Is Amy Winehouse a Genious or a Lunatic?
This Protege Has Some Serious Potential, Only If and when She Can Stay Out of Trouble ..
Yet there is a gritty, rough artistic authenticity with Amy Winehouse that is instantly recognizable, and her producers choice of mixing seemingly contradictory forms of music to create an interesting backdrop for a jazz singer, putting old school acoustic drum beats with soul and rhythm and blues samples you typically associate with old-school hip-hop while laying her emotionally scarred take on interpersonal schizophrenia to the test. The results are astounding and disturbing at once; you love the honesty of what she is saying, but the abstract brilliance she brings to her poetry makes you question her state of mind.
Lyrically, her work suggests the contradictory nature of the "nothingness" of Kurt Cobain but delivers the raw honesty you often associate with Mary J. Blidge. But her records are not depressing, tragic or disheartening; Winehouse looks forward to life's experiences despite it's disappointments and doesn't take that personally the shortcomings of men or her relationships. In fact she has a healthy sense of humor about it one may think.
But will Winehouse's personal life overshadow her greatness? She married in private, surprising everyone, was caught with marijuana and her parents-in-law are suggesting that fans boycott her records in order to force her to reach "rock bottom" perhaps because of their embarrassment over her lifestyle. At the same time, great songs have come out of her issues; she speaks about women who are caught up in trying to use their sexuality to trap men, being addicted to bad boys without glorifying them, and can be rather candid and explicit about how sex plays a role in her relationships through colorful metaphors.
Britain will always have singers like Amy Winehouse and Joss Stone to offer a fresh, unique take on soul music and there will always be great vocalists offering a nice diversion from what is normally empty, meaningless pop music. Her new record takes on a different look and feel from the older jazz music that was more of what her producers wanted and not as much her own personal influence. Yet while her producers are incubating the look, sound and feel of what the world is learning to appreciate from her artistically, one can only hope that once she takes full control of her sound, that the same audience is there to appreciate it, and that the tragedy that has contributed to her genius, can fully be put behind her ...
Published by Christopher
writing whenever the mood hits me, never know what I may be talking about tomorrow or even later on today ... View profile
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13 Comments
Post a CommentHer singing voice is not as great as her PR people would have you believe. I've heard her sing, and she comes nowhere near the greats like Judy Garland, Deanna Durbin, et al
..."Genious"? Does this website have no quality standards whatsoever?
I think Amy Winehouse is a wonderful and unique talent. I enjoy Joss Stone but there is something about the raw emotion in Amy's voice that stands out. Unfortunately, Amy is battling with her demons in the public eye and hopefully her addictions won't lead to her personal downfall.
I don't disagree with you on that, but somewhere along the lines people felt that they didn't have the mental capacity to deal with what should be regular everyday problems. I think a lot of it started in the 80s with bringing up "repressed memories" and so on and so forth, that whole thing you used to see on the talk shows like Oprah. You know, if you can't afford a good analyst or therapist, then your'e sort of screwed. So kids of that time sort of soaked that up because of unresolved issues their parents had. It's a theory. Thanks for your comments though.
Christopher, I appreciate your enjoyment of her music, and your representation of the 90's is prolly correct, but I fail to see how a whole generation of peeps, perhaps 2 whole generations, (the "X" and the "Y") felt they were born and raised into such a miserable time. Hell, peeps from my generation had it a whole lot better than my folks did, and my folks didn't complain, so I know I have no fight to complain. We have all been born into the most fortunate of Human circumstances - The United States. For every cause that could make one feel dread or foreboding, they are 1000 reasons to consider oneself fortunate.
I stand corrected - the persons who listen to Winehouse are Gen "Y"
I think she has a fascinating voice. The first time I heard one of her songs, I thought "wow, that seems so 1930s - but with rock and what does she look like . . ." It's like she's combined big band, jazz and the edginess of rock into one.
And, no, I don't think genius and lunatic go hand-in-hand. Unfortunately, sometimes the person possessing genius qualities has many other weaknesses in their life.
The key ingredients for geniuses and lunatics are essentially the same, so I'd say she's a nice mixture of both :)
Winehouse is gen y, she's only 24. Gen X are the children born in the 70s like myself. In any event, the issues that artists deal with haven't changed, nor are the ways that they deal with them. I was having a good time though, I can't speak for anyone else; as far as Kurt Cobain, that whatever, anything, everything, nothing attitude was prevalent in the 90s, regardless of which generation you were in.
After posting my comment I saw your mention of Kurt Cobain. So, young peeps admire millionaires who are so full of angst that they blow their brains out? Or artists like Winehouse whose whole purpose is to communicate the misey of life and their addictions. Sorry, but if ya'll (you Gen "X" peeps) wanna break new ground ya missed the boat. Me and mine were really pushing the boundries in the 60's and 70's. Ya'll are just whining about how tuff life is. Rehab? No,no,no. What a joke. Ya'lls version of social angst and injustice are based upon your myopic views of adulthood. At least my heros were having a good time. Seems Gen X heros are misery laden whiners, complaining about their plights. Gimme a frickin break!