Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black is one of my favorite albums of the year. It’s not new, obviously, but this year became the first time that I gave the album a thorough listen.

When Back to Black was released in 2006, I was in middle school with very little understanding of how anything outside of basketball and 106 & Park worked. A year or so after that, during the height of Amy Winehouse’s popularity in the United States, I was usually exposed to negative notions of the jazz singer by the media. Instead of her art, drug use and scary weight loss were the main topics associated with Amy Winehouse, which sadly turned me away from exploring her music at the time.

Now, ten years after the release of Back to Black, my perspective of the world is a little broader, and after watching the Amy documentary followed by listening to this album, my eyes have been opened to other facets of Amy’s artistry, character, and brilliance.

That is why Back to Black is aging like fine wine.

In the era of ghost-writing and frontin’ that we now live in, Amy’s lyrics become even more potent because they are her own. They are real. They are honest. They are personal.

Winehouse never tried to hide anything. Much of her truth lies within the fabric of this album. She sings about the world from her dark perspective but never fails to balance it out by adding bits of her spark and wit.

The raw nature of Amy’s words plus her rich voice simmering over hip-hop infused soul and jazz beats still stands out in 2016, where we are overwhelmed by fast food/microwave music.

Back to Black is home cooking. It is an album that still tastes good after the first day, and in this case, it tastes good ten years later.

If you are like me and have expanded your taste within the last ten years (or just like sweet music), I highly recommend you give Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black a listen today on your preferred streaming app. Check out the documentary, too! You will probably learn something new.

#RIPAmyJade

Never hurts to dive down a YouTube rabbit hole of Amy’s videos and performances either…