Alright, Still
A precocious kid born into a showbiz family, Lily Allen ignored haters, bucked convention, and built a steady following for her breezy music online. By the time *Alright, Still* came out, even skeptics couldn’t resist her sly send-ups of London youth culture and her crafty eviscerations of would-be boyfriends. Whether she’s sizing up street scenes in “LDN” or stumbling through a packed club on “Friday Night,” Allen’s voice, clever lyrics, and sunny fusion of ska, dance pop, and hip-hop are exhilarating and infectious.
Thanks to MySpace-driven publicity and a readymade backstory, this young, whipsmart Brit's mix of the Specials, the Streets, and Saint Etienne is positioned to be one of the albums of the summer.
Major-label logic is getting harder and harder for ordinary citizens to figure out. Between foisting Hinder on the world and siccing the feds on DJ Drama and Don Cannon for "bootlegging" hip-hop mix-tapes sanctioned, in part, by the labels themselves (hiphopmusic.com's Jay Smooth nailed it when he recently noted that…
Like most British pop, Lily Allen's debut album, Alright, Still, overflows with impeccably shiny, creative productions.
Editor's note: We originally ran this review on 17 July 2006 following the UK release.