Like most British pop, Lily Allen's debut album, Alright, Still, overflows with impeccably shiny, creative productions. However, Allen attempts to set herself apart from the likes of Rachel Stevens, Natasha Bedingfield, and Girls Aloud with a cheeky, (mostly) amusing vindictive streak in her lyrics that belies the sugarcoated sounds around them. You know exactly what she means when she says her ex is "not big whatsoever" on "Not Big"; later, she revels in being the one that got away on "Shame for You." However, this nice-then-naughty approach is at its best on Alright, Still's singles, which open the album in a one-two-three punch. Another ex-boyfriend kiss-off, "Smile," has a silky verse melody that just barely conceals her spite, which finally spills over on the chorus: "At first, when I see you cry/It makes me smile." But even here, Allen keeps her revenge sweet -- she sounds like she's singing about how ice cream or puppies or being in love makes her smile, which gives the song an extra sting. "Knock 'Em Out" is an even sassier, more stylized battle of the sexes than the Streets' "Fit But You Know It" (and could very well be the response from the girl in Mike Skinner's song). And "LDN" is a glorious summer confection, even if "it's all lies" underneath the Lord Kitchener sample and "sun is in the sky" chorus. Alright, Still's production and arrangements, courtesy of Greg Kurstin, Mark Ronson, and Futurecut, balance Allen's tart observations with a backdrop of pop-grime beats and freewheeling, feel-good ska that makes her sound playful and kittenish instead of just catty. While the album doesn't exactly go downhill after its opening salvo, it does lose some steam, particularly with "Take What You Take," a song that feels out of character with the rest of Alright, Still because it's uncharacteristically dull, and "Alfie," which falls especially flat as the album's final song. Allen softens her tough-girl pose more successfully on "Little Things," a ballad that celebrates the mundane moments of a dying relationship ("You'd take me out shopping and all we'd buy was trainers/As if we ever needed anything to entertain us") and "Everything's Just Wonderful," where "bureaucrats that won't give me a mortgage" are the targets of her ire instead of a previous (or soon-to-be previous) boyfriend. As with Nellie McKay (another young, opinionated woman eager to make herself the maverick in her chosen style of music), the dichotomy between Allen's sweet sound and ironic lyrics could be seen as either witty or clever-clever. Still, enough of Alright, Still works -- as pure pop and on the meta level Allen aims for -- to make the album a fun, summery fling, and maybe more. [The U.S. version of Alright, Still includes a remix of "Smile" and the 50 Cent parody "Nan You're a Window Shopper" as well as U-MYX software, which allows listeners to make their own remixes of "Smile" and "Knock 'Em Out" -- not an essential addition, but a surprisingly fun one nonetheless.]
Lily Allen, Eden Sessions, July 18, 2007http://www.thepacket.co.uk/news/videonews/index.var.6419.0.0.phpWHAT a difference a day makes. After Amy Winehouse's sullen performance on Tuesday, Lily Allen was a breath of fresh air at her Eden Sessions gig on Wednesday.Support act Mark Ronson was the best cover band you'll ever likely to see with his funking up of indie classics Pretty Green by The Ja...
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Lily Allen's newest album has definatly T.K.O this music lover. The album is poppy, witty, and has that "Dance in the mirror" quality. Anyone who listens to "knock 'em out", will immediatly identify with the age old bar situation, and Allen does a great job of making an uncomfortable situation into a hilarious and contagious song.
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Serious Journalist: Advertising 2.0 continues to develop with this interesting alliance of Electronic Arts and Lily Allen to promote The Sims. Lily went back in the studio to sing her hit 'Smile' in Simlish, the language of The Sims.Stoned Hack Music Zine Journo: Lily Allen always wrote crap lyrics.
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Lily Allen, great gal from the UK, she must have gone through a bad breakup to write this song..it's hilarious! I love her cd, she has such a sweet soft voice with the pop music in the background..but if you listen to her lyrics..its like the voice and lyrics don't go together..she's soo witty..but it all works. Her songs are very catchy, and I find this CD to be a good driving summer music.
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Still in Los Angeles, I’m driving down Sunset the other night. (It’s something that I find myself doing a lot while in SoCal, because of the boulevard’s proximity to my lodgings.)After a random scan, I’ve absent-mindedly left the radio on Star 100-something, one of the ubiquitous stations running the so-called “Hot Hits” format. And what do I hear, to my surprise, but Lily Allen’s
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Being the near-middle-aged, rockist white guy that I am, I feel I should be giving Top Props to the Arcade Fire and/or The Shins...certainly both of those new albums do the job splendidly (especially Neon Bible and the magnificent "Intervention"). And that new Amy Winehouse joint ain't bad neither.But damn if Lily Allen's debut isn't just so much FUN to listen to, so bouncy and witty, with melo...
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A book reviewer I knew told me he had a philosophy when it came to writing negative reviews: He refused. He claimed it was because there was so much good stuff to be writing about, why bother taking the time to trash something. Noble concept, but A: it's fun to write something harsh when it's deserved, and B: it's quite easy to walk around proclaiming that shit is great. M. Ward - he's great! C...
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Bit of a departure from my usual tastes, but I stumbled across Lily Allen recently and felt like sharing. The critic's shorthand for her is "the female Mike Skinner (aka The Streets)", which is semi-accurate I suppose - little vignettes of urban living, relationships, drinking, drug-taking, and assorted little tales of little lives, musically veering from garage-y or drum n bass to gentle acou...
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AMAZING.And I know I'm late on this one.....obviously since she was on Saturday night live last night....but I LOVE HER!Shes so great, her lyrics, her attitude, style, sound. Just great!Now listen I think you and me have come to the end of our time,What d'you want some kind of reaction?Well, OK, that's fine,Alright, how would it make you feel if I said you that you never ever made me come?In th...
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Lily Allen The daughter of Welsh comedian, singer, producer and actor, Keith Allen, isnt wasting anytime forging her own career. At just 21, there is quite a buzz surrounding her debut release, Alright, Still. She is also causing some controversy. After publicly disparaging The Kooks, Bob Geldof and Kylie Minogue amongst others, Lily was voted number 3 in NME Cool List for 2006 while clocki...
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I've been listening to Alright, Still quite a lot lately, and this is one of my favorite songs from the record...
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Lily Allen's album is a set of songs that mostly diss her ex boyfriends, and I think theshame For You is the best of the bunch. Why ? I hear you ask,Well coz she sings it with a smile in her voice, and I like the lines Ohh my gosh you must be joking me if you think you'll be poking me.I guess "Everything's just wonderful" comes second.Also I wonder if the record companies should start to p...
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So, on October 5th I was mortified while driving home for work. I was listening to Channel 43 on XM Radio - that's XMU for those who listen online - and I was pumped to hear Tobi throw on a little Lily Allen for the first time ever. Yet, the track was sooo not Lily Allen. It a fit of mild rage, I sent an email to Tobi, the dean of music at XMU:Since it has been a few weeks, I never thought I'd ...
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While driving home from a Thai restaurant with a close friend who opened my eyes to how to have better taste in music he popped in Lily Allen's new CD. "She's like the First Lady of MySpace" he quipped. And boy howdy can I see why. Her songs are catchy and lyrics are provocative. I like how honest and silly her songs are. It's a good collection of getting ready to go out songs, as well as ...
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Today I decided to take a trip downtown to hit up the library for some new music. Great idea I thought until I hit traffic. Here in Minnesota they are right in the middle of some major road work which has slowed everything down considerably. Most of you know of our recent bridge collapse and now it seems like it is always rush hour, even at 10 in the afternoon. As I sat in traffic I began to c...
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Well I bought my first cd in seven months yesterday. I had a list of artists I wanted to get, but seeing one video made me go out and get the new Lily Allen cd. I dont know if its the fact that I have a thing for girls with a Brittish accent (love you Jo Frost), or the fact that it was 7 bucks at Target. Either way I bought it, and love what I am hearing. Its easy to have a crush on a musical a...
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Still in Los Angeles, I’m driving down Sunset the other night. (It’s something that I find myself doing a lot while in SoCal, because of the boulevard’s proximity to my lodgings.)After a random scan, I’ve absent-mindedly left the radio on Star 100-something, one of the ubiquitous stations running the so-called “Hot Hits” format. And what do I hear, to my surprise, but Lily Allen’s
More >
Serious Journalist: Advertising 2.0 continues to develop with this interesting alliance of Electronic Arts and Lily Allen to promote The Sims. Lily went back in the studio to sing her hit 'Smile' in Simlish, the language of The Sims.Stoned Hack Music Zine Journo: Lily Allen always wrote crap lyrics.
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From The Observer newspaper comes news that Lily Allen has had a run-in with US Immigration while entering the USA from Canada. Crossing from BC into Washingtom at 2AM, US officers stepped on board and confiscated her citrus fruit. Then they asked the tour manager to step off the bus for a word.Officer: "I can smell pot."Tour manager: "There's no point in denying it, though we have just come fr...
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Did anybody attend? How was it? Wouldn't you know it the one year they have a stellar lineup and I MOVED!
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Being the near-middle-aged, rockist white guy that I am, I feel I should be giving Top Props to the Arcade Fire and/or The Shins...certainly both of those new albums do the job splendidly (especially Neon Bible and the magnificent "Intervention"). And that new Amy Winehouse joint ain't bad neither.But damn if Lily Allen's debut isn't just so much FUN to listen to, so bouncy and witty, with melo...
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Anybody in the LA area go to the Lily Allen show tonight at the Avalon?
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there have been some updates to the Lily Allen tour, mostly additions thanks to all the extra hype she is getting lately.from the trusty blog of the Brooklyn Vegan : Lily Allen - 2007 Tour DatesFri 03/30/07 San Diego, CA House Of BluesSun 04/01/07 Sacramento, CA Crest TheatreMon 04/02/07 San Francisco, CA The FillmoreThu 04/05/07 Toronto, ON Phoenix Concert TheatreFri 04/06/07 Montreal, QC Club...
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He moved to the cultural black hole of the East Coastand worries that I'm the one feeling lonely.I simply can't stop shaking my head.Now you're calling me up on the phoneSo you can have a little whine and a moanAnd it's only because you're feeling aloneAt first when I see you cry,yeah it makes me smile, yeah it makes my smileAt worst I feel bad for a while,but then I just smile I go ahead and s...
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I find Lily Allen refreshing and fun, and have been lately playing this album to get me going on washing the dishes. (Because I am quite possibly the last North American householder to be still doing ALL THE FUCKING DISHES BY HAND.) Ahem. Excuse me. Back to Lily, well, honestly the accent wears on me after a while, although I don't like to criticize anyone too strenuously considering that I...
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listening to lily allen has been extremely helpful the past couple of days. i love lily allen and one day im gonna make mad love to her. well probably not. a boy can dream right.later,don
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H: Hey hey hello.Me: Hey hey hello. What's going on?H: The play is over.Me: Yes! I'm glad you stuck with it.H: That makes one of us. (Laughs.)Me: (Laughs.) So yeah. Roight.H: What's going on with you? How's the new job?Me: Going remarkably well. I'm surprised to work somewhere where people value my opinion.H: I know, right?Me: Seriously. I'm in my second week, and I'm on hiring committees alrea...
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It's my six month mog-iversary so help me celebrate by not commenting to my post.Woo hoo!
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if you haven't had the chance to yet, check out Lily Allen smile-although I've heard the song before, I never payed attention until I saw the video-completely hilarious and cheeky...many think she's a joke and a fake, but whatever, I like her, and I think her storytelling way of writing (whether its her or not) are refreshing. Check her out if you haven't yet, mostly check out the lyrics to Smi...
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| Title | Lyrics | Buy |
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| 1 Smile |
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| 2 Knock 'Em Out |
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| 3 LDN |
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| 4 Everything's Just Wonderful |
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| 5 Not Big |
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| 6 Friday Night |
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| 7 Shame for You |
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| 8 Littlest Things |
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| 9 Take What You Take |
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| 10 Friend of Mine |
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| 11 Alfie |
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| 12 Nan You're a Window Shopper |
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| 13 Smile [Version Revisited] |
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| 14 [CD-ROM Track] |
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Click to purchase…
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