Over winter break I received a lot of iTunes gift cards as presents, so after I loaded those on to my iTunes account I began searching around for things to purchase with my newfound wealth. I clicked on the movies icon and immediately I see Amy Winehouse staring back at me. The documentary “Amy” came out earlier in the summer of 2015 at the Cannes Film Festival and received a wide array of acclaim from various critics and news outlets. I remember reading articles about it at the time and wanting to watch it, but I soon forgot about it—until the day when I saw it available for purchase on iTunes.
I remember my friend Erin had originally introduced me to Amy Winehouse back in 2007 or so, but I was in middle school and my taste in music was basically Taylor Swift’s first album, or the hits on Radio Disney at the time. I considered Erin to have a very “hip” taste in music and always enjoyed her recommendations. Without her I wouldn’t have had my pop punk Paramore phase!
Back to Black came out in 2006 and catapulted her to fame and acclaim. She won the Best New Artist Award at the Grammy’s in 2008 and numerous other awards for the LP. Her producer Salaam Remi in working on Back to Black with her said of Amy, “If you’re like this at eighteen, what will you be at twenty-five?” We did get to see Amy at twenty-five, but she passed away two years later joining the infamous “twenty-seven club.” Towards the end of the Amy documentary, it talks about how she wanted to return to her jazz roots like her first album “Frank” which does not get as much buzz as “Back to Black.” In the documentary an interviewer asks Amy if she thinks “Back to Black” is possibly more accessible to the average listener because it has more pop and girl group influences than just straight jazz. Her response was in agreeance with the reporter. She says jazz in quite an elitist music and often alienates. After watching this documentary I began thinking, “what if Amy had lived on, and created the true blue jazz album she wanted to create all along? Would she have opened the door to a new demographic of jazz listeners?” She left a brief but lasting impact on the music industry that has influenced many artists since.
My friend Erin was the first person to show me the song “Rehab” and I had an interesting reaction to it. I remember thinking “why is this person singing about rehab? But this is so catchy!” I didn’t fully understand what it was at the time just being in middle school. In my mind rehab was this mythical place “bad” celebrities went to get their act together. So I thought it was quite funny, but I really didn’t think about the substance behind it at all. Unfortunately, it was not until Amy’s death in 2011 I began to familiarize myself more with her music.
Isn’t that always how it is? We take someone or something for granted, recognizing that this could possibly be genius, but it isn’t until it is in limited quantity or the artist passes away does their craft get fully recognized. Should all deceased artists really be recognized at genius? I suppose it is all subjective, but I feel that sometimes we romanticize art that is simply mediocre. Someone could paint three blobs on a piece of paper and call it art but did those three blobs evoke anything within the viewer? It takes something really special to move a great mass of people, and that is what Amy did with her music and that is what makes her great and worth remembering despite her addictions and turbulent life. Rest in peace jazz queen Amy.