A unifying theme of my work has been to issue this challenge to youth workers: Always, always, always endeavor to think biblically, theologically and deeply about everything in life. Then, teach your kids to do the same.
The everything of life that we are called to filter these ways includes the world of pop culture.
It’s been several months since singer Amy Winehouse’s Wikipedia entry went from beginning with “Amy Jade Winehouse is…” to “Amy Jade Winehouse was…” When the singer died on July 23, she became the latest member in a club of troubled musicians who died at the young age of 27, including Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Brian Jones and Kurt Cobain.
Debate continues over the roles substance abuse and depression may have played in her death; but no matter how you look at it, the Winehouse story is a sad one. I find it equally if not more disturbing that many Christians who viewed Winehouse as a bad seed and negative influence either were unmoved by her death and its significance or were relieved she was gone.
Sadly, that same response was mustered by the deaths of other members of the 27 Club. Not only do those responses lack compassion, but they mean we aren’t taking the time to think biblically, theologically and deeply about everything, including the significance of Winehouse’s life and death.
Seeking Deeper Understanding
Winehouse was an extremely talented and terribly tortured singer who first took the musical world by storm 17 years after Nirvana captured the pain of a generation with “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”
By default, Winehouse assumed the role of Kurt Cobain by putting to music what far too many children, teens and young adults are experiencing and feeling. That’s precisely why she deserved and still deserves our attention. Her music, message and persona serve as a map for the emerging generations and a mirror of today’s youth culture.
But why? What is it about Winehouse that fostered her meteoric rise to popularity; and is there anything she can teach us about the realities, cares and concerns of young people growing up and moving into adulthood in these rapidly changing and unique times?
These are important questions we should ask of every pop culture phenom…and our answers should be shaped by deep biblical and theological thought.
Comfortable in front of cameras or a crowd, Winehouse was increasingly uncomfortable with herself as she fought the demons of her own existence…something that only got worse in time. Not even becoming the first British singer (male or female) and female singer (from anywhere!) to win five Grammys in one night helped.
When Winehouse was reaching the pinnacle musically, her life was hitting rock-bottom. Self-described as a reckless person, her self-destructive lifestyle of drug and alcohol addiction was taking a serious toll. In addition, Winehouse admittedly struggled with self-injury, depression and eating disorders.
Winehouse was a woman of distinctive style and individualism. In spite of her self-destructive lifestyle, she avoided organized religion, instead depending on fate and Karma. She believed relationships are where happiness is found, evidence of which could be seen in her long-term desire to be a wife and mother. She once said her motto is: “Be yourself. Don’t be afraid to be different.”
The Power to Connect
Even in the midst of her brokenness and pain, Winehouse connected and still continues to connect with an army of sympathetic listeners young and old. Again, why? Here are six significant reasons for those of us in youth ministry to consider.
1. A growing segment of the population shares her pain. Our culture is riddled with victims of relational brokenness, addictions, disordered-eating and self-abuse. There was a day when these realities occurred much less frequently; they were stigmatized, shameful and kept silent. Not so today. Pain is widespread and worn on the sleeve.
Winehouse was a high-profile poster girl who was embraced by those who experienced her life story, pain, loneliness and confusion. In a way, it’s nice to know somebody else is “a lot like me.” Many listeners find Winehouse to be a mouthpiece for their own pain, hurt and confusion because she sang what she felt.
2. She makes us feel better about ourselves. All humanity has been touched by the Fall. As a result, not one of us experiences life on this earth as it was meant to be. We are broken, and we know it. In the midst of our brokenness, we sometimes assuage ourselves by focusing on those worse off than ourselves.
If someone’s life is relatively inferior to our own, we feel better. If we’re overweight at 250 pounds, a 300-pounder makes us feel skinny. If we can’t sing a note, a bad “American Idol” audition eases our own melodic pain. In a sick and twisted way, Winehouse makes many people feel better about themselves: “Look at how messed up she is! I’m not that bad.”
3. Her eccentricity plays well in an age of postmodern individualism. “You are in charge of you,” and “It’s your life. Do with it what you want,” are lifestyle credos in today’s world. Winehouse was individualistically edgy in everything from her dress, language and tattoos to her hair.
Everything you saw and heard from Winehouse was Winehouse. She believed she was to answer to nobody but herself. She was frank and had been described by some as having a “F___ you!” attitude. She’s an artist who played well in a culture that increasingly sees tradition and convention as constricting and passé.
4. She’s the real—not objectified—female. Winehouse was neither super-model beautiful, nor did she allow her appearance to be digitally re-mastered. She was a person of style; but the Winehouse listeners saw was refreshingly authentic, not re-made in the image of magazine covers and photo spreads. For an emerging generation of girls who have been hammered with body image pressure that turns people into objects, Winehouse was a breath of fresh air.
5. The emerging generations embrace those who are vulnerable and transparent. Winehouse’s emotionally charged voice and transparent lyrics give her credibility. She lived and believed what she sang. She was an open book for the world to see. Winehouse sang her reality, a reality that’s shared by a growing segment of her listening audience. Today’s emerging generations are turned off by fakes and drawn to authenticity. Winehouse connected well because listeners saw her as opening and sharing her life with them, a life they know because they’ve seen it and lived it themselves.
6. She was a friend to hurting kids and young adults. The great irony of the emerging generations is that never has a generation of kids had more tools at their fingertips to keep them relationally connected with others. Still, despite cell phones, computers and digital communication devices and platforms at their disposal, never has a generation been more disconnected and alone.
Kids want and need friends. By laying herself bare in a media world that gives kids access to her and her music around the clock, Winehouse was latched onto as a friend to kids—especially girls—who are broken, alone and hurting. Even though they didn’t know her personally, they think they did; and they believe she knew them.
Tragedy and Teachable Moments
What should youth workers make of Winehouse and of other celebrities who crash and burn?
Can the stories of Winehouse and others become tools for understanding and reaching the mission field of today’s youth culture? What does she teach us about the emerging generations? Does her story offer any insight to cultural shifts taking place in today’s world? Does her music offer any insight to how we can better relate to and minister to young people? Let me offer the following analysis and suggestions.
1. We must embrace her as a model of self-destruction. For years, the emerging culture has been populated by broken and hurting kids who have been left to find their own way through the earthquake of adolescence. Without guidance and direction, they are left to themselves to make sense out of what life is throwing at them. Sometimes the way they find is not a better way, but a way that leads to self-destruction.
She is a real-life example of how when left unaddressed, the Fall can lead us down dangerous paths; but don’t be tempted to wag your disapproving finger at Winehouse if you use her as an example. Instead, go a step further and use her as a positive example of Christlike compassion by teaching your kids to love and minister to those who are broken, even if that brokenness is furthered by their own self-destructive choices.
2. Discuss the realities and results of our culture’s obsession with the female body. Disordered eating has reached epidemic proportions among today’s children, teens and young adults. The body image pressure that lies at the root of this epidemic is no respecter of persons.
We should be grateful that Winehouse openly discussed the pressures she felt and how those pressures affected her life. We can’t do enough to understand these realities and talk about them with our kids. We must teach them that they inevitably will face the pressure. We must teach them that living God’s will and way for their lives requires them to do all they can to reverse the growing tide of these pressures through a “Thy will be done” kingdom mentality and resolve.
3. We must preach the truth about the only One who redeems. The “unknown god” in today’s culture is all-too-often human relationships, particularly romantic relationships. Hungry for restoration to that which existed before the Fall, human beings search high and low for a redeemer to make them whole again.
We look to relationships with others to fulfill us, but those relationships are destined to come up short, leaving us hungrier than we were before. Winehouse offers ample evidence of this fact. We must help our culture’s seekers put human relationships in their proper perspective. Then, we must proclaim the truth about the only One who can redeem, Jesus Christ.
4. Winehouse provides an opportunity to discuss the existence of sin and its consequences. Perhaps the first person to admit that Winehouse was a walking trainwreck would be Winehouse, but it would be wrong to have written her off as a hopeless case for the simple fact that there are none.
Instead, we should look at Winehouse’s life through the framework of a biblical worldview, pointing out the way sin and human fallenness are not only present in her life, but leaving a well-marked trail of hurt and pain. In other words, we must define sin and point out the nuances of how our rebellion against God is being uniquely embraced and lived in today’s world, starting with divorce, family breakdown, etc.
Then, we must point out how embracing sin is like building a bomb that may explode at one point in time, but that leaves long-lasting wounds as it continues to ripple through generation after generation. Exposing sin and its consequences can serve as a great deterrent. As a result, we must discuss these things with the kids we know and love.
5. Winehouse offers opportunities to discuss substance abuse and addictions with our kids. Because they are young and feel seemingly invulnerable, even our kids who have heard about the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse can fall into the trap of believing they can experiment and avoid harm because, after all, “nothing bad will ever happen to me.”
Sadly, our youth and adult culture is littered with folks who once thought that about themselves, but now realize how wrong they were. With Winehouse, our kids not only have heard about the dangers of abuse and addiction, but they have seen it happen. While we don’t want to fall into the trap of exploitation, we can and must point to Winehouse as an example of the sad results of substance abuse and addiction.
6. Loneliness is epidemic in our culture. The church must provide a loving community. Winehouse is a poster girl for so many negative cultural realities. One of those realties is loneliness. Winehouse offers a window into the deep loneliness sweeping through our communities.
Corporately, our churches must become places where the lonely can find connections with other humans and with their Creator. Individually, we must reach out to those in our neighborhoods and along our paths who are disconnected, even if they don’t look, sound, think or act as we do. We have been made for connection, and if we desire to follow Jesus, we will go out of our way to connect.
7. The church must model and dispense Christlike compassion. Woven in and through Winehouse’s music is an unmistakable cry for redemption. Her music serves as an expression of spiritual hunger pains. We must answer the cries by becoming the hands and feet of Jesus, by living and sharing the gospel with unmistakable clarity. This, after all, is what she was groaning for ultimately.
Amy Winehouse is dead, but her broken reality lives on in far too many kids. Let’s reach them.
