| so this is inevitable withdrawal |

"All I can ever be to you is the darkness that we know."
- Amy Winehouse

She was one of the first artists I followed seriously when I started to care about music, and it's a pity to see her go like this. I kept waiting for the new Amy Winehouse material, and now we'll have to wait for the cheesy post-humous marketing blitz. To the casual fan or someone who's ignorant to her music altogether, she was probably just some trashy, anorexic junkie with a big voice who had one good album then died.

Winehouse was no saint while alive and shouldn't be anointed as such just because she died young, but it saddens me to see so many people taking the "no pity for the drug addict" stance on the topic. She was someone's daughter, sister and friend. This was a human being who walked among us only one week ago.

On a music level, I don't think there's any greater injustice you could do to an artist who was as widely acclaimed to simply discount her as a flash in the pan. It would be like saying Michael Jackson had "Thriller" then became white and creepy and died. Would it be just to say Elvis had "Hound Dog" then got fat and croaked?

With copies of her previous work being bought up like hot cakes, I hope that all those people buying up Back to Black and Frank aren't doing it just because they want to know what the fuss is all about now that she's gone. I hope they want to know more about the singer and the indescribable talent she possessed. Yes, she had top tier production from Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi. But in her own right, she was reputed and respected for her songwriting ability and work ethic in the booth. Then there's her voice. All I will say is that they'll eventually make a movie about Amy Winehouse, and they're going to hell of a time trying to find someone that sounds anywhere in the same solar system as her.

Somewhere underneath that crazy beehive and the tattoos was a real artist. Looking through the videos below, you can see the transformation over the years. Once youthful, excited, and happy to be performing, Winehouse becomes visibly anxious, gaunt-looking, and generally out of it. The crazy thing is, she actually looked a little bit healthier in her performances last month. She could have been an even bigger icon in life than she has became now in death. Instead, she is a symbol of abuse and the darkness that we all struggle with in our own daily lives.


2003.


2005.


2007.


2008.


2010.


2011.


So sad...