I’ve been having a difficult time putting my head around Amy Winehouse’s troubles. I used to think that it was all an act. You know, that she was crafting some kind of image, the way most of today’s rap stars do. Guys from upper-middle class suburban families - Dad’s an investment banker, mom is an English literature professor - talking about guns, drug deals and their hoes to score a few million record sales. They walk around singing “Good Times” but in reality they’re a Huxtable. You’ve seen them before. You know you have.
I first heard Amy Winehouse four years ago after she released her debut CD, Frank. Frank was kinda jazzy and bluesy in spots. Not overly raunchy with the exception of the single F**k Me Pumps. Still, that track was a ways removed from Me & Mr. Jones (Fuckery), Wake Up Alone and the collection of songs on her compelling sophomore effort, Back To Black. However, we have seen many artists change their style up musically. So that’s nothing new. The big change from Frank to Back To Black was with the artist herself.
I first heard Amy Winehouse four years ago after she released her debut CD, Frank. Frank was kinda jazzy and bluesy in spots. Not overly raunchy with the exception of the single F**k Me Pumps. Still, that track was a ways removed from Me & Mr. Jones (Fuckery), Wake Up Alone and the collection of songs on her compelling sophomore effort, Back To Black. However, we have seen many artists change their style up musically. So that’s nothing new. The big change from Frank to Back To Black was with the artist herself.
I’d like to mention that all the images above and below are linked. This allows someone the opportunity to see the videos as well as larger images for the sake of comparison. So as I was saying, in all the videos, publicity shots, television appearances and record Jackets that I saw of Amy Winehouse circa that Frank CD, she was beautiful, voluptuous, sexy, well groomed and without a tattoo anywhere.
Compare the woman in the video for F**k Me Pumps or the video for Stronger Than Me and the woman on The Frank CD cover to the woman in the video below. Three years later not only do we have a completely different person, but the Amy Winehouse we have today is literally dying right before our eyes. She says all her songs are autobiographical. If that’s truly the case, then maybe the life is sadly imitating the art or, perhaps, this is who she really is and her musical talent is allowing her to liberate the true Amy Winehouse.
Maybe she was always sick and like a snake shedding it’s skin she peeled away the old Amy Winehouse to reveal who she truly is. Perhaps in the past she just had a better hold on her demons than she does today. Maybe she no longer wants to subdue a darker side. After all, there are a few drug references in F**k Me Pumps and she’s always expressed an affinity towards “bad girls” and the seedy, tough side of life. Take note of the lyrics as you what the video for Stronger Than Me. Lyrically, I guess nothing has changed that much, perhaps I’m the only one having difficulty reconciling this.
However, I trust my own eyes, comparing images of the woman before with what we see today, it’s is hard to connect the two women. It’s a drastic transformation. Which is what makes me wonder, what the hell happened? A little voice in me wonders are am I just being naive, like the college professor mom you see screaming on TV when her little baby gets caught with a smoking gun? You know what I mean.
Maybe she was always sick and like a snake shedding it’s skin she peeled away the old Amy Winehouse to reveal who she truly is. Perhaps in the past she just had a better hold on her demons than she does today. Maybe she no longer wants to subdue a darker side. After all, there are a few drug references in F**k Me Pumps and she’s always expressed an affinity towards “bad girls” and the seedy, tough side of life. Take note of the lyrics as you what the video for Stronger Than Me. Lyrically, I guess nothing has changed that much, perhaps I’m the only one having difficulty reconciling this.
However, I trust my own eyes, comparing images of the woman before with what we see today, it’s is hard to connect the two women. It’s a drastic transformation. Which is what makes me wonder, what the hell happened? A little voice in me wonders are am I just being naive, like the college professor mom you see screaming on TV when her little baby gets caught with a smoking gun? You know what I mean.
Amy Winehouse isn’t the first artist to lose them self in a character, in the artistic expression of their own creative genius but, hopefully, she will be the last. As of this moment, she is back in a London rehab facility, hopefully she will get the help there that she so obviously needs.
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