#mitch winehouse

[casasupernovas]

i've seen so many people talk about how amy winehouse's accent wasn't her own, that she was much more well spoken when she was younger. her friend and mother have both said so.

but i don't know why no one has seemed to connect that the newer, more cockney accent she ended up adopting...was her dad's?

[geekpopnews]

Crítica | A verdadeira Amy Winehouse por trás do vício em "Back to Black"

Entenda como o filme Back to Black retratou a cantora que avassalou o mundo com voz e partida em 2011, com o talento de Marisa Abela. #BackToBlack #AmyWinehouse

Que a cinebiografia de Amy Winehouse seria um escândalo, já era esperado. Mas que o longa traria a história da cantora com tanta sensibilidade e honra foi uma surpresa. Back to Black, a mais nova produção de Sam Taylor-Johnson com Marisa Abela arrasando no papel da cantora que avassalou o mundo com sua voz e sua partida em 2011. O filme, apesar de ser uma biografia, não tem um caráter…

[bob-the-movie-man-film-reviews]

Back to Black (15): Winehouse Biopic Illustrates Her Unique Talent & Tragic Decline.

#onemannsmovies #filmreview of "Back to Black". #BackToBlackFilm. The Winehouse biopic is a good watch but fails to thrill. 3.5/5.

A One Mann’s Movies Film Review of “Back to Black” (2024). You’d need to be a bit out of it, particularly if you are from the UK, not to realise that “Back to Black” is a biopic of the legendary but tragic singer Amy Winehouse who died in 2011. The film is directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, who burst onto the movie scene with a wonderful film about another music legend (John Lennon in 2009’s…

[jackets1213]

Eddie Marsan Back To Black Jacket

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[boricuacherry-blog]

[eternallylauren]

Rip Amy Winehouse, you would’ve hated this fucking movie your dad had made.

[babuszcats]

this can't be fucking happening.... The kind of demonic energy the realse of this film will bring into the world..... 😭

[mitchwinehousejr]

[notcruel]

every time I see something about the new amy movie I cry for her.

[vivianbernadetteaurora]

Anna 💕👩🏼👄💋💅👠👛🦄🦩🌸

Beautiful lady , highly misunderstood? , highly manipulative?, both? I Believe that she loves that billionaire, you see her riding around in on the van or bike with him in the car or lying next to him ,it was a different kind of love it, love it was kind of like an older person who had respect for her, even though the man was probably more sexually even though he was nearly dying,like a father , but these women just so sexualised their whole life , it’s weird feeling ,it’s nice but for some women it can also feel scary , from annas chart being heavy Sagittarius and libra placements, maybe the Capricorn makes me think that she probably didn’t feel that way about people sexualising as you probably kinda like to actually, because women even fell for her to doctors, she was very charming. She’s a very mesmerising person Courtney love you hates every woman., well most of them said she was the most beautiful woman she’d ever seen in her life, and I believe it like you see pictures but she was probably even more beautiful in real life, that’s a horrible thing to be told as well but like a backhanded compliment, all the time .

I’m not into the whole thing of blaming parents I actually like the mum but that’s just me ,same with Mitch winehouse ,I think Mitch was just extremely proud of his daughter , yes he liked she grew up in musical house my dad is musical too , and I think if when I was younger ,and I had got deal, he d be a little resentful.

Anna loved the publicity, she even admitted that she was like the Marilyn Monroe, like the attention that like the press like being photographed that like being filmed she just like being famous and that’s okay too, the pain that she went through and and the drugs, fame itself is a trauma, you’re being build it up all the time, and then you have it down for things, and then they constantly remind you of that, and make you feel bad, you read stuff about yourself. I can’t even imagine how scary it must feel .Especially, because Anna had, borderline personality disorder, so yeah, she probably did feel those things. I probably did get that wrong about her birth chart,she had BPD ,so yes men probably put her in situations she . She did feel uncomfortable with ,but probably hidden a different kind of, but you have to remember there are different types of BPD .

These are some pics of her at the end of her life ,which so sad because she looks radiant and beautiful.😻 rip Anna

And sugar pie the dog so cute like my dog 🐶 who’s callled sugar

[juniperhillpatient]

Mitch Winehouse will not see heaven

[deadcactuswalking]

REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 04/05/2024 (Taylor Swift, Tommy Richman, Kendrick Lamar's "euphoria")

Just a week after her album’s impact, Taylor’s been dethroned by… Sabrina Carpenter! She grabs her first #1 on the UK Singles Chart with the smash hit “Espresso” and welcome back to REVIEWING THE CHARTS!

content warning: language, Yeat praise

Rundown

As always, let’s start with the notable dropouts, which are songs exiting the UK Top 75 - that’s what I cover - after five weeks in the region or a peak in the top 40. Now this week, we bid adieu to: “The Tortured Poets Department” by Taylor Swift (it got three-song-ruled and dropped out from #3, more on that later), “act II: date @ 8” by 4batz featuring a remix by Drake (not his best week, more on that later), “Von dutch” by Charli XCX, “Kitchen Stove” by Pozer, “Whatever” by Kygo and Ava Max, “Murder on the Dancefloor” by Sophie Ellis-Bextor and FINALLY, “Lovin’ on Me” by Jack Harlow.

As for our gains, we see healthy boosts for “Pedro” by Jaxomy, Agatino Romero and the late Raffaella Carrá at #60, “Outside of Love” by Becky Hill at #54, “Evergreen” by Richy Mitch & the Coal Miners at #46, “The Sound of Silence” by Disturbed at #42 (yeesh), “These Words” by Badger and Natasha Bedingfield at #22, “I Don’t Wanna Wait” by David Guetta and OneRepublic at #20 - I guess obvious covers and remixes have a good week - then finally, a song hitting the top 10 I’m personally very happy with: “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” by Shaboozey at #6. #1 incoming? Please?

We also continue to see the rise or, rather, resurgence of Amy Winehouse’s catalogue due to the biopic, with “Valerie” with Mark Ronson at #38, “Back to Black” at #39, and a re-entry for “Tears Dry on Their Own” at #49, which peaked at #16 when Ye’s “Stronger” was #1 in 2007. On that same album, he says he hates Nazis, look how far we’ve come. Anyways, “Tears Dry” contains a sample of “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”, made famous by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, which didn’t chart in its original form for the longest time here. It peaked at #6 in 1970 but only in the form of a cover by Diana Ross, whose version charted whilst Freda Payne’s “Band of Gold” was #1 - just shows that we don’t really remember the bigger hits of the time. The Boys Town Gang reached #46 with their cover in 1981, Whitehouse and Jocelyn Brown both charted with covers coincidentally in August of 1998 - they peaked at #60 and #35 respectively - and finally, the original first charted at #80 in 2013, amazingly still its peak, and briefly re-entered earlier this year. “Tears Dry” itself was sampled the last time Amy made the top 40 in 2023, with Skepta’s #28-peaking tribute “Can’t Play Myself”.

As for our top five this week, we start in the dregs with “i like the way you kiss me” by Artemas at #5, “Beautiful Things” by Benedict Cumberbatch at #4, “Too Sweet” by Hozier at #3, then of course Taylor Swift’s “Fortnight” featuring Post Malone at #2 and “Espresso” at #1. It’s an interesting one today, folks, with a lot of unique and frankly, fantastic stuff to cover, so let’s start with… Kygo?

New Entries

#75 - “For Life” - Kygo and Zak Abel featuring Nile Rodgers

Produced by Kygo, Nile Rodgers, Ollie Green and Franklin

I’m honestly a bit surprised Kygo is still notching chart hits, especially without a big name attached this time. Sure, Nile Rodgers is a legend, but he’s doing so much dance-pop garbage in his later years that I don’t think many people check specifically for his collaborations, so there’s got to be something in this that’s unique, right? Aaaaaaand it’s a sample. It’s a nostalgia bait sample of a 2000s EDM track because of course it is. French house act Modjo debuted with “Lady - Hear Me Tonight”, which spent two weeks at #1 in 2000 and is an absolute classic I still return to today, even if Modjo were basically a one-hit wonder. “Lady” of course is built on a sample of “Soup for One” by Rodgers’ own band CHIC, which comes from a 1982 soundtrack album, never charted and kind of been eclipsed by “Lady”, largely because the original is honestly pretty bad, uninteresting and surprisingly stiff for an 80s funk track, with some of the weakest and most slap-dash implementation of synths. “Lady” really took the best parts of that song - its undeniable guitar melody, that isn’t even put to great use in the original - and constructed an entirely new, incredible song out of it. So I can’t tell if it’s pathetic and desperate for Rodgers to try and reclaim it, or something that speaks to the power of musical transformation. Oh, what am I kidding? It’s Kygo, it’s just kind of boring. It’s a rote piano house track that goes for the same tropical atmosphere Kygo has been doing for years - a lot of the same festival synths are there, it’s all full of bubbly swooshing that actively sound like pastel colours. The only real hook of the song is taken from Modjo and re-sang by Zak Abel, with slight lyric modifications taken from the “I’m Good (Blue)” department of refusing to allow for fun in your dance songs, and even that just feels desperate. What did Nile Rodgers even do here, man? Sign a legal document saying you can use the hook? It’s not even his Goddamn hook.

#69 - “Solo” - Myles Smith

Produced by Peter Fenn

Myles Smith is a singer-songwriter I hadn’t heard of until today but has been active since at least last year and is making at least some consistent buzz so I was interested to see what his first slow-burning chart hit here has to offer and… are we just, IN, 2012, 2013 now? We had festival house with the last song, the next song is heavily Yeezus-inspired, and this is a full-on Aloe Blacc stomp-rock song. It isn’t bad either - I actually had to get used to hearing his richer voice on this kind of scattered clap-stomp-holler folk track, and whilst this is nothing unique given the solemn pianos, spattering of strings and of course, that jingling indie folk rolick, that doesn’t feel particularly organic on this one, it still is far from bad. The lyrics are somewhat generic but not in an awful way, and the “so low”/”solo” double meaning is somewhat clever or at least, would be if in the context of the song, they actually meant separate things. It’s a bit annoying that it’s the main conceit because both have negative connotations for Mr. Smith here, so it just feels like he’s repeating himself rather than elaborating on his feelings or presenting a dichotomy. I imagine it’ll be a lost on a few people due to botched execution, which bothers me because it was an active attempt at clever songwriting that gets kind of lost in sonic translation. This sounds like I’m picking apart the song’s flaws but it is really just a fine little woodlands jams with a great singer, infectious hook and by the end, a damn fine melodramatic string section. I can see it growing on me, especially due to its gorgeous outro, but for right now, I’m somewhat lukewarm, not going to raise a fuss if it ends up smashing though and in a Noah Kahan world, I suppose it’s quite likely.

#64 - “If We Being Real” - Yeat

Produced by Synthetic, Radiate, Fendii, LRBG, Perdu and Dreamr

So terrible news: I like Yeat now. I’m still not granting him his silly little umaluts, and I won’t go too in-depth here, mostly because there’s another song worthy of in-depth analysis, and every piece Yeat’s put out fits into the jigsaw of the album’s narrative as a whole… it would require a lot more time and space, and frankly words, that I’m willing to give #64. No track feels unnecessary on 2093, the atmosphere is consistent across all 24 tracks, and lyrically, it’s a concept album, which I would have never expected from Yeat and he pulls it off brilliantly both sonically and thematically without straining himself to areas he probably couldn’t reach like trying to be super lyrical or stepping away from rage pads. Given the album’s experimentation and length, I wasn’t surprised by the lukewarm commercial reception, but I did at least expect maybe the songs with Future, Wayne or Drake on the deluxe, to have charted by now, when this hasn’t even happened in the US. So when the penultimate track on an album that’s over an hour in its standard issue becomes his first solo hit in the top 75, I have to assume TikTok virality is involved.

Regardless, I’m glad it’s here because it’s brilliant. Sonically as a separate track, it’s one extended verse over a corrupted industrial beat that cracks in right after a mystical intro full of textured but meandering strings, that get swooshed out of existence by a cinematic, malfunctioning clunker incorporating Yeat’s inhuman ad-libs, manipulated behind vocal recognition, into infectious loops within the beat. This is one of few songs - another’s coming later - where I can understand the sheer amount of producers. Lyrically, the title refers to Yeat or more accurately, his psychopathic billionaire character, attempting to shed some of his CEO veneer and ultimately failing, adopting a lot of the violent, power-hungry rhetoric the rest of the album relies on, making it a pretty ironic and depressing title, especially when considering its place in the rest of the album, coming right before the… actually honest and heartbreaking closer, “1093”. In the backhalf of this album, Yeat’s bragging sounds increasingly monotone and routine, and him rapping in and out of distorted filters or going up and down from his traditional murmur to a choking yell, exemplifies how sick and tired he is of the lyfestyle he curated for himself. This song in particular ends with him barely on beat for a beat that doesn’t even really have a beat, becoming a factorial ambiance more so than anything coherently rhythmic. I have no idea why this song in particular is going viral - it doesn’t have a chorus or even really some of the catchier, more potent lyrics on the album, and its beat barely functions as such for the vast majority of the song - Hell, it’s not even one of the album’s integral moments like the opener, “Bought the Earth”, “ILUV”, “Shade”, “Riot & Set it off”, or really countless others, but I’m not complaining because the sound design, the care placed into thematic and narrative consistency, it’s all still here. This is a 10/10 album, and if this song gets more people to check it out, I really can’t be upset with that.

#58 - “Love Me JeJe” - Tems

Produced by Guilty Beatz and Spax

So what’s “Love Me JeJe” actually mean? Well, in Nigerian Pidgin, it means “gentle” or “tender”, and the use of a more regional term rather than the English actually contributes greatly to why I think this song works: Tems’ buttery voice has always been able to display both coldness and a sensual warmth, often at the same time, but on some of the bubbliest guitars I’ve heard over an Afrobeats rhythm since the genre started charting consistently, she’s fully in that second category. Hell, most of the lyrics are pretty basic here, especially the practically meaningless chorus, but that’s to its benefit because thinking too much about this song defeats its purpose: to be gentle. It’s a frankly adorable expression of love and care at its most optimistic extent possible. Despite the clean, tropical percussion, it still feels cute and homegrown. Hell, the second verse, after a nice back-and-forth choir vocal, even references the Nigerian electricity provider that’s apparently nationally infamous for its power outages, with the lyric comparing the love she feels with her partner to the feeling when electricity comes back on in the village and all her neighbours inform the locals. Combine that with how breezy this is, the easy-flowing bridge into an outro full of murmuring, chatter and reverb-drenched laughing, it just makes for a really cute, likeable song. Not necessarily what I expected out of a lead single from Tems, but a delightful surprise. Now to balance that with pure hatred.

#50 - “euphoria” - Kendrick Lamar

Produced by Cardo, Kyuro, Sounwave, Johnny Juliano, Yung Exclusive and Matthew “MTech” Bernard

There’s part of me that finds it quite funny that Drake gets into serious beef with an incredibly analytical and perfectionist rapper like Kendrick right after putting out his own exposé of himself. For All the Dogs is as much of a dissection of Aubrey Drake Graham, albeit perhaps unintentionally, as Kendrick or really anyone could perform, as long as you’re paying attention. It’s been like that (no pun intended) for a while, but his latest is the most obvious and desperate attempt at clinging to status and image that it places his insecurities fully on display. You could recite lyrics from that album on a jazz beat and call it a diss track, so the fact that Kendrick went back to back with damn near dissections of Drake’s paranoia - especially on the Instagram follow-up track he made that is chilling - as well as a myriad of different issues he has with Drake, simply because… well, he doesn’t fuck with Drake. One could argue that this feud is complex and storied, with so many different  beligerents… but the motives behind it are genuinely a lot simpler than most rap feuds, and the diss tracks that are made from it are way more straightforward. They just outline the reasons they dislike each other, almost systematically, it’s genuinely refreshing, or at least a lot more than what’s going on with Quavo and Chris Brown, yeesh.

This track in particular is as calculated as can be, acting as a dissertation on why K-Dot doesn’t really like Drake too much. It’s condescending, damn near academic, with its smooth jazz intro and categorical shoot down of each possible avenue you could hit Drake from. We have sextuple entendres on this thing, a total of three beats, two of which are cheap-sounding but absolutely murderous drill bangers, and Genius annotations that rival War and Peace when combined. I’m not a lyrical expert, and there’s so much in here that I didn’t get until I was pointed towards that direction by Genius annotations, Reddit, X, or, embarrassingly, YouTube Shorts. You don’t need to research or analyse for this to hit hard though, there are plenty of lines that aren’t going over anyone’s heads… until you look into the exact way the bars are constructed and suddenly they have 20 double meanings and hidden easter eggs. This is really sheer venom, filled with so many layers that I wouldn’t be surprised if he genuinely wins a GRAMMY for it - and it would be in character considering Drake doesn’t even nominate his songs anymore. It’s already having an effect too, that 4batz album came out today, and he’s not signed to OVO as rumoured. Ye’s on the record… but not the already existing and heavily-streamed Drake remix. Already, he may be losing some of that prestige.

As far as it is sonically, it’s six minutes of murder, and Kendrick’s delivery is energised, violent, damn near deranged at times, to perfectly balance how, somewhat subtly through his meta commentary about his own bars and albums, the lyrics are basically an essay. It has an introduction, a conclusion, a hypothesis, written examples, he even presents counter-arguments and weaves them into his own analysis. By the time he was going extremely in-depth about his experiences as a father, and just repeating that Drake knows nothing about that, it almost felt like overkill. My personal favourite lines and ideas presented here are the concise slow dagger of the intro verse, the “Demun”/”throwaway” scheme, the voice and character he puts on between “Cutthroat business” and “I’ll explain that phrase” - he’s like a disappointed teaching assistant, obviously the YNW Melly line and its set-up, the incredible Daft Punk line that got a cackle out of me on first listen, then followed up by a mocking interpolation of one of Drake’s most revered songs, the straightforward rant about everything he hates that references an iconic moment of DMX’s trademark honesty (rest in peace), the “record” scheme in verse three, and when he started the fake Canadian accent, I just lost it. Drake’s biggest weakness here is that when he’s funny, I’m laughing at him, but when Kendrick’s funny, I’m laughing with him, and much louder. If he does respond, unless the man tells us that Kendrick’s whole life and career has been a farce, or he brings, like, the actual former President Obama on the track or something, I can’t see how it tops this. This is one of the best diss tracks ever in terms of sheer detail, and might honestly be one of the greatest throwaway rap singles period. It’ll be tough to beat.

#31 - “MILLION DOLLAR BABY” - Tommy Richman

Produced by Max Vossberg, Jonah Roy, Mannyvelli, Sparkheem and Kavi

This is the sudden breakout hit for Virginia rapper-turned-singer Tommy Richman, which actually comes in two versions on Spotify, the original and a more distorted “VHS” version. Also, this is brilliant. Sure, Richman just sounds like Brent Faiyaz, but a trend I haven’t been able to talk about on here necessarily but has been very exciting for me is the return of grittier, groovier synth funk and hyphy beats into underground hip hop and R&B, with this representing the more melodic end of that sound, which is typically restricted to Midwest and Dirty South rappers. The sound design on this one is actually even unique to that sound, starting with a bizarrely British-sounding Memphis rap vocal loop which I think isn’t a sample and is just him doing a bad impression, filtered below an infectious beat that actually took me by surprise. It even has cowbells and the type of punchy jabbing drums that I love from classic southern rap, but instead of the smooth-talking rappers you usually expect over this, we get a Brent Faiyaz impression that didn’t click with me until hearing this song. I never really got his appeal until I hear it over this and I start to realise the very distinct new jack swing element to his vocals, as he pretty seamlessly transitions from soulful double-tracked harmonies to much more rhythmic, half-rap flows. Now this ISN’T Brent Faiyaz… and I still don’t really like Brent Faiyaz, but hearing his wannabes I think helped me gather what was distinct about him, and the literal Richman North of Richmond here pitting his filtered splatter of vocal ideas and riffs over the beat in a very Devil-may-care fashion exemplifies the elements I do like about him, just with an instrumental that I personally like a lot more. Also, the VHS version is labelled as such but is really just like a bass-boosted version of the song that sounds like it was done in 10 seconds in Audacity, though the vocal mixing sounds a bit different too. I would love for someone to explain why that was the version I ended up adding to my playlist, because I couldn’t tell you.

#8 - “I Can Do It with a Broken Heart” - Taylor Swift

Produced by Jack Antonoff and Taylor Swift

I know I wrote my whole Taylor spiel last week, but I’m not bothered about this one at all, and I really did expect it to be a fan favourite, mostly because, as the one track I actually enjoy on the standard version, she’s having fun! The lyrics are actively vapid, which doesn’t feel like the intention when she’s singing over soppy adult contemporary but very much feeds into the almost childish character she plays here over synthpop with an actual pulse. The synths here sound like a theme park she’s taking the boy to, especially with the backing vocals and chatter samples implemented into the ambiance and classic Antonoff wonky synths - though some of this doesn’t even sound like it’s in his ballpark. Like were Marian Hill or Sofi Tukker ghost-producing this? Some of these loop choices and flashy sound effects are frankly ridiculous, in the best way of course because the song is camp and fun. Sure, some of Taylor’s lyrics still come off a bit awkward, mostly because of her choice of slower melodies sometimes clashing with the fast-paced patter of the synthscape, but that’s a nitpick. I do love this song, I think it’s fun, Hell, I think it’s funny which is something Taylor has always kind of failed to translate to me in the past, so that is something. I just don’t think we have the same sense of humour. Does she like Norm Macdonald? I don’t feel like she does. Correct me if I’m wrong, Swifties.

Conclusion

It should be incredibly obvious who gets Best of the Week, it’s Kenny, easily, with “euphoria”, and I’m sorry, Swifties, but Yeat better. “If We Being Real” takes away with the Honourable Mention pretty easily as well, though really, strong competition and strong week all around - Tems was close too. There can’t be a Dishonourable Mention in this climate so, Worst of the Week goes to Kygo and Zak Abel for “For Life” that “features” Nile Rodgers, it genuinely just is a lazy template of a song. As for what’s on the horizon, I’m not sure. Dua’ll have some impact, but outside of that, time may have to tell. For now, thank you for reading, long live Cola Boyy, and I’ll see you next week!

[texaschainsawmascara]

there won’t be an accurate Amy Winehouse biopic until Mitch Winehouse is dead

[boricuacherry-blog]

I was struck by the diametrically different approaches Mitch and Janis took to their daughter. Janis, who had been a pharmacist before being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, took an almost fatalistic view that only Amy could help herself.

Janis said one of the hardest things she ever had to face was going to visit her daughter in hospital in November 2008, when she was suffering a serious lung infection, and finding Jane sitting on the other side of Amy's bed.

When Erbil, my partner, took Janis to visit Amy, staff didn't recognize her - Erbil had to tell them who she was.

Mitch admitted to the camera that Amy didn't even need to be in the hospital - so controlling was he that he'd ensured she was kept there to prevent Blake Fielder-Civil, her then husband, from coming home to her when he was released from jail.

In one interview with me, Mitch bragged that 'Janis left me to deal with it,' meaning Amy. 'She trusted me completely,' he added. He actually admitted to me that he had considered 'doing a Britney' on Amy. It was the end of 2008, months after Jamie Spears became his daughter's conservator, supposedly to protect her from predators who wanted to manipulate her out of her money. Mitch explained that he was worried Blake would burn Amy's fortune on drugs. Unfortunately for him, conservatorships don't exist under British law.

Amy knew what her father was trying to accomplish. She told me: 'He is always coming with papers for me to sign. I'm NOT signing. I know what's going on.' A couple of Mitch's proposed business partners were with us in St. Lucia, having been led to believe, by Mitch, that Amy would sign a deal. In fact, she insulted them in front of Erbil and me.

When I held a private screening for Mitch, Janis and their friends, he seemed to feel the footage of his grown-up daughter repeatedly kissing him on the lips was unremarkable. Perhaps he's right - and that such a level of intimacy is accepted in some families, but it had left me feeling uncomfortable.

There was one moment I shared with Amy which I think got closest to her true feelings. She was crying, and said to me: 'Daph, I did show them how good I am, five years ago.' She didn't think she could repeat the extraordinary success she'd had with her album Back to Black. That insecurity was something she didn't feel she could talk about with her family. It was heart breaking.

Later that night we ended up filming outside my villa. Mitch murmured, 'Maybe I am part of the problem.' Finally, he was acknowledging that his controlling nature might be contributing to Amy's troubles. 'I tend sometimes to make a situation worse,' he added. He tried to explain by imagining a situation where Amy met a stranger. He says: 'In my mind, Amy is not talking to a nice woman on the beach, she is talking to a potential drug dealer. She is not - but unfortunately that is how my mind has been working. So what I have got to do is try to retrain my mind so that when I see her talking to a perfectly normal person on the beach, that is fine, I don't need to intervene. Why shouldn't she be saying anything other than pleasantries? Sometimes I think I make the situation worse, unquestionably.'

It was clearly difficult for Mitch not to treat his daughter like the child he thought she was. Even now, he struggles to assert control over her memory.

In the decade since Amy's death, Mitch has developed a reputation for challenging anyone who has dared to question his relationship with his daughter.

It won't happen to me, because it's important that the footage I have is seen. It asks difficult questions, and considering the answers could help others who find themselves in a similar situation. Perhaps Mitch himself put it best back in 2008 when I asked him whether he thought Amy would continue with her recovery. 'We're all in recovery,' he answered. If only that had really been true, perhaps the story's ending could have been different.

[fantastica-daily]

Back to Black Movie Review

Get out that industrial-strength hairspray, folks, because Back to Black is a moviemaking tour de force that’ll leave you questioning your life choices and the price you paid for this movie ticket. This Amy Winehouse biopic, directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson (Fifty Shades of Grey) and written by Matt Greenhalgh (Nowhere Boy), is a masterclass in reducing an iconic and complex figure into a one-dimensional, candy-coated caricature.

Marisa Abela takes on the role of Amy, and bless her beehive, she tries her darnedest to breathe life into this lifeless script. But the real star of this show is the movie’s obsession with Amy’s supposed unfulfilled desire for motherhood. Subtle as a sledgehammer, we’re beaten over the head with the idea that her tragic demise is even more heart-wrenching because she never got to be a vessel for a tiny human. Because, you know, what’s a woman’s worth if she can’t pop out a kid, right?

Forget Amy’s raw talent, her unapologetic authenticity, and her boundary-pushing artistry – nah, let’s focus on her empty womb instead. How empowering! The movie treats her eating disorder, domestic violence struggles, and substance abuse like afterthoughts, preferring to wrap her in a cozy, sanitized blanket of sentimentality. Blame is taken off husband Blake (who, by his own admission, turned her onto hard drugs – in the movie, it’s her sole doing) and dad Mitch (who enabled her at best and exploited her at worst).

Abela’s performance is sincere, sure, but it’s buried under layers of clichés and a script that treats Amy’s life like a Lifetime movie-of-the-week. Gone is her mischievous spirit, her fiery rage, and the very essence that made her an icon. Instead, we’re left with a watered-down, glossed-over version that feels more like a cash grab than a genuine tribute. It’s even filmed like a TV flick; there’s nothing visually cinematic about it at all.

The final act is a chef-d’oeuvre of lazy storytelling, with Amy randomly singing “Tears Dry On Their Own” a cappella before disappearing into the ether. In the end, Back to Black is a disappointment of epic proportions, a missed opportunity to truly honor Amy Winehouse’s legacy. Instead, it’s a shallow, exploitative attempt to profit off her memory, smoothing away her rough edges and reducing her to a one-note caricature. Save your money and stream her albums instead – at least those capture the real Amy.

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S.L. Wilson

[alrightbuckaroo]

Sending you the same question I sent lemon because I know you’re a big music person too! If you could go back in history and see any three concerts, what would they be? Feel free to explain why if you would like!

Hello Basil! Do you mind if I call you Basil?

This is such a good question!

1. The Rat Pack in 1964 as part of the Frank Sinatra Spectacular show. I always joke that I'm an 82 year old that's found her way in the body of a late 20s year old and I think my love of Dino, Frank and Sammy is proof of that hahah.

I simply just adore classic pop and easy listening; so much that Frank Sinatra was one of my top five artist on my Spotify wrapped in 2019. I'm also so intrigued by the pop culture era of that time (I'm a huge Classic Hollywood purveyor, you should see my record collection and my stack of biographies) and so I find the private lives of crooners so interesting.

If I had it my way; I would have Coachella, but it would be like, Ella Fitzgerald, Jo Stafford, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr, Eartha Kitt (my queen), Nat King Cole, The Ink Spot, The Mills Brothers, Vic Damone and so many other artists people my age would not pay to go see 😭

2. Amy Winehouse Live at Glastonbury would have been such a delight.

Amy Winehouse is, and probably always will be, one of my favorite musicians and she was just so damn good. There was a charisma she had on stage and there was a heartbreak that was so palpable through her voice.

I listen to her performance of Some Unholy War every now and then my god, she was just a one of kind talent. This was the performance where she called Kanye West a cunt and I promise, you'll never hear that word said so beautifully 😭

If you haven't watched the documentary about her, Amy (2015), I highly recommend it. All Amy wanted to do was sing, but it was heartbreaking seeing that her father ensured she was doing everything but that. Fuck Mitch Winehouse, me and all my homies hate Mitch Winehouse.

3. I'm cheating with this one (I'm sorry!) and my last one isn't a concert, but there are so many performances on the Ed Sullivan show that I would have loved to have seen.

Vanilla Fudge's You Keep Me Hanging On, The Animals' The House of the Rising Sun, The Mamas and the Papas' Dedicated To the One I Love (for Mama Cass and Mama Cass only.) and Ella Fitzgerald's Old McDonald (Yes, it's that Old McDonald, but the magic Ella uses to make this song a swing song is just unmeasurable)