Ex-Evanescence Guitarist Leaves Music Industry, Shares Statement

Former Evanescence guitarist Jen Majura has announced her decision to leave the music industry. The decision comes three years after Majura's split with Evanescence and she's offered a pretty open and extensive statement into the thought process that went into the decision.

Why Jen Majura Is Leaving the Music Industry

Though going into greater detail, the guitarist started her missive by charing, "After careful consideration, observing what is going on in this music industry, AI related developments and change in society I've come to the conclusion to step away."

Majura also added, "Instead of wasting another year of my life constantly hoping for new energy, drive and creativity, I've reached a point in my life where I can confidently lean back in peace."

The guitarist shared her satisfaction with the amount of "beautiful experiences, tours, shows, travels and moments" within her time in the music industry as she takes this next step in her life.

Majura's statement can be read in full below:

Dear friends
I‘m gonna make this as brief as I can:
After careful consideration, observing what‘s going on in the music industry, AI related developments and change in society I‘ve come to the conclusion to step away.
Some of you have heard me talk about this quite a while ago. Instead of wasting another year of my life constantly hoping for new energy, drive and creativity, I‘ve reached a point in my life where I can confidentially lean back in peace. While time allowed me, I was able to collect an amazing amount of beautiful experiences, tours, shows, travels and moments! I am grateful for every bit of that, but the world has changed. I can confidently make up my mind to stop.
I am not saying that I will never create any music again, whether recorded or live - but for now I feel there are healthier and better things to fill my life with good vibes and not deal with the overwhelming amount of ridiculousness that comes with the music industry now days. I just can’t identify with today‘s attitude and values anymore.
I wholeheartedly want to wish all the ambitious and remaining „creators“, young and old, all the best. With time, the meaning will become clearer.
To you, the fans, I wanna give you a giant virtual hug and say THANK YOU for all your support, love and faith throughout these years of me being an active touring musician, I am grateful.
As a final musical endeavor I wanna share 4 tracks with you. Songs that were written over a decade ago together with the great guitarist Dennis Hormes. I found these old demo recordings while cleaning out stuff from my computer and thought they are too good to not be shared. So if you made it this far and read the whole post, I assume you actually ARE someone that truly cares and these 4 singles are for you!

Jen Majura's Journey in Music

The German-born guitarist first started to make inroads in heavier music when she played with Knorkator between 2012 and 2014. From there, she played briefly with Equilibrium in 2014 before eventually joining Evanescence full time as a guitarist in 2015 as the replacement for Terry Balsamo. Upon her arrival in the band, Amy Lee shared on social media, "She plays like a supervillan, sings like an angel, and laughs like a great friend."

During her time with the group, Majura appeared on Synthesis album reimagining past Evanescence songs as well as its Synthesis Live companion. She was also part of the band's 2021 album, The Bitter Truth.

Evanescence announced through social media that they were moving on from Majura in 2022. "It has been a very special chapter in the band with our dear friend Jen Majura, but we have decided it’s time to go our separate ways. We will always love her and support her, and can’t wait to see what she does next! We are so grateful for the good times and great music we made all around the world together.," the group said in their statement announcing the move. Shortly after, it was revealed that bassist Tim McCord would handle guitar duties while Sick Puppies' bassist Emma Anzai would be joining the Evanescence lineup.

Shortly after her dismissal, Majura shared on the Coffee With Ola podcast that she initially thought it "was a bad joke" when she was first informed of the decision and there was still a shock factor that set in after receiving the news.

Following her exit, Majura appeared on former Dream Theater drummer Mike Mangini's Invisible Signs album in 2023 and also joined the group How We End who released their debut single the same year.