Carly Smithson to become the new Amy Lee?

June 25, 3:48 PMAmerican Idol ExaminerShauna Moroney

Previous Next

11 comments Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the American Idol Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Smithson and We Are the Fallen

For those of you wondering where the talented and beautiful Carly Smithson has been since Season 7 of American Idol, she may finally making her mark on the music world. 

Carly has recently joined up with former Evanescence members Ben Moody, Rocky Gray, and John LeCompt to form a new(ish) band called We Are the Fallen.  (The group originally tried calling themselves The Fallen, but they were forced to change the name, possibly due to a Pennsylvania based band called The Fallen that's been around since 2005.)  Also part of the group is bassist Marty O’Brien, who's toured with another Idol alum, Kelly Clarkson.

The group are milking the success of their old outfit for all its worth, evoking memories of Evanescence's successful debut album entitled "Fallen" with just the name of their band.  John LeCompt was recently quoted as saying that the new group was hoping to "encompass all of our fans we already had" with this call back.

Currently, both old and prospective fans can sign up on the band's website to receive their newsletter and a time sensitive free download of their first single, entitled "Bury Me Alive."  Only the first 100,000 registrants will qualify for this.  Ben Moody actually says of this project, “Our goal is to release songs in small doses every couple months for a year and a half.  We could take the time and lock ourselves away for six months, but we don’t want to do that. We want to get our there now. We want to play old stuff, and we want to play new stuff.”  In the era of the dying album and the ever popular mp3, this could end up working to the band's advantage.  The young set are always hungry for the next new thing, so putting out what you can as soon as possible can't hurt.

Also advantageous to the new group is the success of the soundtrack to Twilight, which has made Evanescence's poppy-hard-rock-style incredibly popular within the last six months. 

Of course, if fans have gotten tired of hanging around and waiting to hear from the once popular band for the three years in which they've been dormant, there could be a problem.  There could also be issues for people who are looking for the band to have evolved.  We Are the Fallen has retained the sound of Evanescence, and whether you enjoyed that or thought it was a bit samey is your own preference.  It also remains to be seen whether rock fans will accept an ex-"Idol" as a front runner in a field where authenticity is stressed.

Carly, who abandoned a solo album that she had been working on to join up with the band, seems glad to be out of the shadow of the image she created for herself on "Idol."  “I was steered away from being myself on the show,” she says. “It definitely feels like I’ve come into this situation, and I can get influenced by the boys. It’s like I can be myself again. It’s really cool.”  Have we really not seen the true Carly, or is she just trying to convince her fans and herself that this is her best option as of now?

And what has happened to the equally lovely and talented Amy Lee, the veritable face of Evanescence?  She's around somewhere, saying that she'll be releasing a solo project later this year.  It will be fun to see which act comes out on top when all is said and done.