Amy Winehouse is now a name that resonates with millions for her soulful brilliance and alluring music that has transcended her tragic death. An enigmatic yet captivating performer, her brilliant career was short-lived, but even in that relatively small career, she achieved what many in multiple lives cannot.
Just recently, the trailer to her already controversial biopic, Back to Black was released, triggering another round of debates about whether the movie should even be released. As the debates and controversies rage on, here is a look at her glistening career and her tragic end.
Amy Winehouse: A Brilliant Life That Ended Too Soon
Amy Winehouse, even years after her death, remains an unforgettable figure for the indelible mark she left on the music industry. Hailing from North London, she burst into the music industry in 2003 with her debut album Frank, with her popularity only catapulting to international acclaim with her second album in 2006 Back to Black.
Characterized by vintage sounds and honest lyricism, her blend of jazz, R&B, and reggae with a pinch of hip-hop powered by her deep vocals, her legendary music soon earned her 6 Grammy awards out of 8 nominations and countless accolades. However, before and throughout the fame and popularity, the Rehab hitmaker was battling a severe drug and alcohol addiction as well as bulimia. But despite her struggles, the singer had transformed into a household name, but fame is hardly ever positive for it further made things worse.
Soon enough, much of her life apart from music was spent battling and overcoming her addictions, which were only made worse once her popularity started to soar. Her turbulent love life added another complexity to her personal and internal struggles, leading to her life becoming often plagued by media and public scrutiny. Over the course of her life, there were several near-death experiences triggered by her extreme addictions, but later during her end days, Winehouse had given up on hard drugs.
Unfortunately, alcohol turned out to be the bane of her existence, as she kept going back despite making several strides to recovery. Even during these several attempts at recovery, the media and their relentless scrutiny were never too far, making it challenging for her to ever remain sober for longer periods of time. Just as anyone else had feared, the wonderful singer, electric performer, and an even more brilliant human being ultimately lost her life to severe alcohol poisoning.
After her death, it was revealed that she had refused to seek mental therapy or go to rehab and that despite everyone wanting to help her, the efforts of help never took off resulting in her untimely death on July 23, 2011, at the age of 27. At the time of her death, her alcohol level was five times more than the legal limit (via People, Mirror, All That’s Interesting, and Medium).
Despite Controversy, Amy Winehouse Documentary Releases First Trailer
Throughout Amy Winehouse’s life, she was either put on a pedestal or put down in a hole long before her death by the public and media. Such was the media scrutiny and critical reception that the young pop star was often subjected to. No matter what she did, she often had countless people calling her out for one thing or the other.
And now that she is long gone, forget scrutiny, the Love is a Losing Game singer has been celebrated, placed on a gold pedestal, and showered with the utmost praise, a stark contrast to what she dealt with when she was still alive. One element of this sincere love she has received since then has been an endless train of documentaries and movies made about her.
The most recent one titled, Back to Black, comes from Sam Taylor-Johnson, a filmmaker who previously earned acclaim for her biopic of John Lennon, Nowhere Boy. Blessed by Amy Winehouse’s father, Mitch, the movie just released its first trailer
Starring Marisa Abela as Amy Winehouse, the biopic will feature the singer at the height of her popularity as she battles addiction and her marriage. However, Back to Black has not been free from controversy as many loyal fans of the singer feel Abela, being nothing like her in terms of look, is the worst choice for the biopic.
Furthermore, not many applaud the efforts to bring Winehouse’s life back to the land of media seeing the troubles she had with them throughout her life. But since her own father has since defended the casting and the movie, the public has little say in this (via The Guardian, Independent, and X).
While Back to Black will be released on May 10, 2024, here is the trailer:
