Sister Blister

It might sound strange but I came to know two of my favorite singers today through CNN. It was late 2002 when it first happened. That time I was still in the Philippines, content with my professional and personal life. I was in a friend’s house surfing channels while waiting for him finish his shower so we can go out. I do not remember the name of the particular program, but it had something to do with new faces to watch in the entertainment scene. Her first album, ‘Come Away with Me’ was reviewed and the voice over praised the 23 year-old singer whose voice was described as a cross between Billie Holiday and Nina Simone. Two albums later, I still love Norah Jones.

And now, five years later, I’m here in Cambodia, still content with my professional and personal life (after a protracted period of turmoil, which is really irrelevant to this story), and CNN introduced me yet again to another 23 year-old girl whose voice was described as ’sounding like Shirley Bassey after she’s had a few drinks’. Her album ‘Back to Black’ was reviewed and lavishly praised for its fresh reinterpretation of 50’s & 60’s girl-group music. I was immediately entranced as I watched her, with exaggerated cat’s eye make-up and slept-on beehive as she sang about how they tried to make her to go to rehab but she said, ‘No, no, no!’.

After watching her in CNN I googled Amy Winehouse and was surprised at the amount of information I got about her. Where had she been all my life? God! I found out that she has released 1 album in the UK in late 2003 called ‘Frank’ and she’s received a number of prestigious awards for her singing and songwriting. At the first chance I got I looked for her CD in my neighborhood friendly (pirated) CD shop and I almost jumped for joy when I found it.

The album was such a pleasure to listen to. I hadn’t listened to an album wherein I liked all the songs in it for a long time. The songs are not happy songs, mind you. But they resonate and evoke such feelings long after you’ve finished listening to them. My friends were equally bowled over when I played her CD for them. My favorite track is called ‘Love is a Losing Game’ and this hasn’t been released as a single, but I managed to find a clip in YouTube.

I got curious as to how her first album sounded because I learned that it had many jazz influences. Shades of Norah Jones, perhaps? When I got the chance to listen to ‘Stronger Than Me’, the first single from Amy’s first album, all thoughts of comparisons to Norah Jones went flying through the windows of my second-floor apartment. I mean, they’re both great musicians and vocalists, but Amy is pure grit and world-weary angst. Think of Alanis Morissette turning to alcohol instead of going to India to cope with her angst.

Even if Amy Winehouse’s singing seems covered by a veneer of specific musical styles (such as jazz and doowop music), underneath you can see her true gritty self peering through. Just watch this clip, a live version of ‘Stronger Than Me’ that I also got from YouTube.

Aside from her music, many things have been written about Amy Winehouse’s life, mainly about her appetite for alcohol. Her dramatic weight loss. Her old-school pin-up girl tattoos. Her temper. Her tremendous stage presence. How she sang Michael Jackson’s ‘Beat It’ with Charlotte Church punch-drunk. Her US television debut in David Letterman’s show where David thought she looked like a Ronette. She just got married while touring the US and she’s received 3 MTV Video Music Awards nominations. Her latest video was directed by another favorite, David LaChapelle. It’s deliciously freaky, let me just say. Dame Shirley Bassey has reportedly said that Amy Winehouse should be singing the next James Bond theme. A Rolling Stone magazine cover story is aptly titled ‘The Diva and her Demons’.

I pass no judgment on Amy Winehouse’s supposed drinking problem. I am just hoping that these ‘demons’ do not get the better of her. I would love for her to stay in this world and continue enthralling us with her music for a long time.