start making noise until we come up with something’. That's fun and everything, but it's actually really good sometimes to have an intention [because] when you first start out you know the mood, the vibe, and the tempo.

Was it tough to maybe not make the lyrical references to the game too obvious, when writing? Was it important that the song stood on its own too?

I personally think that's really important. It's important not to be so square on the nose. You want [the song] to almost have its own life because the opposite would be cheesy. I mean I'm from the eighties, so I remember those themes sometimes, where the punchline or the title of the movie is in the song.

Evanescence is no stranger to aligning itself with video games and wider pop culture. What is it about these properties that keeps you coming back?

I feel like that's our people. That’s kind of the world that I'm in. I’m kind of counterculture; like an alternative music, video games, and creepy movies person. It's funny because the word ‘gamer’ is always like, ‘Yeah, no’, but I do play video games almost every day. It’s part of my life, instead of probably what I should do [which is] read a book and get smarter. The games that I'm into are The Legend of Zelda games – that's always been my thing. It's a lot of it is problem-solving and puzzles. That feels good to my brain and it kind of winds me down in a way. My son is 10 now, so I have a gamer buddy again, and it is just the best. He's getting really good, so I don't get my hands on the controller as much.

Speaking of Zelda, are you as big a fan of the latest games like Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom?

I was so just floored when Zelda: Breath of the Wild came out and played it all the time for like a year. We still go back to it once in a while, [since] there's still stuff to do. But we're still playing Tears of the Kingdom on the reg. We've played it a couple times, but there's just always more stuff to do.

Finally, what’s the one game/series that if they made an adaptation of next, you’d bend over backwards to write a song for it?

Besides Zelda? I mean, they are making a Zelda movie. For a movie, I don't know. I'm open to anything if the story and the art and the music [is there]. I'm all about this world. So, I don't have a specific for you but bring it on.

Devil May Cry is scheduled to release on Thursday April 3, 2025 on Netflix.