Newly-released Amy Winehouse biopic Again To Black has divided the critics. Whereas some reviewers have dubbed it a “grotesque insult” and a “poor, poor piece of filmmaking”, others imagine Marisa Abela’s “extraordinary” efficiency within the lead position saved Sam Taylor-Johnson’s movie from catastrophe.
Followers might really feel Again To Black is morally indefensible, contemplating it’s one other in an extended line of media artefacts to paw again over the singer’s struggles with bulimia and substance abuse. The singer died of alcohol poisoning in July 2011, age the age of simply 27.
However one factor is for certain: nothing can taint Winehouse’s legacy.
Everybody noticed one thing in Winehouse that they admired: be it her unfiltered lyricism, her distinctly coarse vocals, or her unflinchingly ballsy angle.
For a technology of LGBTQ+ individuals and artists, it was a mix of the lot. Listed here are 5 explanation why she was, and at all times will likely be, cherished by the LGBTQ+ group.
Amy wasn’t shy about proudly owning and exploring her personal sexuality
Winehouse was by no means afraid to the touch on her sexuality, even when it typically got here out in jest. There was the time she known as a reporter “match” after describing her personal Brit Awards efficiency as a “piece of sh*t”.
Then, she advised Perez Hilton that she was off to have intercourse after their interview, and on one other event she apparently joked that she solely became a lesbian after “4 sambucas”.
However there was reportedly one other component to her sexuality that she by no means commented on publicly.
In 2021’s BBC documentary Reclaiming Amy, which marked the tenth anniversary of the “Valerie” hit-maker’s demise, long-term buddy Catriona Gourlay claimed the pair had a “distinctive” and “undefined” relationship for a few years.
That connection and their love for one another left Winehouse muddled, in response to Gourlay.
“We simply liked one another very a lot and what I took from it, realizing her, is that she was confused about what it made her. She used to jot down notes whereas I used to be sleeping, saying: ‘You’re essentially the most stunning woman I’ve ever seen. How are you going to look as stunning asleep as you do awake?’”
Amy Winehouse impressed a technology of LGBTQ+ musicians
Regardless of solely releasing two albums – 2003’s Frank and 2006’s Again to Black – Winehouse’s affect on the music business can’t be overstated.
She was a Grammy-Award-winning, critically acclaimed star, with a lyrical pen like no different artist this century and an immediately recognisable smokiness to her voice. With out her, it’s questionable whether or not artists reminiscent of Lana Del Rey, Adele, and Florence + the Machine could be who they’re as we speak.
She had a very affect on a legion of LGBTQ+ artists, with Billie Eilish arguably placing it greatest: “She wasn’t attempting to be something she wasn’t.”
Different queer stars, together with Olly Alexander, Sam Smith, Emeli Sandé and Jake Shears, have cited Winehouse as an affect on their careers.
Amy additionally impressed drag performers together with her distinctive type
Pop starlets have influenced drag performers because the daybreak of time, however Amy Winehouse is one singer drag followers won’t at all times consider as a supply of inspiration.
However, some would possibly say Winehouse dabbled in drag in her personal manner when it got here to her signature beehive, the eyeliner, pink lipstick and tattoos, significantly as she, as many drag performers do, took her look and elegance from a variety of influences, together with traditional woman group The Ronettes and Brigitte Bardot.
And we now have Winehouse to thank for Drag Race UK finalist and fellow Camden resident Baga Chipz coming into the leisure world, contemplating it was her impersonation of the late star that acquired Chipz her first massive drag gig. She would go on to impersonate and lip-sync to Winehouse on the present in 2019.
On the London premiere of Again To Black, Drag Race UK favorite Bimini donned her personal beehive, a lot to the enjoyment of followers, as a tribute to the star, whereas there are dozens of drag Amy Winehouse make-up tutorials on-line.
Plus, Winehouse’s affect is obvious in a number of notable drag performances. Who can overlook a younger boy’s drag tribute on Obtained Expertise España, or the time Queens of the Universe’s eventual winner, Grag Queen, blew the judges away together with her rendition of “Rehab”?
Amy knew her fan base was stuffed with homosexuals, and he or she liked it
There are quite a few clips of Winehouse on X/Twitter, and one which routinely does the rounds is her declaring that she is a intercourse image – however solely to a sure group of individuals.
Within the clip, she is enjoying pool together with her then husband Blake Fielder-Civil, as Kelly Osbourne asks: “Do you contemplate your self a intercourse image, Miss Winehouse?”
Her response? “Solely to gays.”
It wasn’t the one time she acknowledged her legion of queer supporters, both. As soon as, when she was too jet lagged and hungover to complete a gig, she proclaimed that she “had a mob of offended homosexuals” after her, and he or she’s so actual for that.
Amy was weak, however highly effective, too
For many years, queer individuals have been drawn to figures who, regardless of their struggles, set themselves other than the gang. Assume Judy Garland, Oscar Wilde, George Michael, Princess Diana and Freddie Mercury.
Winehouse confronted much more battles than most individuals do within the first 27 years of their life, not least drug abuse, alcoholism, melancholy, self-harm, and press intrusion into her life. And but, to the very finish, she wasn’t afraid to be precisely who she was: a fierce particular person who mentioned and did what she needed, and an absolute powerhouse within the music division.
To queer individuals who face derision for being who they’re and doing what they love, there’s a stage of understanding and respect for Winehouse that others might not have.
Regardless of each destructive headline, each naysayer, and each try at tarnishing her legacy, Amy Winehouse will at all times be an untouchable legend.
Again To Black is in cinemas now.