Max is a long time volunteer turned employee for mindyourmind as a Youth Outreach Assistant. He enjoys blogging, cats, and the state of Utah. Check him out on Twitter: @maxamilli

“I cheated myself, like I knew I would” – You Know I’m No Good, Amy Winehouse

Everyone in the world seemed to have an opinion of Amy Winehouse’s death; she was a polarizing character in the world of music today. Given her lack of musical output, evened out by immense vocal talent, it was more frustrating than anything else to see her pass away.

But when we saw Amy Winehouse, and we heard what she was singing and talking about and what she represented; she was truly the genuine article and made no bones about her flaws. She sang about refusing going to rehab (I needn’t bore you with the now iconic lyrics), or cheating the people that she loved. That is why her death evokes such confusing feelings from the eyes of fans, you could see it coming from a mile away, but like a car crash in slow motion you can only watch and are powerless to stop it. To see this talent wither away and (not to make assumptions of my own) have no one stop her from destroying herself.

Addiction is an awfully powerful mistress, and we saw it make an example of Winehouse. To see her stumbling her way through concerts, not even looking coherent of where she was is the most heartbreaking. She didn’t look to be, or even sound like the same person that she was before. The things that made her so great to begin with had just become sad as she faded into a shadow of her former self.

The idea of the Hollywood train wreck has become so polished and “fake” with the shows that haunt reality television. Long gone are the days of the rock star lifestyle that led to the demise of many a celebrity and Winehouse was probably the last example of that kind of fatality. Her death came out of left field and nobody felt right about it because she didn’t have cameras following her around documenting her unraveling, and maybe that’s the saddest part.