"Back to Black": 21st century soulful singing

[franceslievens]

Fragment: "In the "thanks to"-section of the inlay of her latest album she mentions The Shangri-Las. According to the lyrics of the hit-single Rehab, she'd rather stay at home listening to Ray (Charles) and Mr (Donny) Hathaway to solve her problems than sit 10 weeks locked up. Amy Winehouse is a twenty-something flirting with soul music from the sixties and seventies. Were she a contestant in American Idol, we'd think she's making herself interesting – or she'd said she was influenced by Aretha Franklin. Unlike American Idol contestants Amy Winehouse is a musician, singing her own songs in her very own style. She reaches back to those pioneers of the pop song, not as a fashion statement, but because these were good musicians, song writers and singers, that evoked the eternal torment that is living and loving."

To read more on Amy Winehouse and her album Back to Black, you can go to the review I've written over on salon_virtuel. There's also a download available of the title-song. If you want to discuss what I have to say, please do it over there.