Line #46 Music/LilyAllen


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5	[[quoteright:267:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lily_allen_1530.jpg]]
6	->''"I don't really see how any song can not feel contrived if it isn't honest, and how could I write honest songs if I don't write about stuff going on in my life and how I'm feeling?"''
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8	Lily Rose Beatrice Allen, known professionally as Lily Allen, is a British artist known for light pop songs, usually with some form of satirical message behind them. She was born in London on May 2, 1985, to actor and musician Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen. Her brother Creator/{{Alfie\|Allen}} (a target of at least one of her songs) is an actor, most notable for his role as Theon Greyjoy in ''Series/GameOfThrones''.
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10	As a child, Lily attended some of the most expensive [[UsefulNotes/BritishEducationSystem British Public Schools]] around, but got expelled from most of them for drinking and smoking, and dropped out of school at 16. At first, she was seen as immature and bratty, and was rejected by many labels which she attributes to her lifestyle. However, she still achieved mainstream success, and developed a much more mature image in music videos like "The Fear".
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12	Despite her school life and having a pretty similar past to even a criminal, she is talented in what she does and has achieved Grade 5 piano as well as Grade ''8'' singing. She also writes all of her own songs, which is actually pretty impressive considering the large amounts of subtext she puts into her songs ("The Fear" is a perfect example - ''"I'll look at the sun, and I'll look in the mirror"'' can mean this in a literal sense, but [[FridgeBrilliance "The Sun" and "The Mirror" are also popular UK newspapers]] that regularly report on celebrities' lives).
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14	She is married to Creator/DavidHarbour since 2020.
15	----
16	!!Discography:
17	* ''Alright, Still'' (2006)
18	* ''It's Not Me, It's You'' (2009)
19	* ''Sheezus'' (2014)
20	* ''No Shame'' (2018)
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22	!!Tropes:
23	%% * AGodAmI: The surface concept behind Sheezus
24	%% * AffectionateParody: "Nan, You're A Window Shopper" is an affectionate parody of Music/FiftyCent's "Window Shopper".
25	* CaughtWithYourPantsDown: The singer finds her brother masturbating in "Alfie".
26	* CheapHeat: In live performance, she tends to swap out the reference to "London Town" in "LDN" for wherever she's playing at the time.
27	* ClusterFBomb: "Fuck You" has total of about 30 "fuck you"s. The singer does not like, respect, or care about racists, homophobes, bigots, haters, small-minded people and similar scum.
28	* CrapsaccharineWorld: "LDN" about London and how everything looks exciting and wonderful at first, but when you take a second look... not that great.
29	%% ** "Smile"
30	%% ** "The Fear"
31	* DefenestrateAndBerate: "Smile" shows her getting revenge upon her cheating boyfriend by hiring thugs to beat him up and trash his apartment.
32	* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: "The Fear" begins thus:
33	-->I wanna be rich\
34	And I want lots of money
35	* DisappearedDad: Absent father became the subject of "He Wasn't There".
36	* DisproportionateRetribution: "Smile" had the singer's character pay people to beat her ex up, ruin his means of livelihood, mess up his apartment, and put laxatives in his coffee, while she pretends to be comforting. The lyrics indicates that while he had been cheating, they aren't even going out anymore.
37	%% * DullSurprise: And how.
38	%% How? No really, now?
39	* FemaleEmpowermentSong: "Hard Out There" is about sexism and gender roles.
40	* HeartbreakAndIceCream: The woman who was cheated on in "Smile" eats chocolate, but she still looks depressed. Needs more chocolate.
41	* IHaveToWashMyHair: "Knock 'Em Out" is essentially a string of these, ranging from the girl saying she's getting married next week to claiming she has to go because her house is on fire.
42	* LyricalDissonance: She is a master of it.
43	** "LDN". It's an upbeat song about how the back alleys in London are nowhere near as nice as the rest of the city... And even the nice parks... what looks like a guy helping out an old lady turns out to be a crook stealing her wallet etc. The music video lampshades it. In it, everything is all bright and perky and cheery as Lily goes skipping along-- at least until she's out of range when everything reverts to its normal twisted self.
44	** "Smile" is about a girl getting revenge by systematically ruining her cheating ex's life. The music video has the dissonance. The song itself is about taking pleasure in her ex's suffering, not necessarily caused by Lily.
45	** "Not Fair" is a rather upbeat, country-style song about how she is in a relationship with a man who is quite nice but [[LousyLoversAreLosers unable to satisfy her sexually]].
46	** "He Wasn't There" is a very bouncy pop song about her absentee father...
47	** "Fuck You" is a very upbeat, cheery song where Lily chews up intolerant people while dropping total of about 30 [[ClusterFBomb F-bombs]]
48	** "Everything's Just Wonderful" is a very sarcastic song with a happy beat. In it, Lily laments about being broke, unable to pay mortgage. She also talks about the pressure women have in advertising.
49	** 22 is a very upbeat song for most parts, and its lyrics are how women have okay jobs, but never careers, and if they don't snatch a man soon, no one will ever want them.
50	---> It's sad but it's true how society says her life was already over...
51	** On "Never Gonna Happen" she tells a guy that she is never going to want him, with a cheerful-catchy melody.
52	** "Alfie" sounds akin to carnival music, but about Lily's brother Alfie doing drugs and generally being a bum.
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54	%% ** "Take My Place"
55	%% ** "The Fear" talks about the pressures of being famous and the dark side to fame.
56	%% ** Basically every single song on the first album "Alright Still" consisted of sugar-sweet pop with bitter and cynical lyrics (Exception: "Littlest Things"). She broadened her style in later albums but it remained a theme...
57	%% --->I don't know what I'm meant to feel anymore...
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59	%% No ZCE or general examples.
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61	* LousyLoversAreLosers: This is the point of her song "Not Fair", where the singer is dating a seemingly perfect NiceGuy, with the exception that he's complete rubbish in bed. Allen indicates throughout the song that this ''does'' matter and isn't a case of MinorFlawMajorBreakup, as she points out it speaks very poorly of a lover who doesn't put in the effort to satisfy their partner, comparing it to an AllTakeAndNoGive relationship.
62	->There's just one thing\
63	That's getting in the way\
64	When we go up to bed\
65	You're just no good\
66	It's such a shame\
67	I look into your eyes\
68	I want to get to know you\
69	And then you [[TheGruntingOrgasm make this noise]]\
70	And [[SpeedSex it's apparent it's all over]]\
71	It's not fair\
72	And I think you're really mean\
73	I think you're really mean\
74	I think you're really mean\
75	Oh, you're supposed to care\
76	But you never [[TheImmodestOrgasm make me scream]]\
77	You never make me scream\
78	Oh, it's not fair\
79	And it's really not okay\
80	It's really not okay\
81	It's really not okay\
82	Oh, you're supposed to care\
83	But [[AllTakeAndNoGive all you do is take]]\
84	Yeah, all you do is take
85	* MesACrowd: The video for "Our Time" features four Lilys. One similar to "Hard out Here", one prim and proper, one drunk and blonde, and one in a hotdog suit. Two of the Lilys make-out at one point.
86	* MusicVideoOvershadowing: "Who'd Have Known" is a lovely song about a maturing relationship. Its video is a creepy video in which Lily Allen stalks and then kidnaps Elton John.
87	* NewSoundAlbum: ''It's Not Me, It's You'' was a whole mixture of pop styles, but distinctly different to ''Alright, Still'' which was mostly {{ska}}-influenced.
88	* NoPeriodsPeriod: Obliterated by "Sheezus":
89	-->Periods, periods, we all get periods
90	-->Every month, that's what the theory is
91	* OldManConversationSong: Subversion. "Take What You Take" has the old person talking to Lily entirely in cliches and questionable folk wisdom, leading to Lily's exasperation and (somewhat inevitably) a PrecisionFStrike.
92	* PsychoExGirlfriend: "Smile" is about a woman who takes a revenge on her cheating ex, which includes getting him beaten up, putting laxative in his coffee and having his stuff in his apartment destroyed, including his precious [=LPs=].
93	* RealityWarper: In the music video for "Fuck You", Lily appears to be one, inflicting funhouse-mirror-ish transformations upon random people and buildings as she wanders around town.
94	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: "Fuck You" is one long explanation why it sucks when people are hateful and bigots, and it's directed at them. More specifically, it's about George W. Bush.
95	* RecordProducer: ''It's Not Me, It's You'' was produced exclusively by Greg Kurstin, known at the time for his work as part of The Bird and The Bee.
96	* RichBitch: The singer paints herself as a mean rich woman in "Silver Spoon". It's in SarcasmMode.
97	-->So I got a trust fund, so what am I doing?\
98	Buying property, can't be bothered with the viewings\
99	I'm getting hungry, could you fetch my butler?\
100	Step back I couldn't be any humbler
101	* SoundEffectBleep: The radio edit of "Fuck You" uses funny sounds instead of the F-word.
102	* SurvivalMantra: "Life For Me" can come off as this as the singer must keep repeating she is happy with her more calm life.
103	* TakeThat:
104	** "Hard Out Here" is several minutes of jabs at sexism in the music industry. It's even more apparent in the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0CazRHB0so music video]], which mocks Music/MileyCyrus and Music/RobinThicke especially.
105	** "Everything's Just Wonderful" throws a subtle take that at Kate Moss and the advertising industry as a whole.
106	%% * TakeThatCritics: "URL Badman".
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Context Music / LilyAllen