It’s been almost two weeks since Amy Winehouse’s death. While no one can ever really fill the void that the loss of her talent (when she was sober) created, here are five singers who are amazing in their own right to help you move on.
Adele
Kind of an obvious choice, but a great one, nonetheless. She has Amy’s soulful voice and the same fixation that all good love must eventually die. The only drawback is that she looks a little bit goody two-shoes when compared to Amy’s knowing bad-girl attitude. Admittedly, this means that she has more staying power, so I guess this is a Betty and Veronica sort of deal.
Corinne Bailey Rae
Probably one of the lesser known of the British soul singers who emerged en masse following Winehouse. Which is a shame because, unlike the others, she probably has the greatest claim to the blues, given that she lost her husband to a drug overdose in 2009. While she has some legitimate mourning behind her blues, strangely, her music feels more upbeat than Amy’s does. Go fig.
Florence + The Machine
Unlike Adele and Rae, Florence comes the closest to Amy’s rockstar edge. Ignore that one of her best songs will forever be tied to a terrible Julia Roberts movie, because she’s got a helluva voice and a harder feel to her. The only downside is that she’s a bit less soulful and more punk than Amy was.
Esthero
Moving away from the UK, Esthero is kind of a long shot to take over Amy’s throne of soul, but as Wikked Lil’ Grrrls proved, she can more than hold her own when it comes to torch, jazz and blues. While she does kind of flit back and forth between trip-hop, pop, electronica and jazz, she has the chops to cover an entire album’s worth of blues. And as a bonus, she’s Canadian.
Lana Del Rey
Don’t know who she is? I don’t blame you. Lana Del Ray is still working on her first album, which she’ll be releasing on her own. She’s fashioned herself after Nancy Sinatra and calls to mind the comedown of Hollywood glamorama. Watch her because she’ll be big soon (I hope).
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