The late Amy Winehouse’s most memorable album “Back to Black” is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. To honor this album and Winehouse’s legacy, Island Records has created a cover competition encouraging fans to submit their own renditions of the album’s tracks.

Contestants film their performance, and then submit it on Winehouse’s official website for a chance to win the competition. They have until the end of January to submit their work.

Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi, two producers on the album, will judge the competition and select a single winner. That person will get the chance to record their cover and have it featured on the official Island Records YouTube account.

Amy Winehouse joined the famous “27 club” of rockers like Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin — who all died at age 27 — following a fatal alcohol poisoning incident in 2011. “Back to Black” was written after Winehouse went through a break up. Being the second biggest selling album of the 21st century, and going 12 times Platinum, Winehouse changed the industry forever when she released this album.

Winehouse paved the way for artists such as Adele by being true to herself and her music.

“Not many people have it in them to do something they love simply because they love it with no fuss and no compromise,” Adele wrote about Winehouse,  “Amy paved the way for artists like me and made people excited about British music again whilst being fearlessly hilarious and blase about the whole thing.”

Winehouse has been praised by many besides Adele, including Florence and the Machine’s Florence Welch, Duffy and Lady Gaga, just to name a few. Since the release of “Back to Black,” British music has seen a rise in popularity over the past ten years.

In the years between 2002 and 2007, there weren’t many successful British pop artists in America. Between the years 2007 and 2008 after Back to Black was released, albums by British artists increased from 8 percent to 10 percent of the market.

By 2011, one in eight albums sold in the U.S. were by British artists. Artists such as Jessie J, Ellie Goulding and Florence and the Machine all had seen great success, showing the increase of British musicians gaining popularity in America.

After Winehouse’s success in 2009, Adele won multiple Grammy’s and other British artists, such as Leona Lewis, were all over the charts. Winehouse kicked off this trend, and to this day we celebrate her music and her success.

“Back to Black” was released ten years ago, and the music world today is still being affected by it. Adele might have not been as successful as she is today without Winehouse’s trailblazing.

When the album was first released in 2006, I was too young to appreciate it and understand the different emotions and themes that went into each song. I started listening to Winehouse when I was exposed to a cover of “Rehab” in a 2009 episode of “Glee.” I immediately fell in love with her raspy voice and variety of sounds. Now grown up, I truly have a sense of Winehouse’s vision and voice.

Amy Winehouse is still so relevant in culture and music that it doesn’t feel like ten whole years have passed since we were exposed to that monumental album. I hope she still continues to be remembered as a music icon as generations past, because the music world is where it is today because of her legacy.

Phoebe Smith is a junior public relations major. Her column appears weekly in Pulp. You can email her at phsmith@syr.edu or follow her on Twitter @phoebesmithh5.

 

Published on November 6, 2016 at 10:44 pm