Judging by Amy Winehouse’s performance of “Back To Black” at the European Music Awards last night, here’s what American university students will miss out on when they watch the now Winehouse-free Woodie Awards later this month: A lot of off-key, slurred syllables that may be masking some forgotten words, some awkward dance steps, and a “breakdown” that sounds like someone stepped on a cat. This performance is really not going to make her drug appeal any easier, no?
Amy Winehouse – Back To Black [Live EMA Munich] [Daily Motion]
Well. Her BAND is good. Those guys just rolled through it like pros.
This is almost like an SNL skit.
Wasn’t there a Gawker sighting of her in NYC yesterday? Maybe all that fussing with the space-time continuum has created a sort of jet lag…
@Hiphopopotamus: I was actually wondering if someone spotted a person dressed in Amy Winehouse drag, since she’s not allowed in the States at present.
There were about 5 Amy Winehouses here in Athens on Halloween. The one with the bloody ballet shoes really went for it.
@Lucas Jensen: Seriously–was that Amy Winehouse or Amy Poehler?
Was that English?
I guess we were just counting down until the erratic behavior stopped being a song-writing asset and became the harbinger of memorably bad, televised performances.
@Lucas Jensen:
God, I went to a party where there were 7 Amy Winehouses. I already thought it was a weak costume idea before I saw more than half a dozen Amy Winehouses roaming the party. But I did learn that one of my male friends could be Amy Winehouse’s identical twin. Only his arms were less hairy than hers.
Oh God. I love that record – or the tracks that were not overplayed on the radio – but that was just sad.
On the other hand, it could be entertaining if someone took that clip and tried to transcribe it phonetically like the Pearl Jam thing on Youtube…
@WhosWho: Or words? In any language?
Since it was the European Music Awards, I think she was singing most of the song in Esperanto.
@avoncobra: I think I saw no less than a dozen Amy Winehouses at the Halloween Parade. And they all sucked!
And I’lllll go back to black tar…sing it Honey.
Or rather slur it.
Speaking of SNL sketches, does anyone else think that Winehouse’s performance sounded remarkably like this [youtube.com] ?
Okay, I think folks are being a tad hard on her. I liked her performance. It doesn’t look anything like I expected judging by the critique. Love her. And let’s get off her nuts, okay?
@ SIDHEDRAGON
A tad hard? Really? She didn’t say a single word, just mewled for four minutes. If she hadn’t done something like this a million times before, this would be even more embarrassing. As it stands, it’s wacked out Amy Winehouse appearance #78.
@WhosWho: @Thierry: @Ceiling Cat: @cockfightbarmitzvah: @dirty_snowflake: [etc.] Okay, seriously. It seems many of Idolator‘s commenters have never seen or heard Amy perform live [or via YouTube]. This performance was a little wobbly, but not really that “far removed” from the manner in which she usually performs “Back To Black”. For example, here’s Amy performing B2B in Amsterdam a week-and-a-half ago [sorry about the wobbliness of the video -- obviously taken on a camera phone]:
[www.youtube.com]
Also, I suspect Amy, like most artists, gets tired of performing a song the same way every time. It’s understandable she would freestyle a bit.
Here’s Amy earlier this year before she had gone critical- and tabloid-nuclear:
[www.youtube.com]
And again about six months ago [added bonus -- she drinks during the breakdown!]:
[www.youtube.com]
And finally, here’s Amy doing an acoustic rendition for mtvU’s House Band:
[www.mtvu.com]
Sorry for all the links — yes, I’m a FanBoy! I admit it! — but really, you haven’t seen Amy really trainwreck a live performance if you haven’t seen what she did to “Beat It” on The Charlotte Church Show a year ago:
[www.youtube.com]
@SidheDragon: Thank you!
@DHMBIB:
The version of “Beat It” does take the slurry cake. But I doubt she is so much bored of performing the same song the same way every time as much as wishing every second while she is singing that she was instead backstage in the warm embracing arms of Mr. Brownstone.
So basically you’re saying “LEAVE AMY ALONE!”
(That was to DHMBIB)
poor amy :(
@Ned Raggett: @Ned Raggett: I’m uploading my video now. But my “tears dry on their own”…
@DHMBIB: Ok, well, no, I had not ever seen her perform before. Thanks for your perspective. And the clips! And the euphamisms! Anyhow, I have no problem with her. It just seemed weird. You know.
@DHMBIB: The “Beat It” video was just AWESOME. Ms. Winehouse is such a mess.
Wow. DHMBIB takes the honorary Chris Crocker prize for most vocal defense of a pop star who’s obviously lost it.
@sncreducer: I wasn’t trying to be all Chris Crocker up in everyone’s grill and shit. I was just trying to make the point that the featured video was not too far off the mark for how a “standard” Amy Winehouse live performance looks-and-sounds. Even at her best — which in the featured video she was certainly not — she doesn’t sound like the Mark Ronson-cleaned up studio tracks. But when she is on top of her game…WOW!
I also felt a little “what website am I reading?” while wading through some of the comments. Posts [and their comment sections] about Amy Winehouse on “celebrity” sites/blogs tend to have a “ew! she’s gross! she’s drunk! she’s skanky! LOLz! she can’t even remember the words!” theme to them, while posts/comments on music blogs tend to have a “wow! this girl can really sing!” theme to them. If you’re curious, google “Amy Winehouse” and surf for a while and you’ll see what I mean.
And, oh yeah — the Chris Crocker jokes make me LOLz.
Peace.
“ew! she’s gross! she’s drunk! she’s skanky! LOLz! she can’t even remember the words!”
Don’t really care if she is drunk or not because I’, not interested in her as an artist. Lots of people are drunk.
“wow! this girl can really sing!”
Wow, no she really can’t. Her songs are boring musically and trite lyrically, her voice may be strong but the faux-soul thing comes off as fake and she can’t actually sing particularly well.
The whole “British chick is the new Billie Holliday” thing was infinitely more enjoyable and not completely horrifying when it was Portishead.