I Don’t Like to be Sensationalized.

Here it is three o’clock in the morning and I’ve just finished watching Amy, a documentary about Amy Winehouse, and I have to say I did cry a little at the end. I’m going to blame that in part on the music and the fact that she really has passed on.

Mind you, when Back to Black was released I was around 15 or 16 years old. I was into a lot of stuff back then, but Jazz music wasn’t one of them. I had a very strict box of things that I liked to listen to and Amy just didn’t fit into that box. I hadn’t exactly lived life long enough yet. However, there was an older friend of the family that played Back to Black like it was going out of style. In fact, I think that may be the only reason I’m aware of it’s existence in the first place.

Anyways, sure, I’d heard her name before and seen her enough in the media to have formed my own limited view of her life. Granted, I’m sure that Amy, the movie, had it’s biases and omissions, but I have to focus on the things that I can actually measure. Like the fact that she never wanted the fame.

Queue my heartstrings.

There was a video archive in particular that you can see her pain, and hurt so clearly. I’m staring at the screen like: “Look at this girl! You have to be blind not to see that she’s troubled.” When she was finally over the emotions and hurt that she’d put into Back to Black, they still made her sing it. The correlation between her music and her real-life situations is just beautiful. To be able to pull something like that off and make people feel it how you are. It’s a talent that few possess.

Amy came out in 2015. I watched it free as a part of my Prime membership and it’s one of those things where I kind of wish I never opened the gate. It’s a sensational movie. It makes me want to go back and really listen to Back to Black and Frank with newfound appreciation. But, I kind of wish she was still around. I also couldn’t help but notice how eerily similar Adele’s vocals sound. I know that images get recycled. Amy really didn’t get to live her’s out, so they just tossed it in the back and here comes Adele, with all of the vocals and none of the bad habits, after everyone’s dismissed Amy as a junkie who overdosed.

Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

I can’t lie though, Adele’s “Turning Tables” does something to my soul. But really, that’s the only song she can sing for me.