Known for her introspective lyrics, Evanescence [ tickets ] frontwoman Amy Lee says it never crosses her mind during the writing process that millions of listeners may hear her innermost thoughts.

"I feel like I have so many things that are making me feel trapped or angry, and I have to get them out of my system," Lee said during a recent press teleconference to promote "The Open Door," her group's recently issued studio set. "So I write them, and I have written even more personal lyrics this time around. I wasn't thinking about it at all when I was writing. But then, now, I guess I'm starting to feel, not the consequences, but the byproducts of those things.

"It's hard because I just have to keep reminding myself that it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks about me because they don't know me. ... I think there are probably tons of people out there that think I'm a total bitch. I'm just getting to the place now where I'm aware of that and starting to be OK with that, because I'm the kind of person who just wants everyone to love me."

One well-publicized aspect of Lee's private life was chronicled in the new album's biting first single, "Call Me When You're Sober," which was clearly aimed her ex-boyfriend, Seether singer Shaun Morgan. Lee says she has no idea if the song was in any way responsible for spurring Morgan's recent stint in rehab.

"I don't know. I honestly couldn't answer that question," Lee said during a teleconference. "I really hope that he's doing great. Sorry I can't give you a good answer on that one. We haven't been in contact."
"The Open Door" is the follow-up to 2003's "Fallen," which spawned two Top 10 singles ("Bring Me To Life" and "My Immortal"), two Grammy Awards (Best New Artist and Best Hard Rock Performance for "Bring Me To Life") and a run of more than 100 weeks on The Billboard 200 album chart. Lee, who is joined in the band by Terry Balsamo (guitar), John LeCompt (guitar) and Rocky Gray (drums), said she never felt the pressured to avoid a sophomore slump.
"I really felt like it was sort of the opposite effect for me," Lee explained. "'Fallen' did really, really well--better than we expected--and a lot has changed for our band in the line-up and everything else. More than anything, it gave us a lot of freedom this time around. I felt like, since we'd already established our sound and established ourselves with 'Fallen' and how well it did, we could do whatever we wanted this time around and actually expand the box and do something even more.

"The pressure I think I felt [was] not the pressure to top [Fallen] ... or anything like that, because that's not really what it's about for me. But I definitely put a lot of pressure on myself to make an even better piece of work, and I think I did that, actually," she added.

Evanescence opens a four-week club tour behind the new album tonight in Toronto.