She's known as the "potty-mouthed, pint-sized pop diva" across the pond. (Maybe it's lyrics like, "Oh my gosh you must be joking me if you think that you'll be poking me.") Lily Allen, a 21-year-old rapper in the vein of Lady Sovereign, has dominated the British music scene since her single "Smile" reached number one on their charts last summer. With the U.S. release of her album Alright, Still next week, she's generating the biggest import buzz we've heard since the Artic Monkeys or Gnarls Barkley.

But what makes Lily special is her back story. Two months after she signed with a label, nothing was happening with her album and they didn't seem sure about her existing material. She decided to take matters into her own hands, set up a MySpace account (Lady Sovereign suggested it) and put up nearly two years worth of demos. By February of last year, the traffic on her MySpace page was skyrocketing, and Regal was getting calls from the U.K. press. Suddenly, they realized that Lily's irreverent lyrics over ska beats had a huge potential audience, and they were ready to move full speed ahead with the record.

The problem was, Lily had been so focused on hustling fans for an album that didn't exist yet, that she had a developed a case of writer's block. "My concentration was really bad because I was interested in going home and reading about how much people loved me on MySpace, and I wasn't even thinking about writing any new songs," she has said. Lily headed to New York to escape the pressure (and her MySpace addiction) and worked with [producer] Greg Kurstin and her friend, DJ Mark Ronson. The album, a mix of ska, pop and hip hop, was finished in two weeks.

The final product, which includes songs about pimps, her pot smoking little brother, Alfie, and revenge fantasies against horrible exes, has been a huge success, and she's earning comparisons to everyone from Blondie to The Streets. So is Lily surprised? "I thought I'd be an underground, kitch-pop thing," she has said. "A guilty pleasure." And if it all ends tomorrow? "Before I was doing this, I was a florist, getting up at four in the morning and arranging flowers. I really enjoyed that, but now I couldn't be a worker. Now I'd have to be the boss."

We don't think that she needs to start sending out her resume anytime soon. Check out "Smile," and let us know if you think Lily will be the next big sound in American pop, or if she's just a Lady Sovereign wannabe. The first three Pulse readers to send an email to editor@genart.org with "Lily Allen" in the subject line will win a prize pack which includes a t-shirt, CD, poster, and other Lily swag!

RANDOM TANGENT:
Lily went to school with Luke Pritchard from The Kooks, and covers their song "Naive."

Similar Topics:Music, Pop

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