Quote:
Originally posted by supaspaz
Too bad, it would have been a great winner.
I really hope it's "Rehab" now!
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Hmm.
03.
Amy Winehouse - Rehab
Average Rate: 9.047
Highest Score: 10 (19x)
Lowest Score: 6 (1x)
UK Chart Peak: #7
US Chart Peak: #9
The song that could be seen as starting it all, Rehab perhaps surprisingly exists our rate before the final two. It was written by Amy after an unsuccessful - by her own admission - stint at rehab after her management, led by Spice Girls founder/Pop/American Idol creator Simon Fuller, convinced her to.
Quote:
Originally posted by Amy Winehouse
I asked my dad if he thought I needed to go. He said no, but I should give it a try. So I did, for just 15 minutes. I went in said 'hello' and explained that I drink because I am in love and have screwed up the relationship. Then I walked out.
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Amy relayed this story to her good friend Mark Ronson as the two were starting work on her second album, and he convinced her to turn it into a song.
Quote:
Originally posted by Mark Ronson
I was walking down the street with Amy. We were in New York and we'd been working together for about a week and we were walking to some store. She wanted to buy a present for her boyfriend and she was telling me about a specific time in her life that was.... I feel bad, like, talking about a friend like this, but I think I've told this story enough times.... but she hit, like, a certain low and her dad came over to try and talk some sense into her. And she was like, 'He tried to make me go to rehab and I was like, "Pfft, no no no"'. And the first thing I was like, 'ding ding ding ding ding'. Like, I mean I'm supposed to be like, 'How was that for you?' and all I'm like is, 'We've got to go back to the studio.
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Pairing an incredibly dark, at times resilient and at others heartbreaking, lyric with a snappy girl group melody proved to be a defining moment for Amy, as it catapulted her to a new level of stardom in her native country. Not only was Rehab, upon release, Amy's first single to go top 40 - it went straight into the top ten. It also started buzz for her all over the world, and in the U.S. it was chosen to be the second single, after You Know I'm No Good.
The American public didn't see it that way, as Rehab debuted at #90 on the Billboard Hot 100 - one spot above You Know I'm No Good. It rose until Amy performed it at the 2007 MTV Movie Awards, wherein it went into the top twenty. It rose to number nine thanks to a remix assist by none other than Jay-Z.
Six months later, Amy was nominated for Song of the Year, Record of the Year and Best Pop Female Vocal Performance for Rehab. She won all three.
Fun Fact: The "Ray" and "Mr. Hathaway" she refers to in the lyrics? None other than Ray Charles and Donny Hathaway.