“Lithium” by Evanescence

Amy Lee first worked out "Lithium" on guitar at 16, then rebuilt it on piano years later, and the finished version became the second single from Evanescence's 2006 album The Open Door. Dave Fortman produced and mixed it, and Lee recorded it with the full band behind her. It's a power ballad that seesaws between sorrow and happiness and refuses to settle on either.

The song cracked the top 40 in several countries and drew mostly warm reviews. Paul Fedor directed the video, which puts Lee and the band in a dark, snowy forest before she sinks into a lake of black water. Lee came back to it later with an alternate version on Synthesis, the band's fourth studio album, in 2017.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.