Amy, Amy, Amy

RIP

Amy Jade Winehouse

9/14/83 - 7/23/11

May You Finally Find Peace...

I am deeply saddened by the news of Amy Winehouse's death this weekend. I am usually not really affected by the death of people I dont really know, especially celebrities, but Amy Winehouse's death affected me deeply. She was possibly my favorite female singer of all time and "Back to Black" is one of my all time favorite albums. I feel like I have lost a friend...

"Back to Black" and her first album "Frank" were the only albums I listened to for a very long time. Her music was the only music that made me feel anything. I listened to her during the day, at night, during my long bus rides to work, while taking a shower, while doing homework, studying, cleaning, writing, walking, you name it and Amy was with me. She restored my faith in music and introduced me to a genre of music that I didnt know existed and didnt know I loved so much.

Amy and her music were also with me through some of my deepest and darkest times. Times in which I didnt allow anyone in and didnt seek for anyone as I do now. When I first became depressed, "Back to Black" was like a crutch to me. It held me up. At the time, Amy's pain in that album mirrored mine. It was greater than mine, even. I related to her angst, her despair and her suffering from losing herself to the man she felt was the love of her life at the time. I felt I had lost myself to a darkness I didnt even know I was capable of. She made me feel like I wasnt alone. I wasnt the only one suffering something greater than me.

I never cared that Amy Winehouse was an alcoholic and a drug addict. Everyone has their demons and everyone chooses how to fight them. I knew she was troubled but to me that just made her music even better. These songs werent written for her by some mass pop producer, these were songs written by her in her times of woe and desolation and you heard it in her voice, in her lyrics, in her tone. "Back to Black" was raw and it was real...otherwise it would have not won 5 Grammys like it did in 2009.

Amy Winehouse was tragically beautiful person. Her death only reassures this. She was a tortured soul with a gift for writing and a beautiful, unique voice. I have never judged her and I never will. She was sick and misunderstood and perhaps she was too far gone to have found her solace while alive. Her music was my solace. Her music made me feel alive. It impacted me enough to help me save myself. I just wish it would have been enough to save her too....

In honor of Amy Winehouse, I'll post one of her songs in the next 9 posts I make (9 days is the usual mourning time in DR). Below is my favorite song, "Wake Up Alone:"