Alright Still

Product Description Debut album by this critically adored British female pop vocalist. 11 tracks including the single 'Smile'. It's been a whirlwind couple of months for Lily Allen. After signing a low key deal with Regal, late last year, no one could have predicted how quickly she'd make an impression on the nation. Lily, like many artists, started posting tracks on her Myspace site in November 2005, so she could gauge what people thought. The response has been phenomenal. Listens on her Myspace site now are staggering, over 2 million and rising. The support from the press, radio and TV has been fantastic. She is already a 'red top' favorite with her honesty and sharp tongue, but also has fans across the digital world and within cult publications. Regal. 2006. Amazon.com Being, as she is, the daughter of prominent British actor Keith Allen, the cynics could easily dismiss the rise of Lily Allen as an act of backroom nepotism, a talent-free starlet helped to the stage by the right connections. But one listen to her debut album Alright, Still dispels any doubts about young Ms. Allen's star quality. Possessed of a feisty wit and taste for urban storytelling that should see her compared to Mike "The Streets" Skinner, these 11 tracks of sunshine-friendly reggae pop cover topics including frustrating potential closing-time suitors ("Knock 'Em Out"), being happy when your ex is having a bad time ("Smile"), and having a little brother who likes a bit of a smoke--and not just of the tobacco variety ("Alfie"). Wisely, however, Allen doesn't let the grittiness of the subject matter tarnish the golden pop suss of the songs, a suite of gleaming productions by names including Mark Ronson and Gwen Stefani collaborator Greg Kurstin that take inspiration from the lighter end of reggae and vintage rocksteady. Doubtless some corners of the press will pillory her as a poor role model, but there's an engaging honesty to the likes of "LDN"--a love song to a city filled with teenage muggers, pimps, and crack whores, narrated by someone who's cycling because "the filth took away my license." Like father, like daughter. --Louis Pattison