Wednesday 31st May 2006
Image Credit: Derrick Santini - April 2006
LILY ALLEN RELEASES HER DEBUT ALBUM “ALRIGHT, STILL” ON REGAL ON JULY 17.
THE ALBUM IS PRECEDED BY THE SINGLE “SMILE” ON JULY 3.
“Lily Allen is about to change the way you think about pop music” NME
“When’s the last time we had an opinionated female pop star?” ID
“Lily is a genuine, no PR, punters-love-it success. Her debut single ‘LDN’ mixes giggly carnival summer reggae with lines so sharp they could have your eye out” THE OBSERVER
“By the time Allen’s debut album is released in July, expect her to be massive. Her debut single is a twisted pop belter that, despite only being released on 7” vinyl, has been a mainstay on daytime Radio 1” TIME OUT
“Multi-genre mash ups and street love songs from Mixmag’s new favourite girl about London” MIXMAG
“Allen is the archetypal singer-songwriter for the iPod generation. Brilliant.” NME
Lily Allen releases her debut album “Alright, Still” on Regal on July 17. The album features 11 tracks including her debut 500 copies, limited edition vinyl single “LDN”, which was released in April and is already fetching £100 on ebay.
Her new single “Smile”, a bittersweet song of revenge on an errant boyfriend, set to this summer’s most addictive tune, is released on July 3rd and was Jo Whiley’s Record of the Week last week.
Lily Allen signed to Regal towards the end of last year and, at the same time, started putting tracks up on the internet. Since then she has had a staggering million plus people listen to her music on myspace, whilst her weekly blogs have spread details of her increasingly eventful life across the world. Her two free mixtapes, audacious mixes of her own music with a disparate selection of other tunes, have become collectors items in their own right.
Four weeks ago Lily played her first ever live show at London’s YOYO in the week of her 21st birthday; fans started queuing for entry from 5pm for a show that started 5 hours later, and a coterie of female fans who Lily memorably christened ‘The Lilettes’, flew over from Texas, determined to see her first ever show . Since then her weekly Thursday night show has attracted a burgeoning following, with queues snaking around the block and an increasing media presence.
Further live dates are now planned for:
Club shows;
June 24 Nottingham Stealth Vrs Rescue Rooms
June 28 Leeds Bad Sneakers @ the Faversham
June 30 Sheffield Plug
July 17 LONDON BUSH HALL
July 18 LONDON BUSH HALL
Aug 6 THE BIG CHILL
Aug 18 SECRET GARDEN FESTIVAL
Aug 26 GET LOADED FESTIVAL, CARDIFF
AUG 27 GET LOADED FESTIVAL, CARDIFF
“Alright, Still” was produced by Future Cut, Greg Kurstin, Pablo Cook, Blair Mackichan and Mark Ronson.
The last words must go to Lily herself;
“A lot of female artists, and male ones for that matter, are boring singers who don’t say anything. Certainly not to my generation. With the kind of music I do you have to be direct and quite literal. I don’t play an instrument, which really makes me focus on the vocal melody, and the lyrics are incredibly important to me. I’ll beat myself up for ages over one line because I don’t feel that the song flows as a story”.
Of the record’s eleven tracks, Lily says:
“I find it funny, that record company- speak of ‘how many singles have you got?. I mean, why don’t you just try and do an album of 11 singles, instead of three? So that’s what I did”.
And there’s more:
“Pop should be popular, but exciting and interesting, like T.Rex and the Clash. Steps and S Club 7 shouldn’t have been called pop – they should have been called s*** ”.
“Lily Allen – the cool as f*** sound of the summer”. NME
Click here to buy 'Lily Allen - Alright Still'
David Jensen Photography:
https://www.davidjensen.co.uk/
