Lily Allen

Who is Lily Allen?She is the daughter of actor and musician Keith

Allen and film producer Alison Owen. In her teenage years, her musical tastes evolved

from glam rock to alternative. Aged 15 she abandoned school and concentrated on improving her performing and compositional skills and after her family went to Ibiza on holiday, Allen told her

mother that she was staying with friends but remained in Sant Antoni de Portmany instead. She

earned money by working at a Plastic Fantastic record store and dealing ecstasy.,

In 2005 she was spotted by George Lamb in Ibiza and began creating several demo songs and a

profile on MySpace where she made some of her recordings public.

A contract was signed with the label Regal Recordings, as the views on MySpace rose to tens

of thousands and in 2006, she began to work on completing what would be her first studio album .

Its first mainstream single "Smile" reached the top position on the UK Singles Chart in July 2006.January

2010

August 2007

First Album – “Alright, Still”

Because the album featured a collection of songs with a

mixture of genres including, pop, grime, indie pop, R&B and 2 Tone, the album cover reflects this by creating a mish mash of

different objects and theme.

Lily Allen riding a low-rider bike is featured in the foreground of the image to show what sort of audience this CD would attract.

This choice of vehicle shows that she’s still young and

controversial, like her collection of genres within her music.

There are various contraversial images within the main image

including a dog in a policemans hat legs hanging out of a taxi

and a lion wearing a crown. This also reflects the nature of the

album, lilys past life experiences and in turn her image as an

artist.

Her pose, clothing and jewellry all indicate a self portrayed

image of a “chav” , a slang word to describe aggressive

teenagers, of working class background, who repeatedly

engage in anti-social behaviour such as street drinking, drug

abuse and rowdiness, or other forms of juvenile delinquency.

The title, “Alright, Still”, is used in a line from her track, "Knock 'Em Out": "You look alright still, yeah what's your name?" Allen

borrowed the phrase from a slang term that her brother and his friends used as a synonym for cool. Using street terms as

inspiration really shows how her image and her album was

created (through MySpace) and where her inspiration came

from.

First Music Video - Smile In 2006, she began to work on

completing her first studio album . The first mainstream single "Smile" reached the top position on the UK Singles Chart

in July 2006.The video is narrative. It tells the story

of a break up and how lily gets her own back. Most first videos are performance

as they want to introduce the artist, however although lily only mimes, you

can get a sense of her character and humour throughout the video and helps

the audience form a view on her and her music.

The clothing, prom dresses and trainers, represents her character and creates an

individual look for lily. Part of the story line within the video is

that she hires people to mug him and destroy his house, this not only gives an

insight into her character but into her background.

Last Album – It’s not me, it’s you.

The title Its not me, its you still portrays the attitude of the first album but in a much more clever way. The original title of the album was Stuck on the Naughty Step, however this was changed , due to the fact that she "lived with [the original title] for too long" and got bored of the original title. The album signified a turn in her career to a much more ‘dancy’ feel.There is only one main image on the front cover of a large L and Lily herself, this is very different to her first album and although its still very down to earth and relatable/relaxed (no shoes), the simplicity indicates a change in herself and a more sophisticated Lily Allen.

The simplicity of the cover is also very eye catching and would appeal to a wider audience than her previous album, the album is still a mixture of genres but because this isn’t her first album there is no need to showcase this on the front cover, her fans would already know this.

We decided to try and make bigger sounding, more ethereal songs, real songs. I wanted to work with one person from start to finish to make it one body of work. I wanted it to feel like it had some sort of integrity. I think the first song we did was "I Could Say". That set the tone for the whole album. I think I've grown up a bit as a person and I hope it reflects that. – Lily Allen

Last Music Video - "Who'd Have Known" is her fifth and

final international single and only reached a chart position of 39. this indicated her lack of momentum in

the music industry.The video is narrative. It captures Allen

as an obsessed fan of Elton John who kidnaps Elton and ties him up.

Similarly it shows Lily being the dominating character within the story

and very anti men, it also shows her personality and edginess. The fashion and her look within the video is much

more on trend, flattering and expensive.

Conclusion Although there are aspects of lily such as

her individuality and her voice that haven’t changed throughout her career, its obvious that over time she has matured and developed a style that reflects her as well as being on trend. She still isn’t afraid to be controversial but in a much more controlled way. Fashion has also allowed her a way of venting her creative ability.