Allen has dedicated the new album to Amy Winehouse, whose Back to Black album was released in 2006, the same year as Allen’s debut album; they were acquaintances rather than close friends. ‘She was not in a great place when we knew each other, so I don’t feel I knew Amy; I knew a version of Amy.’ But she knew her well enough to watch her downward spiral with sadness and horror, and to feel some affinity. ‘What she had to deal with was 10 times anything I had to deal with. She’d sold a hell of a lot more albums than me, and there was a lot more interest in her. There were people outside her home 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I know what that was like on a much smaller level, and I felt trapped. She couldn’t do anything or go anywhere without there being a frenzy; and she was all about life and enjoying herself and socialising, and when that’s taken away from you… she was a prisoner.’ Allen thinks about this. The problem with Amy, she says, was that ‘she was too damn interesting for her own good’.
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