What’s she hiding in that beehive?
Comments(11) 
As one of the folks behind the scenes at WFUV who has nothing to do with music selections, I listen to the radio much like anybody else — I hear some stuff I like, I hear some stuff I don’t care for, and if I hear something really interesting, I can run into the studio and ask the DJ what they’re playing. When we first started playing Amy Winehouse, I was intrigued by the classic-soul production and her throaty voice. I thought at first that she was a “rediscovered” 60s singer, another Bettye LaVette maybe, who hooked up with a great producer and found a reinvigorated sound.
So I was surprised to find out that she’s a nice Jewish girl from London in her early twenties, but she’s got a mythology around her already — smoking, drinking, drugs, anorexia, general out-of-control-ness — the whole hot mess package.  But damn, she can sing. I loved the song “Rehab,” coming out at a time when Hollywood actors are running to rehab for everything from alcoholism to temper tantrums. And hearing her sing “What kind of f***ery is this?” to a high-school slow-dance tune, complete with crooning backup singers echoing “You don’t mean d**k to me” — priceless.Â
The more I listened to Amy Winehouse, though, and the more everybody was talking about her, the less I liked what I heard. Her voice started to sound out of tune and fake. Our friends at Sound Opinions reviewed the album and gave it a “Trash It.” Her songs were seeming like pale imitations of the real good stuff. I started getting sick of hearing her on the radio, but I think I was the only person I knew who wasn’t crazy for this woman.Â
There are some artists who come along and just give you themselves — or that’s what they appear to do. Even though they’re all playing a game to some extent, and somebody in the marketing department is doing the packaging and creating the storyline, you can feel that what you’re getting on the album or in the live performance is just a distillation of that essential person.Â
And then there are others who play with artificiality: Amy Winehouse being a prime example. There’s a whole persona here: the hair, the piercings, the tattoos, the antics, combined with music that simultaneously looks towards the past but has a very modern attitude. I think it’s the artificiality I sense in Amy Winehouse, the feeling that all the extra “stuff” covers up the fact that she doesn’t necessarily have much in the way of a real artistic sensibility, is what bugs me.Â
The postscript to this story is that my husband started asking about this singer he’d heard on WFUV, Amy Wine-something-or-other. I picked up the CD for him, which we didn’t previously have, and we spent the weekend listening to it by the pool where we were house-sitting in New Jersey. And you know what? Perfect summer music.  Cool, fun, hip, and hummable. Now that we’re back in the city, I loaded the album onto my iPod and I can attest that it’s excellent for walking to the subway or the bodega.Â
So I don’t know if this whole “artificial” thing really matters anyway. How do you feel about artists developing a “persona”? Do you like music better if you feel like it’s coming straight from someone’s heart, or do you think it’s all about the sound?
Tara – you raise an interesting point. Usually, if they have developed a persona, it is meant to be part of the art. I am thinking of David Bowie and Prince and many others (e.g. Kiss). Sadly, if you like an artists work, you are often opening up a can of worms if you delve deeper into their “offstage” antics. But, if you avoid TMZ.com, you should be blissfully ignorant of Winehouse’s antics, let alone Lindsay, Brittney and the rest of the rehab crowd.
Nice to know someone else is not taken in by her.
Played the c.d. once [bought on her reputation, unheard] and gone back to my Bettye LaVette sampler of “Scene Of The Crime” [ANTI Sept 25 release] for some REAL soulful vocal work.
As ‘commercial’ as she is I feel Joss Stone has way more credibility.
Give Bettye’s new one a few spins. It’s up there with her best work.
ian {Australia}
Yep. Straight from the SOUL like the incredible singer you mentioned, Bettye LaVette. If you haven’t seen her in person, you’ve missed out.
She’s got to be the premiere stage act to see. I just don’t understand why we see so many no-talents on TV and not real singers/entertainers like LaVette. Anything British or European seems to get first dibs on the choice TV gigs. Genuine soul artists like Bettye are seldom seen.
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Yup- Amy Winehouse is about as phony a marketing concept as they come. Whadda we got? Serviceable imitation of 60’s Motown sound juxtaposed with the “edgy” stuff to create buzz ( tatts, drunken rude behaviour, etc) from a “nice Jewish girl” to make the contrast even more jarring.
There is no “there” there. The Emperor has no clothes. Only a music scene as anemic as the current one could make a star out of something as vacuuous as Amy Winehouse.
I think any unpretentious music-lover would say they like both. I am a freak for John Hiatt, whose songs all feel like they have come directly from his soul. I think you can like heavy stuff like Radiohead and still enjoy Jem, whose sound is all electronic and packaged.
It’s like going to the movies. Sometimes you’re in the mood for “Away From Her,” and sometimes you just wanna see Bruce Willis blow some stuff up.
It’s all good.
I think she’s great. Now Joss Stone … she’s fake! Amy’s got true talent, IMHO.
You’ve hit the nail rite on the beehive here.
There is an entire generation of poseurs in the so called music world, from Fallout Boy on thru the so called soul chanteuses like her and her ilk. Basically, the goal is to stripmine some other lesser know artists material and style, in the hopes that the gullible listening audience will credit them with something original. Clapton (who isn’t now nor ever was ‘god’) did the same thing. Jewel, Fiona Apple, and Tori Amos – the same thing: ‘oh hello Kate Bush, not using your style anymore? Can we take it?’
mallet brigade
very interesting point of view, has never been conceived of this
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