I remember hearing the song, “Back to Black” a few years ago and all I thought about this song was that it had a good melody and Amy Winehouse had sung it perfectly with her exceptional vocal talent. However, I discovered there was much more behind Amy Winehouse’s songs after watching the Amy Documentary last Thursday. Amy Winehouse’s songs were all very successful and received high acclaims. Yet, these acclaims were built upon the expressions of the singer’s sad emotion. Amy Winehouse suffered serious depression due to her parents’ separation and her her dad’s negligence of her. Writing songs and singing to songs were the only ways besides drug and alcohol abuse to keep herself distracted from the depression that she suffered. It was very heartbreaking when I found out that Amy Winehouse never wanted or cared about any of the success because she felt apathetic towards everything due to her depression. She recognized her collapsed mental state too late; she asked for help too late and she received treatment too late. Therefore, she lost the battle to depression and went “back to black” and eventually died from poisoning.

This documentary did not only show me in-depth the emotion behind Amy Winehouse’s song, but it also raised my awareness towards depression. Sometimes, I have friends around me who always seem to stress out due to school. Most often, I think it is a phase that everyone goes through and just tell them that everything is going to be alright. However, through this documentary, I realize that I should not be selfish with stating my supports. People who are depressed may be hiding their emotions, and others may hardly notice they are depressed. We should always give our strongest support to others when they seem to be upset. We should do everything we can to make sure that everyone can stay mentally healthy and need not to suffer like Amy Winehouse did.