2008 Woodie Awards
LiLy Allen pops into music and Myspace
Francy Marcotte
Issue date: 4/2/07 Section: Culture
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The British singer recently arrived on the United States music scene with the release of her first album “Alright Still ...” and brought all her quirks with her.
She possesses an oddball sense of style (she favors vintage gowns paired with white sneakers) and her outspoken personality crosses over into her atypical pop music.
Most new pop artists (perhaps Akon comes to mind?) dish out generic, assembly line-packaged songs about one of three
subjects: sex, love and (of course) teary break-ups.
While “Smile,” Allen’s first single, does qualify as a break-up song, it’s anything but teary.
The lyrics tell of a girl who deals with a cheating boyfriend by simply getting over him.
“At first when I see you cry/Yeah it makes me smile, yeah, it makes me smile/At worst I feel bad for awhile, but then I just smile/I go ahead and smile.”
She gets over the break-up by revenge, that is. The music video for “Smile” features a group of Allen’s friends beating up the ex-boyfriend and trashing his apartment. Meanwhile Allen, true to her lyrics, stands by and smiles sweetly at the action.
The other songs on “Alright Still …” revolve around a wide variety of subjects such as life in Allen’s native London, her Friday night clubbing experiences and her slacker younger brother.
She plays with a variety of sounds in each track like hip-hop, salsa and jazz. These experimentations give a nice break from the beats usually heard on the radio.
Allen projects her individuality not only in her music, but on Myspace as well where she (not her record label) shamelessly uploads and advertises her music. In an interview with pitchforkmedia.com, Allen talked about launching her Myspace profile.
“My record company didn’t even know what MySpace was. About three weeks after I set it up, my manager called me and he was like, ‘I think you ought to set this thing up, it’s called MySpace or something’ and I was like, ‘Already done it.’”
Allen said she started her profile by uploading a few of her songs. She also began posting regular blogs concerning her album, performances and a little bit of her personal life and opinions. Soon Myspace users began to catch on to her forward, sassy personality.
“By February or March it was obvious that something was going on because there were so many subscribers to the blog and so many people listening to the music - the plays were just going up and up and up,” Allen said.
The result was eventually fame and thousands of Myspace friends. What could be better? Allen’s Myspace profile can be seen at http://www.myspace.com/lilymusic.
However, while viewers get a taste of her music and personality there, purchasing “Alright Still …” is a worthwhile investment.
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