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AMY WINEHOUSE / INTERVIEW interview March 07
BY STEPHEN MOOALLEM

March 2007 issue
http://www.interviewmagazine.com/

SENSATION AMY WINEHOUSE IS COMING YOUR WAY

STEPHEN MOOALLEM: I was listening to your new album, Back to Black [Universal Republic], and one of the big things that I noticed was that the songwriting seems very influenced by pop and R&B from the 1960s—you know, those three-minute girl-group songs with big choruses and harmonies that were huge during that era. When you went in to make the record, was that something you had in mind?

AMY WINEHOUSE: No. What I listen to rubs off on the way I write, and I was just listening to a lot of stuff like that while I was writing Back to Black. I’ve never been the kind of songwriter who’s like verse-chorus-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-chorus-out. You think of the old songs from the ’60s and so on, and the biggest songs are really short. But I wasn’t really trying hard to do anything like that. It was quite an intense year and a half. When I did my first record, I was smoking a lot of weed and went in with the whole hip-hop mentality of, like, “Fuck you! You don’t know me! I didn’t really love you anyway!” And then between the first and the second records I fell in love, and I stopped smoking weed, and I started drinking more, and that whole alcohol mentality is very depressive, right? Like, “I’ll fucking die for you!” So all the stuff I was listening to was kind of like that. I thought it was cool being all “do or die, all or nothing. I’ll rip my heart out and give it to you on a plate.” Life is short, and if you don’t throw yourself out there, then what’s the point?

SM: On a sort of related subject, what about the song “Rehab” on the new record? Where did that one come from?

AW: Well, I was walking down the street with Mark Ronson [who produced Back to Black] and I sang the hook out of nowhere. And he started laughing, and he was like, “Who’s that?” And I’m like, “What do you mean?” He’s like, “Who sings that?” And I was like, “I just made it up.” He’s like, “What’s that about? Was that true?” And I was like, “Well, my manager is trying to make me go to rehab.” He’s like, “That would be such a cool song idea.” And I was like, “Well, I could go and write a whole song about it.” And he’s like, “Oh, I think that would be really cool.” And I was like, “Really? All right, cool.” So we went to the studio, and that was pretty much it. Like I said, nothing I do is really premeditated. I just wrote a record about someone I loved. I was so fucked up over it, if I couldn’t make something good out of how bad I felt, then fuck it. We’re still really good friends. We’re like separated little Siamese twins.

SM: How does he feel about the record?

AW: He’s really proud of me. We’re both quite selfless people, just wanting each other to be happy and content and stuff like that. It’s quite hard for him. I think he’s a bit like, “Yeah, it’s all right,” and then he goes home, and he’s like “Ooh, fuck!” But when he’s with me he tells me he’s really proud of me. He’s a good boy.

SM: Tell me about your family.

AW: I grew up in Southgate, in North London. I’m really lucky to come from a good family with a lot of music. My uncle Leo was a horn player. He played the saxophone. I didn’t really know him, because he died when I was quite young. And my uncle Brian is a musician. The music was more on my mother’s side.

SM: What kind of music were you into as a kid? When did you start singing?

AW: I guess I always sang. I don’t remember not being able to sing. When I was really little, I liked Kylie Minogue. And then I turned 7. [both laugh] And then, when I turned 9, I discovered Salt-N-Pepa, and that was pretty much it—I was like, “Yeah, okay, cool. I want to sound like that.” Me and my girl Juliette had a group called Sweet-N-Sour. We just loved Salt-N-Pepa, and wanted to be them. We had a song called “Boys: Who Needs Them?” and a song called “Spinderella.” It was really silly. Boys, who needs them, right? Not you, Amy, you’re 9 years old.

I've got hugs for her
Since she was born in the 80s

CinisterCee said:

I love Calvin Harris.


Intentional digression, edit.
...
[Edited 3/9/07 14:52pm]

Thanks alot for sharing!

Amy is the second person I love the most currently! (The first is CinisterCee! )

Jesus H. Christ, another Amy Winehouse thread.

The 13th can't get here fast enough.

She canceled yesterday and tonights concert in the UK. Rumor has it she broke up with her BF Tuesday and has spent the last 48 hrs drunk and partying with Kelly Osbourne?????


Courtney Better watch out, looks like someone wants her Crown/Sash!

Mara said:

As posted by Calvin himself: http://www.youtube.com/wa...JCknQJ4&NR

lazycrockett said:

If she cancels the NY show, a lot of people who paid big money for scalped tix are gonna be angry.

CinisterCee said:

As posted by some mofos who look like the Backstreet Boys: http://www.youtube.com/wa..._sHNkG5yro

I'm like, sort of, I like her, she's nice, like.

Mara said:

CinisterCee said:

The way they kept falling back in the clip was !

...
[Edited 3/10/07 9:49am]

CinisterCee said:

Cool tune .... One odd thing though.... It sounds like he's sampling the beginning of Computer Blue (the linn drum you hear in the background)

purplehippieonthe1 said:

yeah I heard it! Anyone can use the Linn drum though.


This is a Calvin Harris thread now!

CinisterCee said: