The Cold Cut

Lily Allen- Who'd Of Known (Link 2) (Link 3)

'Smile' was the song that alerted us all to Lily Allen's presence. At first a sickly sweet relationship tale, it morphed over a summer of domination into the song that we all loved to hate, as most radio friendly single's do. Next came 'LDN', which also metamorphosed, but not to such an extent. And finally: 'Alright, Still' a great debut album, full of wit, energy and originality. It is, however, an impressive debut album which is about to be eclipsed by her follow up, allegedly titled 'Stuck On The Naughty Step'.

We cannot underestimate the quality of the four demos that Lily has uploaded onto her Myspace. We had the emotional double whammy of 'I Could Say' and 'I Don't Know', followed by 'Guess Who Batman', an attack on politics. Lily has taken this album into her own hands, recording the demos with Garage band, on her own.

In this, the latest, wrongly titled 'Who'd Of Known' (grammar's not her strong point?), we have a simple song with a nice back-story:

"I have put up a song that wont make it on the album. I ripped off the chorus from take that and I can't be bothered with the paperwork, so here ya go."

Visit Lily's Myspace for updates on her album progress.

Lily Allen- I Could Say (Link 2) (Link 3)
Lily Allen- I Don't Know (Link 2) (Link 3)

I once made the mistake of proclaiming Kate Nash as Lily Allen's protege, and immediate superior. I was quickly cut down by my brother ("she's good, but she's got a long way to go before she's as good as Lily"). He was right- whilst Kate Nash is alright, Lily has the makings of something great.

The way she came to fame was interesting, and it was exactly the right path to take: distancing herself from her father. Obviously, Lily has had a hard time recently (I'm not going to explain the circumstances... you do the work), and that comes across in her new demos. Its as if 'Smile' never happened. And yet, these tracks were released in much the same way- by Lily herself- and will no doubt find popularity as the plays rack up (95000 on the first day, in case you were wondering!).

As the press commonly do, they obsessed over her appearance- in particular, the blonde hair. Why? The signs are all there in her music: The summer pop has been discarded for a much darker tone. And whilst 'I Could Say' and 'I Don't Know' sound like pop songs, the subject matter is less than peachy:

"And I'll take my clothes off, and it will be shameless. 'Cause everyone knows; that's how you get famous".