Lost in Music: Amy Studt - False Smiles

Originally published on www.sosogay.co.uk

For many that were born at the end of the 1980s and in the early 1990s they missed out on much of the singer/songwriter craze that had become so popular during the early to mid 90s, which saw the birth of music superstars like Alanis Morissette and Tori Amos. Instead they listened to the music of teen pop idols such as Britney Spears and N’Sync.

However during the early 2000’s the emergence of Canadian teen rock star Avril Lavigne gave them a peek at what they had missed almost a decade ago. Like most pop stars, there had to be an equivalent of Avril in the UK and that honour got bestowed on one Miss Amy Studt. A young 16 year old from London, Studt was branded the British version of Lavigne by the press, much like Billie Piper was the British Britney, despite releasing her début single quite some time before the phenomenon that became Ms Spears.

With the release of her first single, ‘Just a Little Girl’, Studt looked poised for chart success having reached the UK top 20. The song itself was featured on promotional videos for the final series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. However, it was almost 12 months before we heard from Amy again, and in 2003 she released the single ‘Misfit’, which hit number six on the UK top 40 and was all over the radio and television music channels.

She now looked set for success; another top 10 single followed and a top 20 album in the form of False Smiles. The album itself spoke out for the underdog in the schoolyard, as Amy herself had admitted to being bullied whilst at school. Featuring brilliant tracks like ‘Misfit’ and ‘Ladder in My Tights’ she looked set to give teens who were experiencing the agonising daily trip to school a voice, showing those who don’t quite fit in that it was acceptable and everything would one day be OK.

However, the sales of her singles and album didn’t quite match up to her Canadian equivalent. A brief stint to try and re-market the album with a cover of the Sheryl Crow song ‘All I Wanna Do’ didn’t quite work out, failing to break the top 20. Sadly, this saw the singer being dropped from her record label.

It seems that maybe Amy didn’t quite match up to the hype or maybe the charts were looking for something a bit different, and given the fact that single sales were diminishing at the time until the second wind they found with digital downloads, Miss Studt may have just been around too early.

Fast forward five or six years later and female singers who write their own songs, with a unique sound and look are dominating the charts, just look at Adele, Florence Welch and the late Amy Winehouse. Sadly however, this is now and Amy Studt was back then, but for all those young teens that listened to the album they have a hidden gem of music that may have given them a bit of hope back in the day.