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Lily Allen · S4 E7
The Peak
World tours, number ones, and the moment everything started to crack
Earls Court, London, February 16, 2010. Lily Allen descends from the ceiling on the back of a giant black rocket, opens the BRIT Awards with "The Fear," and wins British Female Solo Artist before the night is over.
"Back to Black" -- Amy Winehouse, official music video (2007). The defining image of British pop's dark side: Winehouse in funeral black while Mark Ronson's orchestral production swells around her. In 2009, Allen watches the same tabloid machine that consumed Amy begin circling her, and the question she can't escape is whether the peak always comes with the same price.
The Victory Lap
It's Not Me, It's You debuts at number one in the UK, Australia, and Canada in February 2009. The tour that follows sells out across Europe, North America, and Asia. Allen wins British Female Solo Artist at the 2010 BRITs, beating Florence Welch, Bat for Lashes, Leona Lewis, and Pixie Lott. On paper, everything is working.
“Allen's 2018 memoir describes herself during this period as both 'a success and a failure' at the same time. The book details how the album's triumph coincided with a personal life that was quietly falling apart.”
— Based on Lily Allen, My Thoughts Exactly (2018)
TAP TO REVEAL: How many copies did It's Not Me, It's You sell worldwide?
Earls Court Exhibition Centre, London
Where Allen opened the 2010 BRIT Awards on a giant rocket, performed "The Fear," and won British Female Solo Artist. The venue closed permanently in 2014.
The Peak in Numbers
Friend of Mine -- Lily Allen
From Alright, Still (2006). A sharp, direct song about a friend who turned out to be anything but. At the peak of fame, Allen discovered that the people around her weren't always there for the right reasons. This debut-era track sounds almost prophetic three years later, when success made it impossible to tell the real ones from the ones chasing proximity.
Friend of Mine -- Lily Allen (2006)
Read the lyrics while you listen. Allen wrote this at twenty-one about a specific betrayal. By twenty-four, surrounded by industry people at the height of her fame, every line had become a general truth.
How many countries did It's Not Me, It's You debut at number one in?
The awards are on the shelf, the tour is done, and the album has sold over two million copies worldwide. But Lily Allen is about to make a decision nobody sees coming. Next season: the silence begins.
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