Review: Lily Allen (1/2) - Alright, Still

Alright, Still, Lily Allen(2006)

She was a new girl on the scene; not so much a muscial master as someone trying to express their views through song. It's a sort of sideways pop; unconventional but mainstream in an oxymoronic way. Her songs try to reflect not only her personality but her views on modern Britain. She doesn't attend to musical structure, often including excerpts of normal voice.

My main issue with Ms. Allen is that the consistency of this first album is terrible, and that the unconventional/absurd nature of her songs means that they're hard to listen to recreationally. Either it's an unconventional pop ballad with valid things to say on the nature of modern society and of the idiosyncratic nature of the human race, or it's a meaningless ballad that falls down flat.

On a momentary analysis of Allen's songs, I can certainly appreciate the messages (albeit not very sublte), with her clear cut London accent and her preference of voice over her background, something other artists of the time were falling short of. There are songs that are very tightly crafted verse, like "Everything's Just Wonderful."

Despite all of the messages in her work, her main work surrounds relationships. This is unfortunately where I think she falls down, as in her songs she tends to treat relationships with a cold, calculating honesty that instead of pulling on the heart strings leaves me slightly awed if not bemused.

Allen released some more mainstream works later on, in 2009, which I shall review tommorrow. The reason why I am doing these two albums on consecutive days is that last year Ms. Allen said that she had abandoned music, which felt bittersweet for me because it was these two albums that were my first album buys.

Thanks.