The death of Amy Winehouse really shook me this year. Not only was she one of my favourite musical artists of the last few years, I also admired her ballsy attitude, her unique style and her honesty – particularly when dealing with the press. “You seem to be standing on this young woman’s foot” she said to an indignant journo who arrogantly replied “she’s not young,” Amy was appalled and called him a “cheeky bastard” which he quite rightly deserved. Finally a female pin up was here who was incredibly talented and was as vocal off the stage as on. It was really refreshing after sugar and spice and all things nice girl groups who looked like dollies and didn’t have minds – or voices – of their own. She wasn’t the most eloquent in interviews but it didn’t matter: her eloquence and intelligence were poured into her lyrics.
Amy also appealed to my generation in many ways: not only were both her albums brilliant, she also represented a twenty-something trying to make it in this crazy world and responding, like many of us do, with non-stop partying. At first it seemed like she was just having a good time and the British tabloids were doing their usual thing of blowing things up into a moral panic, claiming she was an irresponsible role model giving the kids of today the wrong message. It soon became clearer that this hedonistic behaviour was starting to spin out of control. Something was wrong. It didn’t look like Amy was having fun anymore. Splattered across the papers, caught like a rabbit in the headlights, Amy was papped alongside the infamous Docherty and Blake.
Her death was shocking in another way: although, her death was not caused by drugs, it made a lot of people my age realise they weren’t invincible and showed drink and drugs aren’t just about a good time. It always seemed like she would be here, she had just stumbled upon a difficult time of lost love and a thirst for getting obliterated, which we all thought would pass.
In our university house one friend played ‘Back to Black’ a million times, so the lyrics practically became embedded into our consciousness. We all dressed up as Amy at our Christmas party. I bought ‘Frank’ when I was 16, when she’d won the Mercury music prize and was relatively unknown compared with now. She didn’t just sound cool but her mix of retro hair and sound and tattoos sealed her cool appeal and made her a pin up in Camden town and Brighton, where I was living at the time. Mini Amy’s appeared everywhere and her trademark beehive became commonplace.
Looking back now, Winehouse post-‘Frank’ looks glossy, chic and unaffected by fame and all the trouble it brings. Her performances of ‘Stronger’ and ‘Amy, Amy, Amy’ are poignant in that you see this is the real Amy. The tragedy is that if perhaps ‘Back to Black’ hadn’t done so well and she was less commercially successful she may still be here with us today. Of course we don’t know this but when I think back to seeing her at the Benicassim Festival in 2007 she still had it and compared with earlier this year when she could hardly stand up and mumble the words during her attempted her comeback. The result was a woman at her lowest after the effects of a destructive relationship played out in a very public arena alongside a drug problem and an addictive personality.
As well as sealing her status as a musical genius she has paved the way for female solo singer songwriters after her: Adele, Florence and the Machine, Gaga, Duffy, Lily Allen – just to name a few. Winehouse particularly appealed to me because of her humour, which I would argue Gaga and Duffy lack. She can be dealing with the darkest trauma in her life and she can still be humourous ‘In bed with my ex-boy, he’s in the place but I can’t get joy.’ This use of comedy alongside heart-wrenchingly painful feelings real ‘I’ve cried for you on the kitchen floor.’ Both of these examples are about as honest as it gets. This exposed Winehouse as somebody who was not just two-dimensional. ‘Rehab’ might have made us laugh at the intended irony but we also felt her agony.
Before her death this summer, Winehouse had been working on material for her new album, which has just been released. “Lioness: Hidden Treasures” has received overwhelming critical acclaim and reached the number one spot in the album chart. Her mother, Janis Winehouse said recently “Amy will always be in my heart.” This is true for many. Through her music Amy will live on and she is a reminder to anybody that out of the roughest times comes the sweetest music.
‘Lioness: Hidden Treasures’ is out now. To find out how every sale of the album can help the work of The Amy Winehouse Foundation, please visit the official website.
