BBC – Culture – Back to Black: "Millennial Will I Survive"?



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Everything begins with surprising simplicity, with only a piano and a drums, typing with happiness on this tune already heard hundreds of times before. It contains the accents of Baby Love by The Supremes, but it is also a unique piece. Masterpiece of modern pop, Back to Black is surprisingly sad and surprises the listener with his mesmerizing lyrics and melody.

Amy Winehouse was undoubtedly talented; funny, intelligent and expressive too. His singing was unrivaled by his peers, but it was his compositions that allowed him to stand above the crowd as a musician. His playful and heartbreaking poetry has made his heart accessible to all. The fans discovered that they could put their own meaning into his words, creating a deeply personal relationship with this ultimately tragic hero.

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Back to Black was released as a single in April 2007 after his first appearance on his second album of the same name. Although she did not appreciate the enormous success of Rehab, she still reached eighth on the British charts, became platinum in the UK in 2017 and has become an emotional touchstone for many.

Inspired by girls' groups in the '50s and' 60s, "she's dedicated herself to making people happy, she's sad, melancholy and sad," Donald Brackett told BBC Radio 4's Soul Music. Back to Black's author: Only Masterpiece by Amy Winehouse, explains that continuing to perform this song – and this album – relived the trauma of her breakup.

Written just after the breakup of his relationship with Blake Fielder-Civil, Winehouse is directly involved in the song and the disordered consequences of the breakup:

Me and my head up
And my tears are drying
Without my guy

Fans of Winehouse's anguished ballad are reliving their own sorrows – teenage first loves at the end of a long and intense adventure. But the song is more than that. In this document, you can hear someone expressing your feelings with such veracity that it legitimates them. It's like having that wonderful best friend who does not tell you to stop crying, but to keep crying – because it was so important. For so many people, it was the personality of Winehouse – a best friend whose light guided you through sadness.

When I heard Amy Winehouse, I had the impression of hearing a voice that was singing from within this pain and that I knew my own version of – Lesley Jamison

Back to Black was a torch song for Lesley Jamison. Jamison was born a few months from Winehouse and was an alcoholic who had stopped drinking alcohol in 2011 – the year of Winehouse 's death at the age of 27. "More than anything else, I loved her willingness to live in the pain of this breakup, rather than asking her to immediately resolve into something that felt better or something that she was going to overcome, "Jamison told BBC Radio 4's Soul Music." When I heard Amy Winehouse, I had the impression of hearing a voice that was singing from within this pain and of which I knew my own version. "

Author and journalist Daisy Buchanan moved to London in 2007 after graduating from university. She became interested in Winehouse's music. Unhappy in her work and in a destructive relationship: "I felt like my heart hurt. I felt as if I had an undiagnosed emotional illness. And when Amy sang, she was the only person in the world who knew what it was about, "Buchanan told Soul Music.

Buchanan told BBC Culture that Back to Black had been released at some point in her life when she felt very lost: "It seemed to me that everyone around me had done things right and that I was deceived."

A personal melody

Back to Black has a personal meaning for me. Ten years ago, I had an abnormal accident: I slipped on a bus and landed on my back, causing a fracture by crushing two of my vertebrae. At the age of 15, I was prevented from going to school for a month and I had to go to bed. There was no magic wand that would make me feel better overnight, no matter how much I wanted it. There is no good time in your life to be relegated to a couch, in constant pain; but being suddenly away from the vibrant action of the school was incredibly insulating. I have developed depression and anxiety during this period of my life, which concerns me still now.

Winehouse was just able to express my pain in a way that I could not then – or now

To pbad the time, I watched the family's DVD collection, everything on the television by day, and listened to music – I could barely concentrate on reading a book or doing school work to relieve the pain. One of the albums I loaded on my iPod was Amy Winehouse's Back to Black, and it was this song that helped me understand how I felt.

Winehouse was just able to express my pain in a way that I could not, at the time – or now. The church bells sound as she sings black morose … black … black … funeral, the visceral lyrical And life is like a pipe / And I'm a little dime rolling the walls inside It sums up my sudden sense of total loss of control at a time when I was struggling for more and more independence. But for a long time, I did not know how that song had affected me. It started with the death of Amy Winehouse. I was stunned. It was the first time that one of my heroes had died and I felt empty, pained for someone I had never met before and who had had such an important influence in my life.

It's a sentiment shared by Winehouse fans – and for many, Back to Black is Heartbreak's ultimate song. "It's the millennium I'll survive, it's our uplifting story," Buchanan told Soul Music. "Only now can I really listen and feel it, and feel so happy, thankful and thankful that I have come out, and wish it to be the same for her. She did not do it. But she left that legacy where she has helped more women than she will ever know by helping them understand how difficult, addictive and dangerous love can be.

You can hear more stories about how Amy Winehouse's Back to Black has affected the life of Soul Music of BBC Radio 4.

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