--- description: A new documentary takes a look at the singer's rise and fall title: Amy Winehouse: How We Talked About Her at the Height of Her Fame image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb0f81d9d07a49c35/698854423c1639856445856f/winehouse.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Why Amy Winehouse Was in Control Even as She Crashed ## Video: Amy | Official Trailer [Watch (HLS stream): Amy | Official Trailer](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/FlPKVOUu.m3u8) (1:29)  _Published 2015-04-03. First look at AMY, Asif Kapadia's new documentary about the life and career of Amy Winehouse. – Summer 2015_  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jul 9, 2015 11:00 AM CUT  Amy Winehouse on May 28, 2007 Amy Winehouse on May 28, 2007Chris Christoforou—Redferns/Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jul 9, 2015 11:00 AM CUT The [controversial](http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/may/01/mitch-winehouse-interview-amy-documentary-film "undefined") new Amy Winehouse documentary _Amy—_which [opens in the U.S.](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/05/13/amy-winehouse-documentary-gets-us-release-date "undefined") on Friday, after a U.K. opening the previous week—takes a look at the singer’s rise to fame and subsequent addiction, which eventually led to her death. Seen with the benefit of hindsight, knowing what happened to her only a few short years later, it can be hard to think about Winehouse’s talent without a “but.” The irony of her biggest hit, “Rehab,” now overshadows the song itself. But in 2008, at the height of her success, TIME’s Josh Tyrangiel [described](http://time.com/vault/issue/2008-02-04/page/62/ "undefined") why it was important not to let her personal problems detract from the way her music was discussed: --- > “” --- That control, of course, only took her so far. After her 2011 death, her friend and collaborator Mark Ronson [remembered her in TIME](http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2101745%5F2102136%5F2102274,00.html "undefined"), and in doing so offered one potential source of command: “She … had an innate ability to come up with the insta-classic — a lyric or song title that you’ve never heard before but is so perfect and timeless that it feels as though it must have been around since the birth of pop music. She wasn’t trying to sound classic. She just was. It’s how her brain and soul were hardwired.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3919098/amy-winehouse-2008/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3919098/amy-winehouse-2008/"},"headline":"Why Amy Winehouse Was in Control Even as She Crashed","datePublished":"2015-07-09T11:00:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T08:09:53.369Z","description":"The singer, who died in 2011, is the subject of a buzzy new film","url":"https://time.com/3919098/amy-winehouse-2008/","keywords":["movies","Music"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb0f81d9d07a49c35/698854423c1639856445856f/winehouse.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb0f81d9d07a49c35/698854423c1639856445856f/winehouse.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Amy WINEHOUSE","caption":"Amy WINEHOUSE","creditText":"Chris Christoforou—Redferns/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3919098/amy-winehouse-2008/","name":"Why Amy Winehouse Was in Control Even as She Crashed"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Amy | Official Trailer","description":"First look at AMY, Asif Kapadia's new documentary about the life and career of Amy Winehouse. – Summer 2015","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/FlPKVOUu/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-04-03T16:55:49.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/FlPKVOUu.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3919098/amy-winehouse-2008/","duration":"PT1M29S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3919098/amy-winehouse-2008/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```