Six months. That's how long it took for the hype on Lily Allen to go from a whisper to a scream and then become hoarse. Alright, Still, the British songstress's debut album, saw its U.K. release in July 2006, but it won't hit U.S. shelves until late January. In the months since, has the Lily Allen bubble burst?
Early signs are mixed. Allen's song "Smile" has topped the British charts, and her personal life has become tabloid fodder. Stateside, she has earned raves from Pitchfork and The New York Times, and unscrupulous but discriminating downloaders have grabbed her album from file-sharing networks. Whether Allen connects to music-loving tweens in Davenport or is cast aside for a new blog darling is anyone's guess.
Naturally, she says she's not worried. "How many people live in your country? And how many do you think have heard the record? If it works out, that's great. But if it doesn't, it's not the end of the world. Some people work for 15 years before they can make the amount of money that I've already made."
And she's earned it. Alright, Still is loaded with songs that bounce around your head after just one listen. Allen is a living, breathing personality. Brash and tart, she's the foul-mouthed girl next door. She's her generation's finest writer of romantic put-downs, whether faking pregnancy to turn down a drunken suitor ("Knock 'em Out"), laughing at a crying ex-boyfriend ("Smile") or dissing her grandma (on the B-side "Nan, You're a Window Shopper"). In conversation, Allen speaks her mind without sacrificing an ounce of charm. Take this gem, about the fashion industry: "I've grown up within the media industry in London my whole life, and this is one sector of it that I don't really wish to be involved in. They've all been so horrible to me ever since I was young because I'm not five foot nine and really skinny and don't look amazing in all their dresses. No one really wants to talk to me, except for now. Now that I'm famous, everyone really wants to talk to me. . . . Fuck off, basically. I think it's a vile industry." Minutes later, she's praising Marc Jacobs and claiming "free shit" is the best part of her newfound fame.
Allen moved around a lot as a kid -- she attended 13 schools -- and spent her childhood envying the faster lifestyle of her older sister. "She was going out and getting drunk and sleeping with guys and smoking cigarettes and into, like, cool aggressive music." That might explain why at 15 Allen spent a summer in Ibiza after telling her mother she was staying with a friend. She worked in a record shop and met her first manager, who was the first person to ask her to sing. Not bad for someone who lists Ringo Starr's turn as Thomas the Tank Engine as her formative musical memory.
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