Disco de Lily Allen: “Alright Still”

I first saw Lily Allen on a Mark Ronson video with her posing as a cartoon Roger Rabbit style, and I thought to myself, this girl is different creative and unique. Then she featured in Common's "Drivin me Wild" video and I was asking myself do this artist have an album yet? Well, late(as usual) I discovered that she did have an album because I saw two of her own videos on Havoc TV. Those videos were "Smile" and "LDN" and I was blown away. She has a merry-go-roundish type pop, but hip-hop, with a little dash of sing-a-long join hands and dance around in circles type vibe that I became so addicted, I watched the videos over and over again. So I was going to go get the album when I discovered my own sister (which music range isn't as deep as mine) knew and had the album way before I found out about this album. (Of course I was furious, but I had to snatch it up and listen).

Great music, great production from Mr. Ronson. "Knock em Out" and gameshow sounding "Everythings Just Wonderful" has Lily talking about having bad credit, family members smoking weed, etc, this girl has issues if you get past her melodic high vocals and listen to the lyrics. My personal favorites are "Friday Night" the addictive but creative "Shame For You", and hands down the best song on the album with its light synth and heavy keys "Take What You Take", yeah that's the title, Lily Allen really stretches out and shows her true vocal skills. She even does a little rapping on the album which doesn't sound bad either. "Nan You're A Window Shopper" she sounds better than 50 cent's version and a little more threatning too (sorry Fiddy)!! To nick pick, "Alfie" gets lost in the shuffle, but Lily comes hard with a stellar debut album and looking forward to hearing more from this strange genius!!

4 stars. The Brit sensation!!

This is one of my favourite and most fun buys of 2006. Daughter of actor and comedian Keith Allen, Lily is a breath of fresh air to a music scene that takes itself way too seriously and has allowed itself to grow stale in the process. One newspaper critic described her voice as "as thin as a supermodel's ankle" but you know what? It doesn't matter! She's fun!

"Smile" was a number 1 hit for here here in the UK earlier in the year and while subsequent releases haven't fared so well, the album is packed with fun tunes. She captures the essence of inner-city young female angst pefectly. Some of my personal favourites (apart from "Smile") are:

"Knock 'Em Out", where she sings about being hassled by boys she's not interested in. ("Not in a million years," she sings, which always makes me hoot).

"LDN", where she describes the urban decay she sees all around her but, like many inner-city Londoners, wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

"Everything's Just Wonderful", which has a truly beautiful chorus.

"Not Big", where she slags off an ex-boyfriend. As you do.

"Littlest Things", a song about feeling lonely after the end of a relationship and reminiscing about the good days.

and "Take What You Take", where she tells "old" people to shut up, mind their own business and stop offering advice. That's me told then.

But in truth, I like all the songs. Her lyrics are not only humourous but very insightful. I like Lily's spunkyness and I especially love the fact that she hasn't done what so many British singers have done and still do, i.e. try to sing like an American. Good on her. A friend of mine thinks this is what the Specials would be doing if they were still around (and had a female vocalist). I can see where he's coming from but - many of her songs do have a ska/reggae feel to them but I think she's more difficult to pigeon hole. There are even elements of good old New Orleans jazz funk in there somewhere. She's done pretty well this year at home, I really hope the US market warms to her. She's definitely one of a kind.

In the movie SAW, the serial killer Jigsaw calls one of his victims, "Angry and apathetic, but mostly just pathetic." That description would fall pretty aptly on Lilly Allen, or at least on the character she's portraying in this album.

I don't know much about the lass, who initially caught my attention with an effortless, liquid rendition of "LDN" at the '08 Prince's Trust concert, except that she's the offspring of a very well-heeled British actor. Thus, her decidedly punkish, working-class persona, complete with Cockney accent, may be a complete fake. I've no clue. I can only go on what I hear, and from a strictly musical standpoint what I hear is pretty good.

Allen has a lovely, just a bloody lovely voice, not merely pleasing but equipped with a subtly modulating resonance of the type Britney Spears probably dreams about between spells in the looney bin. She also has a wickedly subversive sense of humor, showcased on such songs as "Knock `em Out" and "Not Big", and a great observational eye, making most of the songs either laugh out loud funny or good for a nod and a thoughtful chuckle. The production is thoroughly professional, so much so the whole album seems to sparkle with some kind of machined gloss, and nearly every beat and tune ridiculously catchy.

Where the album disappoints is under the hood. Allen says a lot, but when you scrape away the icing she doesn't have much to say. She hates bureacrats, old people (her most ill-tempered rants go to her own grandmother, who has blasphemed against the punk code by growing old, a horror Allen seems to regard as a character fault...let's see how you feel in another 30 years, Lil), commercialism, and nearly all of her ex-boyfriends. Her main desire in life seems to be club-hopping, but she devotes several songs to gripes about obnoxious doormen, hostile-jealous girl rivals, and ugly guys that hit on her, so you have to wonder why she bothers. Everything on the album is catchy and clever, but all the effort seems a bit wasted when the content is so random and psychologically shallow. I kept waiting for a real punk-type rant, replete with guitar-smashing and burning British flags, but it never came. This is real belly-to-asphalt, working-class-on-the-dole, narrow-horizon type stuff, and my final impression was of a thoroughbred race horse hooked up to a everyday milkwagon: lots of talent spent in the wrong direction. Lilly Allen has a gorgeous voice and a skewering wit, and her next time at bat I hope she swings at more substantive stuff than sexually unsatisfying boyfriends and coupon-clipping grandmas. 3.5/5

The first thing you think of when listening to this album is The Streets. Witty lines, British accents, and plenty of self lamenting may get many listeners thinking it's a female brit hip-hopper. But listen a little longer, and you'll realize it's a fusion of both hip-hop and brit pop. In this album, the producer makes sure that the sounds are unique and the hooks stay lasting in your head.

Just yesterday, my dad got this CD. Lily's voice is phenominal! It's the perfect music for anyone. This young British singer/songwriter is a breath of fresh air compared to sappy over the top artists like Christina Agulaira and The Pussy Cat Dolls. This girl is totally on key, and her lyrics can relate to everyone . Those over the top groups or singers just put smoke into your mind. But this just clears away all that smokey badness. This is for all ages too.

I highly reccomend Lily Allen and this CD. This is the first time I've heard her I am blown away. I am definity asking my parents' for another Lily Allen CD for my birthday. She's pop but not to POP!