From the second I first heard Amy Winehouse, I knew I was a goner. That voice – so smoky, so sultry, so seductively slurred – spoke to the deepest, darkest, most damaged places in my heart. Yet at the same time, her music manages to soothe the savaged soul. It’s that long, tall drink at the end of a long, hard day. Which is why nothing breaks my heart more now than her hell-bent-on-destruction spiral of late. Wandering the streets of London a bloodied, dazed mess of smudged eyeliner and dried tears, she is the poster child for sad self-fulfilling prophecies. She is becoming a caricature of every song she sings.It has been said often that true genius is touched by madness. Billie Holiday. Edith Piaf. Janis Joplin. What is it about the sirens that makes them suffer so? Winehouse aches with talent. But it’s the woman herself that fascinates us most. Underneath the behemoth beehive is someone who is honest to a fault. Yet her hedonism seems to come from a place of profound vulnerability. Perhaps that is what draws us to her in the first place. Life is so much more interesting when dismantled. Great for art, not so great for the soul. May she find a healthy balance for both, and find it soon. She may go back to black, but we don’t want her to fade to black forever. Happy weekend, all.
i love her too. what is it about tortured artists that make me lose my mind?!
ReplyDeleteTortured? Who is torturing Amy other than Amy?
ReplyDeleteI have to disagree and I apologize to the author, but it's just that dismantled lifestyle of hers that keeps me from listening to her music. I say stop giving her more money to fuck up her life with. It's all pretty damn pathetic. If she can't have respect for herself or her public then as far as I'm concerned she doesn't deserve to be called or considered an "artist". How about "Inedbriated Fool" instead? Yes, that seems more fitting..
ReplyDeleteShe's just the female Pete Docherty (though marginally more talented I will admit). These drug-adled musicians make me sick, but what makes me sicker is the way their "people" and record companies facilitate their behavior - after all, who introduces them to their dealers?
ReplyDeleteOkay people, you obviously like to throw your opinions around about 'inedbriated' and 'drug-addled artists'
ReplyDelete*by the way, that's spelt INHEBRIATED*
But if she's still writing and producing some fantastic music that you claim is lessened by her personal life, of which you know nothing, because how could you? Then you ought to look at yourselves...
i lovelovelove 'Back To Black' - just a great sound, with beautifully wrought songs.
ReplyDeleteyes, she's a mess at the moment - going through a private hell in full public gaze can't be much fun, i imagine - and i too am cynical about the hangers-on that surround her and no doubt contribute to the melée that is her present life. but damn, that record is smokin', and that's good enough for me.
a disaster of a private life doesn't mean that she's invalidated from producing great work - c.f. Vincent Van Gogh, Edith Piaf, Janis Joplin, etc etc (ad nauseum - literally). suffering can inform great art - and without art, life has no soul.
I'm so glad Ms Winehouse looks so Beautiful and sings so Beautiful. If i was heterosaexual i would be so into her....you wish boy yeah you wish. Thanks for the pic dot.Lovely
ReplyDeleteBeautifully written...
ReplyDeletei love her.
ReplyDeleteThere is just something about a woman that does exactly as she pleases and doesn't care what the world thinks of it...she is my "guilty pleasure crush"...even when she has make up smeared across her face, something about her in your face confidence just does it for me - and makes me wish i could have it too.
ReplyDeleteyou go amy....