Halsey has released a new collaborative single with Evanescence‘s Amy Lee – listen to ‘Hand That Feeds’ below.
- READ MORE: Halsey – ‘The Great Impersonator’ review: a brutal but brilliant reckoning with chronic illness
The dramatic song will appear on the soundtrack to the upcoming John Wick spin-off film Ballerina, which is out on June 6. Halsey and Lee’s contribution to the movie arrived today (Friday May 9).
“‘Hand That Feeds’ is officially out!” Lee wrote on social media. “It’s been so much fun making music for the @ballerinamovie – and such a pleasure to create with @halsey.”
“I know I should have the pride/ I know I should have the spirit/ I know you would tell a lie/ If you knew I couldn’t hear it,” Halsey sings in the atmospheric first verse, over a haunting piano line.
When the powerful and galloping drums come in, she and Lee come together for the defiant chorus, which ends with the lyrics: “I’m stripped to the bone I wanna be alone, no matter how I plead/ You do it ’cause you know you can/ Turn around and bite the hand that feeds.”
Lee then delivers a solo verse – you can check out ‘Hand That Feeds’ here:
Announcing the track online on Tuesday (May 6), the Evanescence frontwoman wrote: “So thrilled to bring you a new song, ‘Hand That Feeds’ with @halsey THIS FRIDAY!
“We’ve been fans of each other’s work for a long time and it really feels like the universe pulled us together for this moment.”
Lee’s band will support Halsey at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California next Wednesday (May 14). According to Lee, the opening slot was already “in place” when they were approached to work together for Ballerina.
She added: “And it’s finally time to serve it UP! Cannot wait for you all to hear!!”
Last year, Halsey described Lee as her “OG dark rock queen” while posting her recreation of the cover art for Evanescence’s 2003 debut album ‘Fallen’. The singer spoofed a series of record sleeves to promote her latest album, ‘The Great Impersonator’.
In February, Halsey released a punk-rock-inspired single called ‘Safeword’ along with an S&M-themed music video.
The artist’s 2025 ‘For My Last Trick’ North American tour kicks off tomorrow (Saturday May 10). Find any remaining tickets here.
Evanescence will also open for My Chemical Romance and Metallica this year, and appear on the line-up at the Louder Than Life Festival 2025 in Louisville, Kentucky in September. In March, they shared a single called ‘Afterlife’ from the animated Netflix series Devil May Cry.
During an interview with NME in late 2022, Lee explained that making Evanescence’s fifth and latest album, 2021’s ‘The Bitter Truth’, had been “very cathartic”. “It was so good for our souls,” she said. “We had so much to say and talk about.”
Looking ahead to what was coming next, Lee told NME: “I try not to make too many concrete plans – it just happens. When you sit at the piano and just let it happen. But yeah, I want to make new music with this cool new energy we have with the band.”
You can revisit the full video interview for NME‘s In Conversation series above.
In a five-star review of Halsey’s ‘The Great Impersonator’, NME wrote: “Looking back through her recent catalogue, ‘Manic’ is more stylistically diverse, ‘If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power’ more musically ambitious, but ‘The Great Impersonator’ is Halsey’s most honest album – that is if you choose to believe her.”
The project landed at Number 39 on NME‘s 50 best albums of 2024 list, with the single ‘Lonely Is The Muse’ earning a place in our 50 best songs of the year run-down.
