Interview with Lily Allen
Jamie Kohns on May 1st, 2006
Last week, I wrote a short post on SquirrelFood’s favorite chanteuse Lily Allen, as she was the featured artist on MySpace.com. I closed the post with the line “So how ’bout it Lily? wanna give me an interview?”. To my utter shock, I received an email several hour later agreeing to an interview…for real! I could barely believe it: Lily Allen had actually read SquirrelFood, and was agreeing to an interview!
Lily’s album is set for release in July, and the 7″ single LDN should be available in limited release in a local record shop in the UK. At the time that the interview questions were written, her myspace page had 18,000 friends- now, less than a week later, she has 24,000 and she’s had more than one million plays of her myspace tracks!
Keep in mind that I’m not a professional interviewer- hell, I’m not even a ‘real’ journalist- just a blogger like millions of others on the t’interwebs, but I’ve attempted to ask questions that I thought would be interesting for most fans of Lily’s music, that weren’t readily available on her myspace page. I realize that I tend to ask three or four questions with each one, but Lily was really nice about just answering them as they were, in her own style. Lily answered questions about her musical background, the upcoming album, and the event that will be her first live show this week at YoYo (Thursday night at Notting Hill Arts Club). Below is the very first SquirrelFood interview with London’s Lily Allen:
General You/Music:
SquirrelFood: At what age did you start singing?
Lily Allen: I started singing at primary school when i was about 9 or 10 , just in assembly and stuff , not seriously till I was about 16 .
SF: When did you first start to think about singing as a career?
LA: At sixteen when I’d left school and had to think about what I wanted to to with my life besides emptying ashtrays , and being a florist ( but thats a whole other story )
SF: You’ve been compared to Mike Skinner, and Lady Sovereign (which was way off base). New music is almost always described as “sounds like…”, so who do you think you most sound like? Or, can you describe your sound, in your own words?
LA: I try and swerve that question and just hand over a demo or give out my myspace url and say go and decide for yourself .
SF: Do you play any instruments, or produce your own tracks?
LA: No I don’t play any instruments , well enough for live anyway , but I can work out top lines and harmonies on a piano .
SF: In the past month, your myspace friends list has jumped by more than 10,000, which is amazing- what do you think has driven this popularity, and why do you think so many people identify with and love your songs so much?
LA: Probably the fact that Myspace made me a featured artist , but it seems that people keep coming back, if you compare the total profile views to the total plays its like 7 or 8 times more so , I dunno whats going on really , I like it though
SF: You’ve worked with Mark Ronson on his album, and on your album. His Radiohead cover is hot, but your collaboration on a version of Kaiser Chiefs’ “Oh My God” is just jaw-dropping! How did you end up working with Ronson?
LA: He is a friend of my ex boyfriends ,and i gave him a copy of one of my songs “smile “, he said he wasn’t expecting much and forgot about it , but listened to it a couple of months later and next thing I knew I was on a plane to New York .
SF: Did he pick the track and you to sing it, or did you have some say in it?
LA: I actually picked ” no one knows ” QOTSA , but he made me do ” oh my god ” as he thought my voice was better suited to it .
SF: What are you listening to right now? (What’s in your CD player/ iPod?)
LA: Apart from myself ( constantly ) , Aaron Lacrate , Spankrock , Hot Chip , Jay - z , The Kooks .
The Album:
SF: Can you announce the album title yet, and if so, what is it?!
LA: NO I can’t
SF: How many tracks? Is the tracklisting final yet?
LA: 10 or 11
–>SF: [Are there] any guest musicians/artists on the album?
LA: The band “Keith” from Manchester played on a couple of songs
SF: Which track on your album is your favorite, or was the most fun/ interesting to record?
LA: ” Everythings Just Wonderful ” was the most fun to make , but I’d say ” smile ” and “Littlest Things ” are my favourites .
SF: Which track do you think will be the most surprising to listeners?
LA: ” Alfie” cause its mad .
SF: On your blog, you’ve mentioned working with Geggy Tah’s Greg Kurstin and Mark Ronson for your album- what other producers have you been working with, and how has their input influenced the album?
LA: The only other guys I’ve worked [with] are Futurecut from Manchester and all of them have been amazing , I feel like a bit of a fraud fronting it cause without them its just words really
SF: LDN has been getting spins on BBC Radio 1 and Radio 6 - what was it like to hear yourself on the radio for the first time?
LA: I still havn’t heard anything of mine on the radio yet , so I don’t know ,, I let you know when I do
Playing Live:
SF: Have you performed any live shows yet? [Will] YoYo will be your first? What are you feelings on the upcoming show then- nervous, excited, looking forward to performing with a crowd?
LA: All of the above , It’s weird because of the myspace thing and the press I’ve been getting , I feel like everyone is expecting this amazing show , but it is my first , and it will go wrong in places , and yes I’m really nervous , I’d be mad not to be . Saying that I’ve been rehearsing all week and it sounds good so I’m really excited too .
SF: What are you most looking forward to at your shows?
LA: Having a ciggrette when it’s over , and of course seeing peoples reactions .
SF: (Just for fun) When you’re a mega-star on tour, will you have any special contract rider requests? Chrstina Aguillera once requested a massive list of items including Flintstone’s vitamins, soy milk and Oreos. Busta Rhymes’ rider requests include Moet champaign, a bucket of fried chicken and ribbed condoms
LA: Probably , Cider and cheese on toast , maybe mini hamburgers . and Jelly babies , but green ones only .
Other:
SF: Who would you like to meet, that you haven’t already met?
LA: Jay - Z
SF: Why Nike Air Max 90’s? No Adidas?
LA: Because nike is cool and adidas is not .
Listen to Lily Allen and read her blog on her myspace page www.myspace.com/lilymusic.
November 29th, 2007 at 8:32 am
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