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Lily Allen · S2 E3
The Blog
Writing online, unfiltered — and the press couldn't look away
Alexandra Palace, June 2006. Lily Allen walks into the Top of the Pops dressing room, finds Carl Barat acting like God and organic sliced bread on a rider, goes home, and writes a blog post titled "Twats." It makes the national news.
Littlest Things, Lily Allen (official music video, directed by Nima Nourizadeh). The blog is all sharp edges and call-outs. This is the other side: a tender Mark Ronson production where Lily whispers about tiny romantic memories over a vintage sample.
The Hit List
Bob Geldof is "a cunt." Johnny Borrell of Razorlight "thinks he's some incredible Mick Jagger rock star." Pete Doherty "has to be exterminated." News organisations start reporting her MySpace posts as actual news.
“I just generally say what I think. And when I write, I write honestly and about what I'm feeling that day.”
— Lily Allen, musicOMH interview, 2006
TAP TO REVEAL: The NME sexism call-out
Nan, You're a Window Shopper, Lily Allen (2006)
A B-side to LDN and a track from My Second Mixtape. Lily rewrites 50 Cent's "Window Shopper" as a letter to her nan, a pensioner on a budget who can look but never buy. Produced by Future Cut over a reworked G-Unit beat. The audacity of a 21-year-old from Ladbroke Grove repurposing a 50 Cent track to write about her grandmother is pure MySpace-era Lily Allen.
The Blog by the Numbers
Shame for You
From Alright, Still (2006). A deep cut about putting someone in their place, the same energy as the blog channelled into a bouncy ska-pop track. Lily doesn't need a blog post to humiliate you. She can do it in three minutes and twelve seconds.
What was the title of Lily Allen's most famous MySpace blog post?
The blog is a weapon, a confessional, and a press release rolled into one. Next episode: the hype machine is fully operational, and Lily Allen is about to find out what happens when fame grows faster than you can control it.
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