Never much cared for her or her music, but not glad she's gone - just indifferent.
Without knowing much about her personally, the only impression I ever got was that she was deeply troubled. Always troubled. And that she couldn't cope with her life, in the spotlight or otherwise. It's certainly possible she was a poor, lost soul, taken advantage of and prone to making bad decisions. Constantly. Surrounded by moochers, suck-ups and negative influences. Not strong enough to break away.
Plenty of normal, non-"famous" people fall into this category.
But again, I never knew her, as none of us did. And I daresay very few people really knew her, especially if her greatest wish was to be loved. But how could anyone see that through the drugs and booze? And when did she ever have a moment of such clarity to make such an admission? Is that just Perez assuming? Or is it obvious somehow?
My only feeling for the girl was that she had such problems that she needed to retreat from the limelight. Get away and disappear off the public radar, preferably for many years. Sure, she went to rehab - but promptly returned to her old ways upon departing. She needed something else, but didn't know how to get it, didn't want it, or didn't know what it was. One of the lost among us. She just happened to have a talent many admired.
Is it a tragedy? No. A tragedy implies a heroic person, meeting doom in the face of great conflict due to some personal fault or unavoidable circumstances. Did she meet her doom through unavoidable circumstances? No - she could obviously get herself into rehab and check herself out, so drinking, drug use and overdosing were all avoidable. Personally flawed? No one would argue she wasn't - just as none of us would claim that we are ourselves not flawed. (OK, maybe there are a few folks on the boards who think they're better than everyone else, or dare-I-say "perfect.") As for heroic...she was talented, but heroic? Few would call her such, and those who do would be wrong. At best, inspiring.
Does this diminish her death? Not at all. Her passing will be mourned by family, friends and fans alike. That she could bring music to peoples' lives was a great gift to a great many. This does not make her, or any celebrity, "better" than anyone else. But it does mean that she touched more lives and connected more people than my grandmother or most everyone else's. That's just a fact.
That is her legacy and why we speak of her, why we speak of anyone who touched so many lives. Even in my own indifference, I can recognize the people affected, the general sense of loss at the passing of a talent who brought people together. That is a general loss to the world, no matter how you feel about her or how you look at the news reporting of her passing. Those people are diminished by her death, though equally united in celebrating her life.
I do wish one thing: that she'd lived longer. That she'd taken time, however long that was, to do the personal self-healing and development she so desperately needed. I wouldn't care one lick if she ever made another piece of music or sang another song, so long as she took care of herself, or someone cared about her enough to intervene and love her enough to give her the "tough love" she needed to break the cycle - though even then, there are no guarantees this wouldn't have happened anyway, or even that it wasn't already tried many times before the end.
him. The best thing that ever happened was when will.i.am slapped the shit out of him for talking trash. It's too bad more people don't do that.
