LogFAQs > #954135460

222. Amy Winehouse Rehab (2006)
from the album Back to Black

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUmZp8pR1uc

Key lyrics:
Its not just my pride
Its just till these tears have dried

Sometimes, it becomes difficult to fully appreciate the context of a breakthrough single in retrospect. Even before Winehouses untimely yet all too predictable death, Rehab was as dreary as pop hits come. This song acts as a desperate cry for help, but only through several layers of denial. It takes guts to acknowledge a drinking problem, even if Winehouse embraces every opportunity to explain away her behavior. She doesnt have the time, she fears losing someone, shes depressed, she only needs it until shes feeling better. Amy Winehouse spills her entire being into this song.

The instrumentation serves to reinforce her denial. Winehouse uses the music to build a wall between herself and her words, adding bitter irony. But this is a pop hit because the song is just that catchy. Her soulful voice blends perfectly with an older style of R&B. At the same time, what was there to suggest a throwback R&B song by a no-name artist would become a major hit in the mid-2000s? Making the focus about addiction was a risk that paid off; theres an air of authenticity here rarely heard on mainstream radio. Winehouses brutal honesty set the scene for several pop artists in the years that followed, from Adele to Lady Gaga to Lana Del Rey. But back in 2006, Amy Winehouse largely stood alone.

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