Amy Winehouse and the pitfalls of posthumous albums
OPINION - The criticism that the posthumous releases from Amy Winehouse and Michael Jackson have received is normal...
It didn’t even take a week for Lioness: Hidden Treasures, the posthumous album from troubled British singer Amy Winehouse that was released on December 2, to top the UK charts. Fans couldn’t wait to snatch up the presumably last album from the multi-Grammy winner whose previous release was Back to Black, all the way back in 2006.
Fan and critic reviews have been mixed but that’s not uncommon for posthumous albums. Michael, the King of Pop’s posthumous album released in December 2010, was extremely controversial, with fans questioning if the vocals even belonged to MJ. There was also talk that Michael Jackson would have never consented to the album’s release because it was a poor reflection of his talent. Nevertheless, Michael topped the R&B/Hip-Hop Billboard charts and reached number three on the Billboard charts overall. It also went platinum in the United States and over a dozen other countries.
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Tupac, of course, has not had that problem. His posthumous releases have been plentiful and generally well-received. Of the eight albums released after his tragic death in 1996, five have topped the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop chart, with only one failing to go platinum. Many critics have also embraced the work as easily as fans.
This is not typical though. The criticism that the posthumous releases from Amy Winehouse and Michael Jackson have received is normal. Generally, these albums are thrown together. The song selections are sequenced after the artist’s death. And, on top of that, the songs were unfinished at the artist’s death in both of these cases.
But, even if an artist would have sanctioned a posthumous release, chances are it would be almost impossible for it to live up to the hype, especially since the artist is not around to promote it. People, whether they admit or not, are very swayed by a personality. That’s why promoting music is so important. And, many times, an artist can promote a subpar song to hit status. So, without the artist around to promote or defend the work, the fan and critic can’t help but look at the music for what it is.Worse yet, the work now becomes more than that moment. Because the artist is no longer here, it has to not just stand but stand up against the overall body of work. In death, there are no throw-away tracks or songs that were just good enough. When a colossal talent such as Michael Jackson will not make music anymore, the expectations become gargantuan and no release can live up to that.
With Michael, it wasn’t just if it was good but, rather, did it match Thriller or Off the Wall? People so want the last work of their beloved artists to be great. They want it to somehow put an exclamation mark on their longtime love affair with their music.
Tupac’s posthumous releases have not generally disappointed because he was extremely prolific. Even during the constant drama that was his life, he made music like most people punch a clock. There were no long breaks without creating something. His posthumous releases were laid down by him and, as such, were not helped along much after his death so those songs were very much a part of his grand musical vision. This is what made Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come” a classic though he was not alive to see its release.
Also, Tupac was very well aware of his mortality. Whether we like to admit it or not, many of us don’t truly believe we will die and we certainly don’t prepare for it. Tupac was hyper aware of this and had an urgency in his music that spoke to it often. He frequently rhymed about life and death, which is a perennially timeless topic. Trust and loyalty was also of great interest to him as well as living life to the fullest. Plus his mother, Afeni Shakur, who is very protective of his work, has guided his legacy well. But, then again, that’s easy to do when you have so much to work with.
With Michael Jackson, there have been so many other distractions like the custody of his children, control of his estate and the Conrad Murray trial that his music has gotten lost in the shuffle. As impossible as it is to believe, one could argue that his music has been greatly overshadowed by all the other drama in his life.
It’s not hard for the first posthumous release from an artist to hit big. We saw that with Notorious B.I.G. as well. Still, most artists score best after death with songs created during their lifetime. Ray Charles’s music, for example, has done very well since his death in 2004 and so has Michael Jackson’s. So, when it comes to evaluating an artist’s legacy, it is much better to look at his or her best instead of remnants of what was or could have been.
