Grant About Town - February 8, 2007

The weather has been downright awful for a couple of weeks now, with single digit temps and sub zero windchills, but that didn't stop me from getting out and having some fun this past week. And by "getting out" I mean going from my apartment to another warm place very quickly with as little time outdoors as possible. The 21 year-old British singer Lily Allen was in town for a show at Metro, part of a brief 7 city U.S. swing dubbed the MTV Discover & Download Tour.

I had heard her song "Smile" on the fantastic alternative radio station 93 WXRT here in the city (which is now streaming...check it out at http://www.wxrt.com/) but did not know much about her otherwise. However, I saw her perform a couple of songs on "Saturday Night Live" (yes, I still watch it) when Drew Barrymore hosted and really enjoyed her catchy ska and reggae influenced pop sound.

For those unfamiliar with her, Ms. Allen is a native of England and has been somewhat of a phenomenon in Europe though she is still a relative unknown in the States. She signed with Regal Records, a division of Parlophone/EMI in 2005. The studio had hoped to re-record some of her songs, but instead she put them on her MySpace page and soon had 1.5 million people (current count 1,858,630) streaming her tracks. Her debut album, Alright, Still was released in Europe on July 17, 2006 and debuted at No. 2 on the UK charts. The album spawned a No. 1 hit with the catchy track "Smile" and hit the top 10 in Ireland and Australia.

http://www.myspace.com/lilymusic

Despite her ripe young age, Ms. Allen has been influenced by a wide variety of artists including The Specials, Rip Rig and Panic, T.Rex ("possibly the best band ever, ever!" according to Allen) The Slits, Blondie, Wreckless Eric, Kate Bush, Prince and Eminem. While one might initially dismiss her based on her age and catchy pop sound, her lyrics are quite observant for a girl of 21. For example, the track "LDN" - a love song to a city filled with teenage muggers, pimps, and crack whores, is narrated by someone who's cycling because "the filth took away my license."

Lily Allen brought her direct and literal brand of pop to a sold out (and warm...whoo hoo!) Metro last Thursday, and I was in attendance along with my friend Liz and several hundred adoring fans. She kicked things off (and eventually finished with) "Smile" and pretty much played her full catalog as the 11-track debut album is her only recording to date.

While it sounds like sugary pop, "Smile" is a breakup song with cutting lyrics such as "At first, when I see you cry, it makes me smile. Yeah, it makes me smile." There is definitely an early-Madonna feel to Allen's attitude and the urban subject matter of her songs, dealing with sex, drug use, shitty breakups, her bratty, pot smoking younger brother and all the other stuff a typical 21 year-old would obsess about. She has a bit of the bad girl quality that made the Material Girl famous and effectively disarms you with her sweet voice while she lays on the twentysomething angst.

http://www.lilyallenmusic.com/

Ms. Allen chatted with the crowd quite a bit and had a little sound board on the stage where she could make various audio effects, which she did several times during the show. Mindful of her paucity of original material, Ms. Allen joked to the crowd that we "Paid good money, and it would be a short show if we only played the album."

So the band, consisting of Allen, a 3-piece horn section, drummer, guitarist and keyboard player, threw in a couple of covers including the The Specials' song "Blank Expression" that pushed the show over the one-hour mark. Her voice sounded fantastic and one couldn't help but bob left and right to the reggae and ska rhythms of the band.

One little funny aside. While Ms. Allen was playing one of her slower tracks and the crowd was relatively quiet, I was chatting with my friend Liz as one is wont to do at a concert. To my amazement, a girl in front of me (whose friend was apparently too busy texting to notice my chatter) turned around and said "Can you please be quiet?" That's right, I was shushed at a rock concert in a club. I wanted to say "You know, we're not in a library" but my non-confrontational instincts kicked in and I said "Um, OK" with a somewhat bewildered look on my face I am sure.

All in all it was a fun night and I will be interested to see how Ms. Allen fares in the United States. We don't always embrace breakout musical artists from the UK - the Arctic Monkeys being a recent example - but I think this one is worth a shot. Check her out.