With Amy Winehouse's passing, it was only a matter of time that unreleased material would be quickly scraped together and rushed out for sale via a posthumous release. Confirmation of this fact happened a few weeks ago and Winehouse's new album, Lioness: Hidden Treasures, has been confirmed for a December, aka Christmas, release. Ching ching ching!
A new song from the album featuring American rapper Nas, who apparently Amy Winehouse's song Me and Mr Jones was about, entitled Like Smoke has made it's way to the internet, no doubt to increase public anticipation for the upcoming album. I'm not going to mince my words, and will just say outright that it's not great. By Amy standards anyway.
The problem I have with the song, other than the afore mentioned lack of Amy that most people are commenting on, is that the expressive nature and the fire in her voice sounds slightly diminished and disengaged. Just compare it to Love is a losing game, where the tone of voice is the same but there is an added expressive framing, and tone to the delivery of the words that is sorely missing in Like Smoke.
Fans craving new music will no doubt be appeased by anything released from the singer, understandably so desperate for the sound of her voice to be heard again on new material. But Like Smoke, though featuring a commendable flow from Nas,was unreleased for a reason: its just not that good when compared to her other material.
Rating: 5/10
