Thursday, March 15, 2007

Amy Winehouse: Back to Black

I found this over at PerezHilton yesterday. It's a little bit off the beaten path for 'round these parts, but oh well, shit's been off the rails for a minute here now so in that way it fits right in. Amy's coming to the United States to support her cd, which was recently released here, and gosh I hope I can get a ticket.



This song/video is ridiculously grim. As one commentator said at Perez's site: Amy Winehouse is one dark bitch! Indeed. If you haven't experienced the heartbreak that'll allow you to feel this song, well oh boy, good luck to you, honeybunch.

Here are the lyrics if you wanna sing along as you dab the tears from your eyes with a hanky. Well wait, that's waaaay too dainty. For this song, it would be more about wailing the words between sobs, lying naked on the cold floor of your bathroom. And folks claim romance is dead!

9 comments:

Butterfly Jones said...

Amy Winehouse has been on heavy rotation in my house for the last few months. Regarding the sobbing lying naked on the bathroom floor, are you spying on me?!?

Lois said...

Bee! I was so hoping you'd comment here. I've been wondering what you thought of Ms. Winehouse. Wasn't sure whether or not you could suss out some major flaw that I'd miss in the U.K. to U.S. translation. Have you seen her live?

Anonymous said...

She was on Letterman, Monday Nite.

She was sweetly nervous, during her performance.

She sung "Rehab"

I hesitated posting, cuz I think she was lip-syncing. Which is understandable. Some nites, ya pipes won’t letcha punch all those notes. And she wants to make a strong first impression.

I'll send ya a copy this evening.

Butterfly Jones said...

I haven't seen her live. I missed out when the first album came out - the reports I heard said she wasn't all that - I hear she's getting much better, but to be honest, I just love the songs so much - I'd rather sit at home and wail along to my CDs!
She's a bit of lush (drinker) and has had some weight issues (bolivian marching powder related) but I think out of all the 'great white hope' soul singers (yes Joss Stone I'm taking bout you), she's the best. I mean, she wrote a song about Nas! Have you heard the Ghostface Killah remix of 'I'm No Good'. Sick.

Lois said...

Thanks for the clip, Al. Yeah, she may have been faking. I couldn't tell. If you hadn't mentioned it, I probably wouldn't have noticed.

And you can keep that Joss Stone on your side of the ocean, thanks very much. But yeah, I've always thought it was weird with the white soul singer thing and the U.K. I know you all value style, but it's hard to believe there's no funkified sisters over there incapable of making at least Stone look ridiculously foolish.

Butterfly Jones said...

Not feelin' Joss Stone. Or Lily Allen. Or Lady Sovereign. I see a pattern here.

Lois said...

Lady Sov...maybe I'm wrong, but I have a feeling the hiphop community wouldn't have let her slide through had she try to come up here.

Butterfly Jones said...

You're forgetting she auditioned for Jay Z and he signed her!

She completely bypassed the 'hip-hop community' here. That tends to happen if you're a white artist doing black music.

You get a 'mainstream music pass' straight to all the TV shows and mainstream publications that will say how cool you are and how you're the next best thing and never have to step foot in the ghetto.

Lois said...

No, I know Jay signed her--even after a horrible audition. But that was about business, man. Remember, he also signed Nasir "Jay's got dick-sucking lips" Jones, too. I think Jay knew he'd get away with it cuz she'd already gotten a pass in the U.K.

I don't understand how she bypassed the hiphop gatekeepers over there though. Didn't she have to perform at local hiphop clubs and get her music played on R&B stations? Music here is formatted so tightly and black stations play very little music by white artists--Timberlake and Robin Thicke are recent exceptions and they had to sing in a falsetto voice to get there. Plus, she's a total rich girl, isn't she? God man, she'd get skewered over that alone here. Is it cuz she's really just a pop act?

Then again, who the eff knows anymore. Everything is changing and I am seeing this trend where talented black producers/writers who have clawed their way to a position of power, rather than reaching out to the sisters, are attaching their shine to white girls, e.g. Fergie, Nelly, Gwen Stefani, Pussycat Dolls, Aguillera, Shakira, etc.

I see the same thing going on with fashion. As "urban" loses steam as a category, I'm noticing that companies are choosing to hook up with either "exotic" or plain-white girls, like Reebok and Scarlett's shoe deal. It's heartbreaking, really. Like it's okay for the sisters to play bikini eye candy in your videos when you're trying to establish your street cred, but when you advance up the ladder, you pull it up after you.