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Lily Allen · S7 E1
Come On Then
Starting over with nothing left to lose
June 8, 2018. After four years of silence, a divorce, and a stalker who broke into her bedroom while her children slept, Lily Allen releases an album called No Shame.
"Come On Then" by Lily Allen (2018). The opening track of No Shame sounds nothing like anything she's made before. The pop gloss is gone, replaced with something raw and confrontational: a woman who's survived the worst four years of her life and has come out the other side ready to fight.
“This album is the truth. Sheezus was me trying to be a pop star again. No Shame is me giving up on that and just telling you what actually happened.”
— Lily Allen, NME interview (June 2018)
The Gap
Four years separate Sheezus from No Shame, and they are the hardest of Lily Allen's life. Her marriage to Sam Cooper ends in 2015, and that same year a stalker breaks into her London home while her children are sleeping, an experience that leaves her with PTSD and shakes her faith in the people who were supposed to protect her. When she finally picks up a pen again, the pop star filter is gone. The songs she writes are about real names, real places, and real damage.
TAP TO REVEAL: Why did Lily Allen break up with Greg Kurstin for No Shame?
Come On Then, Lily Allen (2018)
'Come On Then' opens No Shame with a dare. Listen for the bare-bones arrangement: a stuttering beat, minimal bass, and Lily's vocal sitting right at the front with zero reverb to hide behind. There's a grime influence in the rhythm, a nod to the London scene she grew up around, and her delivery is more spoken than sung in places. It sounds like someone who stopped trying to make pop records and started making confessions.
No Shame: First Impressions
The Sound of No Shame
Where Sheezus tried to compete with Beyonce and Rihanna, No Shame stops trying to compete with anyone. The production is deliberate in its imperfection: rough edges, unpolished vocals, and arrangements that sound like demos, because that rawness is the point. This is the album Lily Allen was always capable of making. She just needed to lose everything first.
Higher, Lily Allen
'Higher' captures the euphoria of new love arriving at the worst possible time. Written during the period when Lily's marriage was ending and her personal life was in freefall, the song is a rare burst of joy on an album full of pain. It proves that even in her darkest chapter, Lily Allen can write a pop song that makes you want to move.
Higher, Lily Allen (2018)
Read the lyrics while you listen. After an album's worth of heartbreak, divorce, and fear, these words land like sunlight through a crack in the ceiling. The contrast with everything around it on the tracklist is what makes 'Higher' hit so hard.
What was the lead single from No Shame, released six months before the album?
Lily Allen calls Giggs, one of the most controversial figures in UK grime, and asks him to rap on her comeback single. The collaboration shocks everyone who thought they knew what a Lily Allen record sounds like.
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