Imperfection

Album: Synthesis (2017)
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Songfacts®:

  • John Legend sang about perfect imperfections in his 2013 hit "All Of Me." Amy Lee of Evanescence picks up that theme on this track, where she makes the case that our quirks and peculiarities are what make us whole. Unlike Legend's love song, which is devoted to Chrissy Teigen, Lee is far more urgent, addressing those who are in despair:

    Don't you dare surrender
    Don't leave me here without you


    Said Lee: "For me, this is the most important song on the album. I struggled with the lyrics for a long time because there was a lifetime of work to live up to and I wasn't sure what to say or how to be good enough. When it finally started pouring out of me, it was undeniable. I had no choice. It's for all the people we've lost, all the people who we could lose, to suicide and depression. I'm singing from the perspective of the person left behind, the person in the waiting room. It's a plea to fight for your life, to stay. Don't give into the fear - I have to tell myself that every day. Nobody is perfect. We are all imperfect, and it's precisely those imperfections that make us who we are, and we have to embrace them because there's so much beauty in those differences. Life is worth fighting for. You are worth fighting for."
  • This is the first single from Synthesis, which is just the fourth Evanescence album (their breakthrough debut, Fallen, came in 2003 - Lee is the only original member). Most of the album is orchestral remakes from the band's catalog, but there are two new songs on the set: "Imperfection" and "Hi-Lo." David Campbell did the orchestrations.
  • Speaking with Amazon.de, Amy Lee said the song has several meanings.

    "One of them is definitely about loss and the sadness that we all feel and the struggle of getting through it is undeniable," she explained. "And I think that we need to connect, and the point is expressing that and connecting to each other, that's hard to sum up."

    "But another part of it is accepting our flaws and our differences and not seeing them so much as flaws as the thing about us that makes us us," Lee continued. "So when the song talks about 'imperfection,' it's really describing... just your you, your uniqueness, that thing. And if could all maybe look at our imperfections a little bit less like imperfections and a little bit more like our uniqueness - I don't know - maybe that would be a good thing. I still struggle with it."

Comments: 1

  • Sallyj from Phoenix, ArizonaAmy is the real deal and she always speaks from the heart. There is so much beauty in her work and her music is so fresh and unlike anyone else. I admire and appreciate what she has contributed to our world.
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