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Extremely frank, uninhibited confessions are what Amy Jade Winehouse’s songs render; and they touchdown on your very soul ― ripping you apart ― and in the end making you realize that this is
not where I want to go nor what I want to be. But unlike the Alanis Morisette angst, Winehouse’s is one of subdued emotions, yet ominous, with vestiges of half-hearted acceptance of certain consequences.
Her songs are dark, inflamed, fragile and tortured and, matched with a very powerful voice, they depict life ― her life ― that is not at all contrived nor imagined. Deep, almost husky but always sure of what she wants to say, lyrically, because she’s been there, she’s seen it. And she delivers something so familiar so differently ― so affectedly, I would say ― not only telling a story but is the story. For almost a week now, I’ve been listening to her music, a mixture of jazz, soul and R&B, and the grip of every song gets to me stronger, tighter. (I remember that same spell cast on me by Wilson Philips, Basia, Julia Fordham, Norah Jones, and Evanescence.) Her delivery is too honest you would almost feel ashamed for not admitting I cheated on myself sometimes.
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Her voice airs everywhere: even in episodes of some TV shows (i.e.’ Grey’s Anatomy’, ‘Men in Trees’, ‘Nip/Tuck’, and others); the latest of which was in the movie ’27 Dresses’ (I haven’t seen this film yet) with the song ‘Valerie’. For most of us who do not wait for the credits on TV shows to roll, we could not help but be captivated by her voice yet at the same time might have easily mistaken it as someone else’s.
*****
It was during the 50th Grammy Awards when I first heard her voice with the song ‘Rehab’, a cut from her new (second) album ‘Back to Black’ (2007) and saw the person who owns that voice. Somehow, for
she has finally arrived, life isn’t the same again. She’s come too strong, yet unmistakably true.
That voice was distinctly Macy Gray’s but I was strangely watching a white girl ‘singing the blues’ and giving her heart out during a live telecast performance from London for she could not attend that Grammy night. And on that night, she swept the Grammy with five prestigious awards: Best Pop Vocal Album, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, Best New Artist, Song of the Year (Rehab) and Record of the Year (Rehab), making her the first British singer to bring home that much beef in one streak. She writes or co-writes all the lyrics to her songs.
It was said she just got out of rehab, literally and actually, two weeks earlier before the Grammy. No wonder the 24-year-old girl can sing just as she had been there, I thought. There was also news that she walked out on the taping of the James Bond production of the theme song, which she also wrote.
What I also love about her is the daring 50’s look and moves she sports in the ‘Back to Black’ album. That beehive do made a much unexpected comeback, and how she carries it well! Only 5 feet and 2 inches tall (plus 6 inches of beehive), she is undeniably fragile, made more so by her alcohol and crack addiction that somehow made things more complicated for her. And at the rate of her success, most of her critics say that only she can stop herself from reaping more if she won’t wise up and come out clean.
‘Frank’, Winehouse’s first album in 2003, started it all with that street jazz sound that won her platinum records; but it is this new ‘Back to Black’ album that sealed her to the top of the charts internationally, aside from the multi-platinums she received. ‘Frank’ has been re-produced in limited edition only, released in the UK just this May 12, with that Winehouse touch that will make it so much different from the first. That’s what I heard, at least.
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Also a cut from her new album, ‘Back to Black’ spills out her soul. It has achieved that grimness that may also serve as a closure to a previous relationship so embattled to be worked out. There is no way one would not identify with her in that song. She makes ‘Love is a Losing Game’ and ‘You Know I’m No Good’ treats on the pain-trip you’d be in if you’d listen to the entire album. ‘Back to Black’ consists of 10 painful cuts with grit, peppered with anger and grief. Her albums carry the explicit content warning on the cover; while another version is called clean, without the explicits.
Just this May 23rd, she won her third Ivor Novello Songwriting Award in London for ‘Love is a Losing Game’. Her two previous Ivors were ‘Rehab’ (2007) and ‘Stronger than Me’ (2004).
Yeah, I’m definitely drunk on Winehouse but I want more (hic) ― of her grief, her pain, her voice. That is why, as like the others, ‘Back to Black’ becomes the new addition to the national anthems of my heart ― side by side with ‘Release Me’ (Wilson Phillips), ‘Girlfriend’ (Julia Fordham), ‘Brave New Hope’ (Basia), ‘I’ve Got to See You Again’ (Norah Jones), and ‘Bring Me to Life’ (Evanescence).
Here are some items I have dug for you to find out more about her and enjoy:
3) Some cuts from ‘Back to Black’ and ‘Frank’ can be accessed on her website under the Audio / Video tab; every track downloads fast.
4) Extras:
a) Will you love me tomorrow, used in the movie Bridget Jones: Age of Reason
d) More of Winehouse on YouTube
5) Lyrics
6) Time
YOU TELL ME