Ego Kill Talent is in a completely new phase . The Brazilian hard rock and alternative metal band has been on the road since 2014, but it was in 2023 that the winds blew in a new direction. With the departure of longtime vocalist Jonathan Dörr , the group welcomed a new member: Emmily Barreto , also vocalist of Far From Alaska .
The choice doesn't seem obvious at first, but the chemistry between the band and the singer is undeniable. So undeniable that it became official. After a few months touring with EKT, Emmily was announced as the band's official vocalist and went straight into opening for none other than Evanescence . The two bands toured Brazil during October and built a relationship of friendship and mutual admiration, with Amy Lee praising Ego Kill Talent on stage during a show in Belo Horizonte.
“That day, when we were leaving the stage, she opened her dressing room door and came over to say, ‘You guys are awesome, I loved the band.’ She was very sweet,” Theo van der Loo in an interview with Wikimetal . “Evanescence was a benchmark for bands with a female singer, right? So I told her, ‘We wouldn’t be here now if you hadn’t done what you did.’ And she replied, ‘No, I’m sure you would be here.’ She became a big fan of Emmily, she praised Emmily several times. It was really cool.”
To say that Amy Lee has become a fan of Emmily Barreto is not an exaggeration, it's a proven fact. Since the meeting between the two bands, the Evanescence vocalist has liked, shared, and commented on the Brazilian singer's posts on social media, and recently showered praise on EKT and Emmily in an interview with New York Magazine .
“We recently played with a band called Ego Kill Talent in Brazil,” Amy recounts. “The original vocalist left the band and they replaced him with an incredible woman, and I love it. She has that amazing fire and energy, and something I really love about bands and singers is that on stage you can tell if they’re really enjoying what they’re doing. Watching them every night was a joy.”
Amy Lee wasn't the only fan captivated by the new Ego Kill Talent lineup. A series of social media posts show internet users who went to Evanescence shows and were pleasantly surprised by the opening band – some even mentioned that they preferred Emmily to the former vocalist. For the group, the audience's reaction is a "gift," as Niper Boaventura : "It's a confirmation of a certainty we have about the way we love ourselves, about what we believe in. This kind of affection from them is wonderful."
When the time came to choose a new face and a new voice to front Ego Kill Talent, the band's thoughts naturally gravitated towards potential male vocalists, but were always pulled back by the prospect of inviting Emmily. The friendship between EKT and Far From Alaska , and the recognition of both bands as equals, made this seem like the most natural choice.
For Emmily, the invitation was a great gift: “I’ve been a fan of EKT since the beginning. [My thought] was: ‘I’m going to sing in my favorite band.’ Nobody imagines that. We’ve been friends for several years, but there’s always the expectation of what it will be like to compose together. And when we went into the studio, it was another incredible surprise. There wasn’t anything negative. I’m truly living a dream with them.”
As a die-hard fan, Emmily arrived at the first day of rehearsals already knowing all the lyrics to Ego Kill Talent by heart. The band dedicated a lot of study and practice to changing key and tuning to adapt the older songs to Emmily's voice, but the live performance makes all the effort worthwhile and brings a fresh feel even to the group's already well-known repertoire. For Theo van der Loo, the change was more than positive:
“We’ve been playing some old songs, and Emmily brought elements and details to the songs that really move me. I get goosebumps every time she sings the last chorus of 'Last Ride.' In the beginning, she tried to copy exactly what Jonathan did, and we encouraged her to do what felt natural [to her]. Emmily has a very spontaneous way of experimenting.”
And the old songs with Emmily on vocals shouldn't just stay in live performances: "We're super happy with what's happening and I think we should eventually re-record some things. I wouldn't even say re-record, but maybe record new versions," concludes Theo.
The change in vocalist also brought a new musical phase to Ego Kill Talent. In November, the band released their first EP with the current lineup, *Call Us By Her Name *. The compilation of four unreleased tracks showcases a more relaxed and even danceable side of EKT, while maintaining the group's signature and identity in tracks like "Finding Freedom" and certain moments of "Need No One To Dance". The title track and flagship of the project, however, is considered by the members "the most different thing" they have ever done in relation to their old repertoire and carries a very direct message about Emmily's arrival and the changes the band will go through, whether the public likes it or not: " I'm not leaving this place / You will hear my voice," sings Emmily.
“We were already looking to get out of our comfort zone,” Theo comments on this sonic shift. “It was a conversation we had long before Emmily joined. But at the same time, that wasn't why we chose her. We weren't thinking she would bring new horizons. [It happened] naturally. Just her being who she is – not only musically, but who she is, what she finds funny to say – already influences us. So I think it was a mix of both. We already wanted to expand our universe and when Emmily arrived bringing new possibilities, we embraced that.”
“We consume a lot of pop music,” Niper adds, mentioning names like Lenny Kravitz , Katy Perry , Harry Styles , and Justin Bieber . “Rock is obviously our entire adolescence, we know everything about it, but what I've been consuming the most is this type of music. And when composing, elements like that started to emerge; leaving more space in the songs, more groove. Headbanging while dancing, shaking your head.”
Female pop vocalists have also been a major influence on the band. On stage, Theo van der Loo swapped his black t-shirts or those with the Metallica for printed photos of Miley Cyrus and Lorde . During the interview, he wore a Billie Eilish -shirt. He reveals that he started listening to these artists more frequently due to his wife's influence and assures that the choice of clothing is intentional and came in handy considering the band's new phase. "I think it's a way of saying: 'Women are really awesome. In pop or rock, they are incredible'," he explains.
For Niper, the influence of Emmily's musical taste on this new musical direction of Ego Kill Talent was also positive: “Emmily arrived with something more contemporary, showing newer bands. I discovered bands with her that perhaps wouldn't have reached me otherwise. This generational polarity and the fact that she's a woman also helped a lot at this moment. We were talking about women who are super powerful; we've always consumed and enjoyed that a lot, and now there's a super powerful woman leading the band, and it's natural for us.”
This more danceable phase of Ego Kill Talent, however, shouldn't completely eliminate the heaviness in new songs. Niper calls this initial phase "the silence before the explosion" and assures: "We're making a lot of heavy music. There are already very visceral riffs in these four, and Emmily is very visceral."
