The Fear: How Lily Allen Took Down the Pop Machine From the Inside I New British Canon

Founded in 2003, MySpace forever changed how music was promoted. For the first time, artists had a way of sharing their music online with a direct link to their fans. It led to an explosion of creativity and major label deals, with artists going from nobodies to pop stars seemingly overnight.
Lily Allen was one such artist. Her words were jaded yet mischievous, painting stories of disappointing lovers, messy breakups and inexpert pickup artists, built on a foundation of reggae-pop, drum n’ bass and grime. By album two she was more than aware of the un-reality of pop stardom, and set out to bring it down from the inside. This is New British Canon and this is the story of “The Fear.”
#LilyAllen #00smusic #musicdocumentary
Fact-checking by Chad Van Wagner.
00:00 Introduction
00:56 The Early Years of Lily Allen
07:21 Alright, Still & Paparazzi Hell
12:54 "The Fear" & Modern Superficiality
19:49 The Enduring Legacy of Lily Allen
Bibliography
My Thoughts Exactly by Lily Allen, 2018, Blink Publishing
"Lily Allen on the making of The Fear: 'I was ahead of my time'" The Telegraph, May 2018 ( • Lily Allen on the maki... )
"Greg Kurstin: Producing Lily Allen" Joe Cellini, Apple Logic Studio, date unknown
"Pictures of lily" Miranda Sawyer, The Observer, May 2006
"Lily Allen: The Sound Of The (Garden) Suburbs" Jude Rogers, The Word, Jul 2006
"I got stuck in a K-Hole at a festival once" Tim Jonze, NME, Jul 2006
"Me, my dad and Dumbo" Chris Salmon, The Guardian, Sep 2006
"Lily Allen" Scott Plagenoef, Pitchfork, Nov 2006
"Lily Allen: An Interview" Jon Wilde, Uncut, Jan 2007
"Lily Allen" Lily Allen, Pitchfork, Apr 2007
"Digital Venuses: Lily Allen, Joss Stone, Amy Winehouse" Kandia Crazy Horse, San Francisco Bay Guardian, May 2007
"Lily Allen Leaks Her Own Songs on the Internet" Shari Weiss, People, Apr 2008
"Lily Allen gets ‘Naughty’ on new album" NME, NME, Jul 2008
"Girl Gone Wild" uncredited, Papermag, Aug 2008
"Lily Allen: 'I'm not the show-off you think'" Miranda Sawyer, The Observer, Dec 2008
"Lily Allen: The Fear" Anna Pickard, The Guardian, Dec 2008
"Lily Allen: Talented, Troubled and Wallowing in Her Father's Footsteps" Robert Sandall, The Sunday Times" Jan 2009
"'People Think I'm an Attention Seeker, But I'm Just Honest'" James McMahon, NME, January 2009
"Lily Allen: It's Not Me, It's You" Alexis Petridis, The Guardian, Feb 2009
"Down with shoes, up with truth" Kitty Empire, The Guardian, Feb 2009
"Celebrity: Lily Allen" James Medd, GQ Australia, Feb 2009
"Greg Kurstin: Mister Fairy Dust" James Medd, The Word, Mar 2009
"Lily Allen wins paparazzi fight" Jane Stevenson, Jam.Canoe, Apr 2009
"Lily Allen: Wild Thing" Sylvia Patterson, Q Magazine, Apr 2009
"Lily Allen: social networker of the decade" Rosie Swash, The Observer, Nov 2009
"Olivia Rodrigo brings out Lily Allen to sing ‘F*** You’ in response to Supreme Court over Roe vs Wade" Annabel Nugent, Independent, Jun 2022
Soundtrack
Luar - Citrine ( / luarbeats )
Jesse Gallagher - The Golden Present
Luar - Anchor ( / luarbeats )
You can also follow me here:
Twitter: / trashtheory
Facebook: / trashtheoryyt
Or support me on Patreon:
/ trashtheory

[@stuartsaint4581]

Always crazy to look back to the early 2000s beauty standards and realise that Rene Zellweger and Lily Allen were considered overweight. What a poisonous culture the newspapers and gossip magazines created.

[@kateapple1]

Well now she’s anorexic so good job Hollywood!

[@MechPhoenix]

Zellweger went chubby for her notorious movie. But she's always been naturally lean. She lost the weight back

[@JohnSmith-zy1ur]

It’s poisonous and criminal

[@TrulyMadlyShallowly]

I'm really glad to see this. Lily Allen was done SO dirty at the time. The indie scene she was part of was a boys-with-guitars club, and it was quite horrible to women. They refused flat out to take her seriously as a musician. They questioned whether she'd really written all of the lyrics herself, they questioned whether her influences were really her own and not whispers from Mark Ronson (later on), and when that didn't stop anything, they dismissed her poppiness because there were no guitars. Her MySpace was a sign of her superficiality, while Arctic Monkeys were genious. The NME zoomed in on her every word and ignored her music. And then the red tops... Girls, in that scene, were groupies, not musicians, and when questioned on that everybody pointed at Karen O, "But there is her!". In the meantime her songs and lyrics meant a lot to the women in those audiences, because the was on. Point. Recognizable. Her covers, too, were awesome: Oh My God was almost better than the original, and Naive DEFINITELY was. 'A weapon of massive consumption' alone is a GREAT lyric. Yeah, Lily is important.

[@yw1971]

I don't know about the UK, but in the US in the late 90's the "Lilith tour" featured several prominent female alternative rock artists

[@lemsip207]

There was Republica and Powder in the Britpop genre. Then Catatonia in the Cool Cymru genre. They all had female singers backed by male musicians. But I noticed when watching reruns of Top of the Pops from the early to mid 90's the girls were mostly backing dancers and singers. The all girl groups tended to be either in the riot grrl scene & playing their own instruments or in pop music & only singing. Lily Allen compared herself unfavourably with Girls Aloud and in particular Cheryl Cole at one time as they got more media attention. She was destined to be a one hit wonder like Lady Sovereign but instead she had to keep fighting to get singles and albums into the charts like she was starting from scratch every time. So she kept reinventing herself with new images and styles of music.

[@TrulyMadlyShallowly]

There was a vast tonal gap between the nineties and mid 00s. Especially where indie/alternative is concerned, but also in pop. The nineties did have Riot Grrrls and women in grunge and Britpop, but the pop era between Britney Spears and Lady Gaga had a hard time respecting even Beyonce for her music. Indie was male four-pieces, almost top to bottom. British indie's frontwomen? For a spell, it was The Pipettes. The fifties/sixties style trend was not literally a reflection of those years, but it might have been. It did change, though, toward the late 00s.

[@krashd]

@@yw1971 The UK was also littered with female fronted alt rock bands in the 90's, but Lily appeared on the scene a decade after that in the Simon Cowell era where your chance of musical success depended on how far you got on Britain's Got Talent or the X Factor.

[@JelMain]

@@TrulyMadlyShallowly Flo Welch? Grounded in classical (a choir David Roblou and I saved)

[@Karen_esque]

So glad The Fear ended up being the song you covered. It still sticks with me to this day. Lily deserves recognition.

[@kinocrone7275]

Oh this makes me so happy. Lily doesn't usually get the appreciation she deserves.

[@bluefilmsltd]

It's because she had a couple of semi successful pop songs..I am genuinely shocked that this channel has dedicated an entire episode to her. Disappointing that he's had to barrel scrap.

[@kostajovanovic3711]

Ah, the two opinions

[@wallybingbang4350]

@@kostajovanovic3711 Some people are just perpetually negative. I usually don't comment on here much due to the toxic Dark Triad and people that just cannot seem to show just a little bit of kindness - ) 🎸 ❤

[@TrulyMadlyShallowly]

People don't realise what a breath of fresh air she was at the time

[@bluefilmsltd]

@@TrulyMadlyShallowly She wasn't, she really wasn't...

[@hipstersinspacee]

I'm American and when I was 12 our family took a trip to the UK and Ireland and one of my most distinctive memories is sitting in the hotel restaurant watching the video for Smile on the tv. I was immediately enamored with it and started my journey of following the UK charts and how much more creative it felt than the overproduced American stuff. Lily was the gateway for me to discover all the other amazing female pop stars that came out in the 2000's. So glad you covered her! One artist that I think should have been mentioned at the end is Marina (formerly Marina + The Diamonds). Her lyricism on her first album in particular reminds me of Lily.

[@mertkusku]

Yeah. It brought Hollywood and Oh No! to my mind.

[@krashd]

Katie Nash always reminds me of Lily with her unashamedly strong London accent "You must eat so many lemons because you are so bittah!"

[@raphaellatheswan5756]

Yay, I'm glad someone noticed. She is always overlooked :/

[@doudeau1988]

'The Fear' completely foreshadowed the rise of the Tik Tok and Instagram era of hyper-superficiality.

[@bingoing]

I find Lily to be a great story-teller. She is direct with her words in a way someone on twitter would be but she also pokes fun at the listener at the same time. Her witty, care-free and ironic approach to music is what makes her stand out and appeal to me so much.

[@StevieZero]

Shes brilliant

[@stephenwalker2924]

There is something incredibly dark and disturbing about 'The Fear', I think. It always makes me feel tearful for some strange reason. It's something about the inevitability of knowing that most of us are on the wrong path or in the wrong place or just plain lost and empty - and everything is going to turn to shit sooner or later and we can't do anything to stop the ride and we can't get off. It's Fight Club for teenage girls.

[@azuredystopia3751]

Stephen, I wish I was your friend...

[@malxvidx]

Right? I heard it for the first as a kid. To present a child the idea of what's "right" and what's "real" as polarized opposites is devastating. Like it was hard enough to live life telling "right" from "wrong". And now you're telling me "right" and "real" are not the same thing, that "real" is not something one con obviously tell. Very ominous lyrics contrasted with her sweet calm voice while frolicking through the huge mansion and garden. She was like an angel coming down from heavens just to tell me we're all doomed and there's no way to tell to up from down. I study arts and few times in my life have I found works that can so graciously juggle those concepts and feelings.

[@aclark903]

@@malxvidx No, she’s no angel, bless her. It’s a very clever lyric except when it comes to theology, where she really is quite ignorant.

[@g00dbyemisterA]

To overanalyse things greatly, The Fear is a great song to also explain Guy Debord's work "the Society of the Spectacle" the idea that capitalism has become sodeeply entwined in what it means to exist that its impossible to escape, to do things that you may believe are somewhow subversive or attack it simply doesnt do anything other than contribute further to the spectacle of it all, that its constructed the world around us to the degree that we can no longer reasonably think outside of it. I absolutely adore Lily, she's amazing

[@foxcks]

Right on bro, Mark Fisher, Adorno and all of em.

[@benitolazio8193]

TOD DAM MARXISMUS

[@GrungeGalactica]

“I want loads of clothes & I want loads of diamonds, I heard people die while they’re trying to find them..” it’s exactly what’s happening now. we all know about sweat shops etc but we just keep buying. Shein is basically short for she-in-the-bin (after wearing it once)

[@caerbannoghare4744]

Hell yeah, great comparison. Should really read that book again.

[@gwaptiva]

Thank you! Lily's lyrics are what made her music a guilty pleasure for this old metalhead. Like The Streets, she sounds very English, uses English imagery and southern slang, but her messages are universal.

[@kjsbadfkjlasbdg]

Ditto man, love those albums.

[@straingedays]

Ditto from an old metalhead. Grew up on AC/DC, Zeppelin, Hendrix, The Doors, Iron Maiden, Metallica, GnR, Slayer, Faith No More, Nirvana, System, KoRn, , , the list goes on, , , Heard Lily by chance, she's been a universal guilty pleasure ever since.

[@KittiyKyat]

Lily was so important to me and my friends in our American middle school in 2007. I watched The Fear music video over and over again. I got bangs because of her (big mistake). I learned how to do an English accent from her music! My friends and I would recite her lyrics to each other wherever we went (annoying!). Her art transported me. Thanks for shining a light on Lily!

[@austintrousdale2397]

“Whatever you do, avoid girls with bangs.”Finn McKenty, basically

[@iliketrains3495]

@@austintrousdale2397 sounds like the kind of thing he'd say

[@malxvidx]

I also watched that video a lot as a child. Such an interesting experience. So complex for me as a kid to perceive the joy and excitement of the colorful birthday-es esque theme intertwined with the melancholic rythm of the music and the devaststing lyrics.

[@gcarraig]

Needless to say I’m spending the balance of the week revisiting Allen’s discography…

[@jarackObiden]

Same 😂

[@zzanz4520]

SAME SAME

[@roli9091]

Finally someone gives Lily all the credit she deserves. It's a bit sad though that she lost her momentum after the first two albums.

[@jordan_roadhouse4798]

She did it to herself though.

[@user-rp3kn4pr5j]

If you haven’t you should listen to her last album ‘No Shame’, big step up from Sheezus

[@DavidSmith-ss1cg]

@@jordan_roadhouse4798 - She has a full life; she's been married twice and has 2 kids(from her 1st husband). Her brother Alfie is an actor(he was dickless TheonGreyjoy" in "Game of Thrones," among other things). She's popular in Britain(I have a picture of her with Nigella Lawson on her popular TV cooking show) and doesn't seem sad to me.

[@d1etpussy621]

​@@DavidSmith-ss1cgSheezus was huge in Europe though? She only "fell off" after not releasing anything after 2014

[@monogramadikt5971]

shes easily one of the prettiest brittish popstars of that era

[@straingedays]

Heard her first on the car radio, got home & download "Not Fair" That was 2009 & can't lie 😍Lily's the prettiest by a country mile

[@victorymansions]

I find Girls Aloud looking type women genuinely unattractive. It's too overdone and manufactured. Lily is like a girl you could meet in an everyday situation and be absolutely enthralled by her gorgeous face and down to earth attitude. To me she is way more attractive than all those girl band chicks who come off the factory line and melt into a pool of plastic if you leave them in the sun too long.

[@Exsugarbabe1]

She looks cheeky and strong, this makes her beautiful.

[@Sereny4]

She literally changed the entire way of how I thought about myself at the time, and somehow taught me to be confident with who I am. I will always thank her for that. I will never forget the first time I heard her in my Dad’s car driving throughout the city. She made my childhood and till this day my life really happy. 🦋

[@GirtheAlienGoldfish]

I always liked Lily. I think she's hilarious and down-to-earth and the mischief she gets in is petty enough to wonder if it's even worth writing about. She was a kid when she got huge and she didn't realize that when you're famous, everyone is watching you. I felt bad for her because it can't be easy to be scrutinized. And regardless of what she thought about her own appearance, I always thought she was super pretty.

[@IdoSchacham]

I never took Lilly Allen seriously, I had no idea just how wrong I was. Thank you for this ear opening video!

[@lemsip207]

I thought she went a bit weird when she was performing at Glastonbury nine years ago after having two children and then acting like she was the only one of few to ever have children. The backdrop to the stage showing feeding bottles. She made her backing dancers wear dogs heads. She then told the audience off for calling the festival Glasto and instead said they should call it the Glastonbury Festival for Performing Arts. It turned out at the time her marriage was breaking up behind the scenes and she was desperate to prove to the world otherwise.

[@karinaows3668]

Lily is my favorite person. I wear sneakers with dress, apply eyeliner and have bangs ALL MY LIFE because of her. I love you Lily. And thank you

[@erucader]

I always thought she was making great pop music and that she never deserved the bad rap from the press. This video makes me love her even more.

[@marksanchez8770]

Lily Allen was all over my Myspace page back in those days when it was just demos. I have never stopped jamming out to Ms. Allen. Her album No Shame is literally one of the greatest pop albums of all time.

[@lemsip207]

People though didn't get famous through Myspace alone. They had already got some record company interest who set them up on Myspace to promote their music. They had to do gigs the normal way.

[@stephenphillips595]

Possibly the closest i've ever come to a celebrity was when she walked past the sound desk i was stood at in a massive parka just before her own gig at the Leadmill in Sheffield. She's tiny. Always used to pick good support acts as well. New York Pony Club at that gig before Prof Green & Example at the Acadamy a few years later.

[@goose_suit666]

I forgot all about New Young Pony Club! Brb putting on The Get Go, one of my favorites of the 00s

[@raphael7357]

She was a great friend, good adviser and a big sister I never had, since I was a little kid until now, her lyrics are heartbreaking and so comforting

[@jomassey4207]

Lily is liked by many because she's authentic and fearless. She might not always feel strong but her song writing is straight up and has all the f bombs and profanities in all the right places. Good on you Lily...keeping it real. Hugs, Jo.

[@kathleen7849]

Lily feeling she doesn't have a place because of talents like Amy, Adele and Duffy is a shame because everyone has a place. As long as people enjoy your music and you enjoy making it, that's all that matters.

[@barbaravs1814]

The Fear will always be one of my favorite songs, even though I don't listen to it that much anymore. It has a cathartic quality to it, the lyrics are like waking up to a terrible reality but with a sweet fun melody, which makes it slightly comforting. The best pop songs have that, but I don't know if it's always accepted in that world.

[@gsyshsjsj]

Nice watch! Be good if you did an episode on La Roux one day. She's practically single-handedly carried synth pop for over a decade.

[@skurinski]

hardly. A one hit wonder

[@gsyshsjsj]

@@skurinski Hardly. Mulitiple hits of her debut album alone

[@stottie92]

Well...I didn't set out to watch a half hour doc on Lily Allen, but I'm SO glad I stuck around. What an incredible woman, (and what an incredible video!) Thank you! x

[@lilnallie05]

The fear is one of my absolute favourite songs. I never knew she worked so hard.

[@kendy4000]

the fear is one of my favorite pop songs ever, it's so deeply rooted in irony you can't help but to relate and laugh at it at the same time--plus it's a banger

[@RodZamora_is_the_best]

Love to hear that she wrote all her own lyrics. Smart woman!!

[@GrungeGalactica]

I’m happy she’s chilling in retirement, but would love if she even just wrote songs for other artists, we miss those hard hitting, witty, mischievous lines! Delivered in such an angelic voice ❤

[@DavidSGrop]

May I ever so humbly request a video on The KLF? I think it's time.

[@drunvert]

Done

[@annnee6818]

Not fair and the fear are absolutely brilliant songs that I still play, she's a gem

[@davidmacaart953]

I remember seeing this all happen & being disgusted, it taught me a lot about the music industry, Lilly was/is a fantastic artist, not a pop princes! & for a brief moment in the ever suffocating neoliberal dystopian nightmare, MySpace gave real artists a shot, until the corporate takeover of cyberspace. Glad someone has made a video about this & Lilly’s place in the music history books, perhaps one of the last authentic contemporary music artists to break through into the mainstream. Since this time culture has been stuck in a hyper real simulacra void of meaning & originality.

[@tessiepinkman]

She's one of my all time favourites. Thank you for giving Lily Allen the recognition she deserves!

[@NottyGurlStyle]

I always enjoy Lily Allen.. she has a unique voice that I like. Her music was always good. She’s very talented

[@steventhomas231]

Fantastic and still so relevant today, clever lyrics. It was all possible then in the early days of social media . Music is so dull and over precise now and social media has become a poison.

[@alunjones2550]

I think Lily Allen brought something completely unique and special. That takes talent.

[@aldomontiel6000]

Wow man! awesome video! I was there using my space when Lily Allen came out and i remember as a rocker saying, "wow her music is so direct, honest and fun, i wish there were more pop artists like her". And 17 years later i havent found a pop artist that makes me feel the way that Lily`s music does.

[@neeni4]

2008-9 Was on the other side of the world…and in the UK for the first time ever. This song is such a time stamp in my mind. Atmospheric, fun, but sad. Back when photos were more precious, I made one series of travel pics to ‘Killer Queen’ and another to ‘The Fear’. Great doco, thank you. Thank you, Lily. Ps I highly recommend her audiobook version of her autobiography. A gift of word craft and truthful retrospection.

[@phoebexxlouise]

I don't know where I heard it but I always had it in my head that she came from a rich background, like her dad was Richard Branson or something. No, he played the Sheriff in a TV version of Robin Hood. Her parents were known but that's not what got her start. Her music is a massive inspiration for me and I enjoyed learning the history of it. Thank you!!

[@brycealbright9518]

As someone who had only a peripheral knowledge of Lily Allen and her music, this video actually encouraged me to give her a listen, and I'm really glad I did! Thanks!

[@caerbannoghare4744]

Thank you for covering Lily. First heard "The Fear" when I was 9 and it still enchants me to this day. I adore her coolly cynical, biting wit.

[@bobstar2683]

Damn she got done over so brutally in the media. Completely unfair. She's easily in my top 5 of solo artists and she's gorgeous to boot. Fucking awesome lady.

[@Chief_Brody]

she looks like a dinner lady now

[@alfsmith4936]

@@Chief_Brody I'd give er 1

[@dzarsos]

From across an ocean, I was never really exposed to Lily's interaction with others until I happened to see her on NMTB, and I suddenly realised that she was just as honest, open, and snarkily hilarious in her daily interactions as she was in her music. Something about that was very appealling to me at the time, and that particular episode - and her line "I know you're being funny, Jamelia, but I didn't make my album for your child" - have always stuck with me as a solid example of someone being absolutely comfortable in their own truth.

[@AirQuotes]

The girl from the good place?

[@dzarsos]

@@AirQuotes Negatory.... that's Jameela Jamil. Easy to see how you'd think that, though. Jamelia is/was a singer and TV personality.

[@jinky0u812]

This was fantastic! Lily Allen was life changing for me in 2007 and it pleases me to no end to see somebody showcase what a genuine talent she is! ❤

[@RancidYogurt]

Lily Allen is such a huge influence on my artwork and I've never felt more seen in my experiences by music like this. Been a fan since her first single, always singing her at karaoke!! Her accepting her award and saying she felt very found had me emotional!! Lily truly deserves only the best.

[@newbags3267]

Love Lily. No Shame is a super underrated album as well; low-key production with some of the most candidly heartbreaking lyrics I’ve ever heard. She was great when I saw her in Dublin touring that record.

[@NostalgiCrazy]

This was great! Lily's still in my top 10 artists after all these years. I love that her music can be catchy and fun while having deep and relatable lyrics. _It's Not Me, It's You_ is still an album I play every now and then. I really hope she'll be able to make a new album soon 🙏 Also, idk much about Olivia Rodrigo, but much respect to her for inviting Lily and performing a classic with her!

[@TigerLikesTail]

I was so surprised to see this tribute. Really really happy that her legacy is being celebrated. I was one of those really early Myspace fans who was blown away by her. For years I have talked about her influence, but here in the U.S., people have no clue.

[@LaurensTravels]

Got my first car in 2006 and all I played was Lily. Loved her then and now. ❤

[@joemiller361]

She was spot on with every comment she had about social media, sadly. But her music is great so that's a plus

[@zzanz4520]

Lily Allen is such a talent. This really took me back through the myspace days and it was a great way to get reacquainted with her music. Thank you!

[@danielle8861]

Thank you for making this piece, it was beautifully done. I arrived in the UK in September of 2006 as a uni student and Lily Allen's albums became part of my soundtrack of London, along with the Streets, Ellie Goulding, Jamie T, and Amy. Absolutely love her.

[@AnthonyCassidy50]

My wife listened to this before we were engaged - but I was always impressed by the lyrics - and the matching delivery. I had a soft spot for Lily Allen, and saw she was under immense pressure, so I was glad when she was ultimately recognized with an award. Then it all came out. Great that she has left a real legacy

[@bitzbox]

Always been a fan of Lily and was lucky enough to see her live back in 2009. As well as a famous Dad she was also the step daughter of Harry Enfield and I believe she was the inspiration for his character "Lulu"

[@AB-xq2iy]

Lily Allen is an angel. We are blessed with her presence.

[@malxvidx]

Lily changed the way I considered music. Her lyrics made me realize songs could really be used to get a point across. When I first heard her I was still a child. I loved her songs cause they were stories and poems at the same time. I was honing my english (Spanish's my native language), became familiar with the concept of lingo through her sones. The lyrics were deep and talked to a lot of feelings I was starting to discover as I was about to enter my teenage years. Her words helped me understand and further express some issues I was just starting to understand about society. To this day, I still listen so very often to The fear and Who'd have known. And they always feel so fresh. If you did Who'd have known that'd be AWESOME. There's a lot to unpack in that song concerning celebrity culture, love and relationships, loneliness, etc. And the video for that song, don't get me started. To this day I hear that song and it raises new questions in me about what I consider as love and how I relate to people. Great video you've made here. Thank so much for your work.

[@dannylowe8932]

I have no clue how I have not heard of Lily Allen until now, BUT I am sure as hell glad I have now found her! What a powerhouse songwriter and artist. Her sweet little girl sing-song vocal tone plays off her no-nonsense in-your-face real-life lyrics making her a true stand-alone original talent. FU very much is such a damn good modern true protest song one of the very few having that catchy singalong dynamic just like the best protest songs from the 1960s had. It is a modern classic that can be used by any group for any unjust unfair beat back like the fight over what the Supreme Court did to reproductive rights in their VERY unpopular overturning of Roe V Wade.

[@azuredystopia3751]

I was maybe a bit too old for Lily- a Brit Pop generation kid obsessed with Bowie and The Clash. My first love were The Manics and I adored the dark folk tales of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. However- that line: '...everything's cool as long as I'm getting thinner' resonated so strongly with me that I paid attention ever after...I hope she's happy now- it isn't easy.

[@nolesy34]

Shes very happy, everyone that plays career russian roulette with Elton is happy

[@chrishowson3243]

Thank you for doing this! Lily Allen is such an underrated artist

[@kittyplushie]

i've loved lily since those myspace days. i was in high school and her music had a massive impact on me (as well as her style). thanks for letting me revisit those days with this video :)

[@Caffeine_Club]

On this side of the Atlantic, she's been undeservedly ignored, but I feel her work is as strong as anything Amy Winehouse and her brethren ever put out. Thank you for shining a light on this brilliant artist. 👍

[@toplectures]

This is the only album from my time as a student that I can still sing every song from, word for word. I love it. It’s brilliant. The lyrics are absolutely perfect.

[@JordiVanderwaal]

I've been a fan of Lily since her second album came out, but ended up liking a lot of her older material as well. I had no idea she released another album after Sheezus though. She's always been brilliant. And it sucks that she's been treated so badly by the media since her debut.

[@virgochild]

I'm American, I saw her Smile video on TV and 2 days later bought Alright, Still. My picture is from the Alfie video I posted to YT 13 Yrs ago. (Fun Video, was the Amazon sample video for the album). Went to Denver in 2018 to see her perform. Got a pic with her after the show! So glad she is finally Happily Married! I still need to buy her book from 2018, I want it on Audio which she reads herself! Love you Lily

[@Jenny-bi1ey]

My friends and I found Lily Allen in 2008 first year of HS. We were all instantly hooked and I know I played her albums on repeat every day for a few years, I honestly forgot about her and I'm glad to see this video and hear her music again.

[@oldgranite6467]

lily's music got me to pay some attention to pop as a genre. she's really good at what she does and exposed me to other talented women who i would have otherwise written off when I was younger

[@Artersa]

I showed this song to a friend once. He 100% couldn’t detect the parody and thought she was awful, assuming she was being serious. Lol.

[@muscularfish3991]

Goodness! she had quite the journey. I'm so happy she was able to ride that wave, I wish things had been smoother for her. She's got so much to be proud of.

[@onlyme219]

I remember seeing Lily for the very first time and singing 'the fear' on the Johnathon Ross show on TV, why back when. I was hooked on the first listen, which was unusual for me, kudos to her for doing so 👍 I don't care about clever, I don't care about funny. Talent is talent

[@davidellis5141]

Props To Lily Allen for using social media to her full advantage.

[@Khenfu_Cake]

And before it became the norm for artists and celebrities to do so.

[@EM-ol6rb]

Lilly was unabashedly ambitious and a go-getter and for that she got so much flak.

[@cantbringmedowntoday]

I'm a 28 yo male punkrocker from The Netherlands and "Allright, still" is high on my all time favorite albums hehe. People are kind of suprised about it, but I really think it's something diffrent

[@HTJB60]

I'm 74 & Lily Allen is the only Artist of the 2,000's I listen to.... I've tried a few other's but they have now't to offer. I think it's awful she was treated the way you mentioned. BUT I guess that's Modern Society. Enjoyed & watched the whole program.....

[@LandoMorales]

Lily deserves all this and more. Thank you for shining the spotlight on her!

[@turnox2436]

Lorde’s song Mood ring was inspired by The Fear. Followed the same theme. Love that

[@ms.laterholmes2890]

I love my space back in the day… love Lily Allen …..my first daughter and I used to listen to this all the time. My second one loves it to.

[@judyarlene]

Lily is so underrated. I was so happy that Olivia asked her to perform at Glastonbury.

[@xxwookey]

I'd vaguely heard of this woman (and some of these songs although I couldn't have named one), so this summary of her contribution to society was useful context. Turns out she happened 10 years early than I had realised.

[@Eclipse-re8ih]

Lily Allen deserved so much more. Every song was a banger

[@joshsalwen]

“It’s not me, it’s you” is one of my favor albums. I’m the wrong demographic, but I think it is amazing. “Chinese” is my favorite love song. She is wise beyond her years.

[@sidhedanu]

There is a cover of Chinese by a children's choir. Absolutely beautiful.

[@stsbk]

What a time! I even came close to getting a record deal off of MySpace. It was with Lizard King (the same label that signed MySpace legend Santigold) everyone was trying to become a pop star. Anyways I didn’t sign and the contract was crappy. I remember Lily’s MySpace journals…what an icon of the time.

[@BRIDINC1972]

She's always been a star. Love everything she does.

[@privatemale2147]

The last line is very true. Lily Allen is an important musician. Highly underrated. But not uncommon given that she writes such clever songs, they fly right over the the dum dums she is communing on. I will always love whatever she does. She's the real deal amongst the cotton candy factory of pop. .

[@harrydebastardeharris987]

Always thought she was gorgeous and her lyrics and voice right on the point.

[@alejandrogonzalez3250]

The fear is her crowning jewel on her discography

[@JoeAriminvm]

Best series on YT. Hope it'll never end.

[@alienteknology5390]

25,000 pounds for five albums is a beyond a joke. Sadly it reflects just how little regard record companies (both large & small) have for the artists they recruit. But this is far from the worst example of what happens to struggling artists. On her channel, one female song writer described how she signed a contract & the company took 50% of her income but didn't promote her in any way whatsoever. So all they did was take a cut from income streams she had established before even signing up.

[@elfkind5590]

Admitted guilty pleasure.... Thanks for posting

[@gabbyinfante8450]

She's such an important part of my development as a woman, she doesn't get the roses she deserves

[@stiofanmacamhalghaidhau765]

superb discussion! sometimes your first encounter with an artist is like a bell ringing out loud and true doesn't happen often. lily allen was that for me, similarly for the streets and MIA and kate nash and I'm now struggling to come up with a fifth example since 2000. fontaines dc maybe. and out of all those, lily delivered vastly more unfiltered truth than them all combined. you know it when you hear it.

[@jamiecurran3544]

Thanks for doing this video, Lily's a great British treasure, n somebody's finally giving her the recognition she truely deserves, She's always had a place in my heart, we love her so much, thanks for staying real Lily!☺️💜✌️

[@dadcelo]

Lily will forever be an icon. She got me through some of the toughest times. I absolutely adore her last album, and hope we will see more from her. I’m glad she found great success in the west end.

[@almost_harmless]

This video earner you a subscription. You are fantastic. Right. As a man just interested in music in general, I have loved Lily Allen from her MySpace days. She is a no punches pulled, straight out, honest girl/woman, with such a knack for melodies and text that it can make anyone jealous. That she came out of the UK after the press there (notorious for their hounding) alive, is amazing, considering how harsh they were and how much she had to bear at such a young age. Will always love Lily Allen for her wit, her voice and her looks (can't lie, she is and always have been very pretty). The thing to remember, if you think you do not fit into a shape that is desired by some, it is never everyone in the entire world. When it comes to the shape of your body, the press or social media is the last voice to listen to.

[@spinach-colour-joey6776]

We didn't know what we had with Lily Allen, time to go back and listen to all her stuff

[@PabloAfroSamurai]

Excellent New British Cannon. Lily is important. Well done sir.

[@BruceTorres]

Loved that first they mentioned her criticism of the bands at the time and then they put her covers of these same bands. 🤣🤣🤣

[@christopherward5065]

A great appraisal of her brilliance and uniqueness of approach!

[@olliestudio45]

love these retrospectives of interesting things that passed me by