Lily Rose Beatrice Allen is back - not just in the tabloids, but on the music scene. She's put up with being stalked everywhere she goes by the paparazzi and slagged off in all the celeb rags, gone back in the studio and made great new tunes. To this I say a big hurrah and invite you to join me for my top five reasons to love her longtime.
1. Her new songs are brilliant - honest, cutting and catchy, and the video for "The Fear", with its dancing presents and general surrealness, reminds me of Veruca Salt's bratty solo in the original Willy Wonka film. Here it is after the jump:
2. She's real - so what if she's got a famous dad? Lily Allen made it acceptable for British girls to sing in their real accents instead of faking transatlantic drawls. No, we cannot blame her for Kate Nash.
3. She's a blogger - and she knows the importance of giving sneaky peeks to fans. Against the advice of her record company she uploaded tracks off "Alright, Still" to MySpace way before release and still managed to bag a number one with "Smile". She's also been blogging consistently since before we'd ever heard of her.
4. She's not bothered about being commercial - "Everyone's At It" has a go at the media, newest song "The Fear" features everyone's favourite f-word repeatedly and have you heard "Guess Who Batman"? Previewed on her MySpace page over the summer, in her own words "this song is not a direct attack at anyone , it was origianally written about the BNP in the uk but then i felt this issue has become relevant pretty much everywhere , we are the youth , we can make coolness for our future , its up to us . go green and hate hate".
5. She puts her money where her mouth is, recording at solar-powered Studio A, writing to politicians on energy issues and even meeting with Boris Johnson to discuss a benefit concert to aid victims of knife crime.
Lily Allen, I think you're just wonderful - roll on the second album!
