Alright, Still

I was very disappointed to hear that British singer Lily Allen was giving up her music career for good to pursue other projects, but thankfully she left us with some great music to look back on. This blog begins a two part special on Lily Allen where I will review her only two albums. This is the review for her debut album Alright, Still.

In 2006, we in America only got a glimpse of Britain's hottest new pop star Lily Allen with her hit single "Smile", that peaked at #1 in the UK and #49 in the US. I had heard the song on the radio once or twice, but I wasn't really interested until I saw Lily perform the song live at the Concert For Diana. After that I became obsessed with the song as well as her debut album itself. I mostly liked the albums official singles "Smile", "LDN", "Littlest Things", and "Alfie", as well as backing tracks "Everything's Just Wonderful" and "Knock 'Em Out".

What I really love about Lily is her ability to take songs that are lyrically very negative and turn them into upbeat 'happy' songs. For example, "Smile" is about Allen enjoying seeing her ex-boyfriend suffer; in "LDN" she describes that London is not all it seems (The negative aspects of life in London) ; and in "Knock 'Em Out" she explains how much she dislikes getting hit on by creeps at a pub. All of these songs have an extremely happy and upbeat composition.

I think that it's safe to say that Alright, Still is one of the best pop albums ever made.

In her second album, Allen stuck to the complex and meaningful lyrics, while getting more serious and losing the bubblegum pop feel. The review for It's Not Me, It's You is coming soon.