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lEli Allen has made a career out of telling the truth, no matter how dirty it may seem. She was 21 when she rose to fame as the pop star behind hit singles such as “Smile” and “LDN”, both of which recounted her adventures around the city of London with candid, witty humour. The songs were catchy, the lyrics were presented in Chetna’s flowing style that made you feel as if you were chatting with her in the pub. Their debut album, 2006 Still okay, was full of the same candor: “Knock ‘Em Out” was a winking retort to drunken revelers with drunken women in bars, “Not Big” was a withering kiss to a bad boyfriend, “Alfie” was a sister’s scolding of her younger brother.
2008 follow-upit’s not me it’s you, It might have been brighter, more pop, but it was still quintessentially Lily. Many of the same problems plague him: bad sex (“Not Fair”), parental troubles (“He Wasn’t There”), sibling rivalry (“Back to the Start”). But now Allen had completely become a star, battling paparazzi, substance abuse and body image issues, and criticism from the tabloids over his inappropriate behavior as a young woman. Cue tracks such as “Everyone’s At It”, about the hypocrisy of politicians and the media over an anti-drug message, and “The Fear”, a succinct assessment of the bleakness of fame and celebrity culture.
Two decades after making a name for herself, Ellen is back for sure His most of honest album, west end girl – their first in seven years – there’s no doubt that listeners are already primed for the scandalous details about their marriage to be revealed. stranger things Star David Harbour. In interviews and press materials, however, Allen has described it as part fact, part fiction: “It’s inspired by what was going on in the relationship,” she explained. circulationIn short, we have no way of knowing what is real and what is invented. Reviews of the album so far have been largely positive but mixed, which is to be expected: Allen is, critically, an often underrated artist. But west end girl It’s a sharp, unflinching reminder of why she remains one of British pop’s most distinctive storytellers.
As usual, Allen pairs heartbreaking material with airy instrumentals; That comparison brings his words here into greater focus. Take the album’s opener and title track, “West End Girl”, which plays in a summery bossa nova rhythm. Our story begins like a fairytale, when Alan moved to New York to live in a gorgeous brownstone. Then the call comes: “Hey, you’ve got the lead role in a play, you have to come back to London for rehearsals in May.” Her partner is cold, one might say gaslighting, which she finds strange. But now she is alone in a hotel room in London, “a West End girl”. That’s the dream, isn’t it? Only, the bossa nova beat stops suddenly as her phone rings, before returning to a more subdued, haunting style as she fights tears as one of a long line of painful conversations takes place.
That’s just the first song. “Sleepwalking”, possibly the most heartbreaking of all, finds her in limbo as her partner fails to acknowledge her suffering and refuses to let her go. Again, the instrumentation here is what a romantic waltz should be, provided it did not serve as the backdrop to a marriage crumbling before our eyes. “I don’t know if you do it on purpose / But somehow you make it my fault / You won’t stop talking, and I’m just sleepwalking,” she sings sadly. The song gets darker with fiery, nasty synths: “And now you’ve made me your Madonna / I wanna be your whore / Baby it would be my honor / Please sir, can I have some more?”
In a pop landscape where female desire is designed to shock and stigmatize, even the greatest artists can struggle to articulate it simply (think of the teeth-gritting line “Her love was the key that opened my thighs”) on Taylor Swift’s much-derided “Wood.” In contrast, Allen never hesitated. She gets into it, not to tickle but to tell the truth. Her 2008 country-tinged pop “It’s Not Fair” attracted a wave of new female fans, many of whom would have been able to relate to its unabashed tale about a great man who sadly can’t meet their needs.
And when sex becomes a weapon, she is ready and waiting, stabbing. She sings about discovering her ex-husband’s “pussy palace”, feeling sexually violated after she now finds a bag full of the material: “Hundreds of Trojans, you’re so broke/ How did I get caught up in your double life?” This is heart-wrenching, blood-soaked stuff, a Hammer Horror of a song. Similarly, in “Beg for Me”, she exposes the kinds of demands that we (women) can never vocally express: “I want to hold myself back / I want to be told I’m special and I’m unusual / I want to want you, I want to be spoiled / I want to be told I’m beautiful.”
Much of his power lies in his delivery as well as his lyrics. From her very first album, Allen was distinctive for her beautiful, melodious falsetto, not the strongest among her peers, but equally effective. There is something childlike about it, an innocence and hope that persists despite everything it has endured, also creating a sharp contrast with its subject matter of choice. Surrounded by the faint strings of “Just Enough”, she asks with delicate sweetness: “Did you get someone pregnant? Someone that’s not me? / Did you take her to the clinic, did you hold her hand? Is she having your baby?”
Accusations that Allen is “too outspoken” – and that this is a symptom of narcissistic or attention-seeking behavior – resurfaced when he launched his hit BBC podcast. Do you miss me?, With friend Miquita Oliver (Allen has since taken leave to focus on other projects). He also had a memoir, my thoughts exactlyIncluding chapters with obvious titles such as “Rock Bottom”, “Isolation”, “Assault”, “Going Mad” and “Breakdown”. His story of getting “lost” in fame, his troubled relationship with his father (actor) keith allen), being attacked by music industry executives, experiencing a miscarriage, being relentlessly stalked by a mentally ill person, all written with the same matter-of-factness we hear in her music.
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Allen reflected on his ADHD diagnosis when he told many times Last Year: “I’m not trying to be shocking or outspoken. I’ve always been called outspoken… I think it’s the intersection of addiction and neurodivergence.” She added: “I think I have a pretty good moral compass, so when I’m sharing intimate details about my life, I’m looking for people who can connect or connect with them, or validate what’s going on in my head.”
It will be interesting to see how the public reacts to this album in the coming days. The world may still judge Allen for his outspokenness, but when it comes to pop music, our biggest stars know who Ozzy is. Olivia Rodrigo brings it to Glastonbury in 2022Gives fans the opportunity to see the lineage between Allen’s early work and the American singer’s own confessional pop-rock (think “Jealous, Jealousy”, “Cruel” and “Enough of You”). Charli XCX’s “Girl, So Confusing” The way Allen often lingers with a characteristic refrain (“I hate it here,” she sings on “Dallas Major,” about getting back on dating apps after a split), then explains her dilemma with sparse but specific detail. Charlie, in particular, has mastered the thing that Alan possessed in the first place: a kind of ironic detachment that makes any suggestion of his being “hysterical” very difficult.
As someone who grew up with Lily – first on MySpace and then when I made my way to her soulful, brutal pop in noughties London as a teenager – it’s thrilling to hear the throwbacks to her early work, as if she’s reinventing herself through music. His West London upbringing comes to the fore on “Nonmonogamy” thanks to dub beats and a guest appearance from MC Specialist Moss. “Beg for Me” samples Lumidi’s 2003 R&B classic “Never Leave You”. On closer “Fruitloops” she name-checks her second album, which established her as an international star, singing, “It’s not me, it’s you.” Those nods toward her roots show that she’s getting her feet back on solid ground. This is the most “her” sound I’ve heard in a long time. Welcome back, Lily. we missed you,