Lily Allen Knocks ‘Em Out!

The British press fell for the outspoken, one-woman marketing powerhouse and wrote about her constantly—the bad stories along with the good. Last year, when NME, an influential English music magazine, asked how she’d celebrate if her first single, “Smile,” went to number one, Allen replied, “gak”—British slang for cocaine. She came under attack for this comment, which she insists was a joke, and was forced to apologize. Later in the year, NME nominated her the third “coolest” person of 2006. Allen then vehemently protested the magazine on her blog, calling it “sexist,” after she and two other female artists (Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, who was number five on the list, and Beth Ditto of The Gossip, who nabbed the number one spot) were knocked off the magazine’s cover with a picture of the three-man band Muse, who didn’t even make the list! More recently, papers reported on her bull terrier Maggie May being dognapped, and the dog’s subsequent, safe return.

The press also loves Allen for her scathing criticisms and very opinionated views, which the singer is not shy about sharing. She often riffs on fellow musicians. For example, the Australian radio station, KROCK, quotes her as saying, “James Blunt rhymes with his surname,” “The Pussycat Dolls are skinny lapdancers,” and “Pete Doherty needs to be exterminated.” The British Web site Fametastic.com also can’t keep from posting her choice sound bytes, like this one on Victoria Beckham: “She gives a bad image to children. No one should be that skinny. I don’t care how much she says that’s her natural weight, that’s bull. She gets photographed every day and doesn’t eat anything.” And another: “Paris Hilton’s album did really badly over here and I just think it’s so boring and pathetic and it shouldn’t happen…People cheesy enough to buy albums like that should be killed.” The American music press has also joined in; on the blog Stereogum.com, for example, there’re some great Lily quotes on Madonna: “I haven’t got anything against [Madonna] at all, but I don’t think anything she’s done since the early eighties has really been like, ‘wow.’ She might have meant something once but I don’t know many people my age who care.” “…an interviewer asked me who, in my opinion, was the most overrated pop star. And overrated for me is someone who sells a lot of records because of who they are. And I don’t think people buy Madonna’s records because they think they’re really good.”