Alessia Cara

Back to Black

AMY WINEHOUSE

I remember seeing the music video for “Rehab” on MTV when I was nine or 10 years old, and

I fell in love with it. She just really captivated me. When the record came out, it was everything to me. I remember I downloaded all of the songs on this little hot-pink iPod Nano and I listened to it on the bus ride to and from school almost every day. I was probably too young to even be listening to that music because she swore a lot and the subject matter was superheavy, but for some reason I still identified with it. I identified with the loneliness and the certain types of vulnerabilities and fears and pain that she was experiencing. Amy Winehouse is one of the reasons that I wanted to become a musician in the first place. She never sang the same way twice. That was something that I loved about her, that I’m still trying to do. She is one of the most honest songwriters I’ve ever listened to in my life. She was never afraid to say anything. She just went there and sat in the discomfort, invited her pain in and sat with it.