The video: Amy Winehouse's final studio recording and music video were released on Wednesday, which would have been her 28th birthday. The song in question — the jazz standard "Body and Soul" — was recorded as a duet with Tony Bennett for the legendary crooner's upcoming album Duets II. In the accompanying video (see clip below), Winehouse, who was found dead in her London home in July, looks happy and healthy, if a bit nervous. She flirtatiously twirls her beehived hair and exchanges coquettish glances with Bennett; the two finish up with a warm embrace. "Us singing together, it just blended perfectly," Winehouse said in an interview before her death. "It just couldn't have been better."
The reaction: The song's "stunning" arrangement is "as classy as the words 'duet with Tony Bennett' would imply," says Ed Masley at The Arizona Republic. And Winehouse sounds great, says Michael Cragg at Britain's Guardian. Her voice is "still a thing of wonder," with its "jazzy inflection" serving as the "perfect counterpoint to Bennett's velvet croon." It's unfortunate that Winehouse's final recording "isn't as energetic or emotional a song as we came to expect" from the singer, says Amanda Dobbins at New York. But at least we get to see her one last time as "Winehouse the Musician rather than Winehouse the Tabloid Star." Check it out:
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