Home > Essays > All

Sunday 27 May 2012

Best of British: breakfast with Lily Allen

15 December 2008

/article_images/articledir_6177/3088676/1_listing.jpg

Matthew d’Ancona talks to the quintessentially English pop star about growing up, her longing to have children, celebrity culture, US politics and her new album

The setting of the songs has changed. This is no longer a teenage Nancy Sikes taking us through the streets of London, but a wry singer-songwriter casting an eye across her generation and others. She no longer goes out with her old gang, she says. ‘I don’t really want to because my mates are in a totally different place. I’ve grown up so much over the last few years, and they are still all into going out, and dancing and taking drugs, and they haven’t got work at five in the morning. I hang out with much older people, I go for dinners at posh places and talk about art! I haven’t really talked about this but when I decided I wanted to have a baby, I made a decision to change my life.’

Sadly, she suffered a miscarriage in January. But she didn’t want to head backwards. ‘Then I split up with Ed [Simons of the Chemical Brothers]. I have been hanging out with my godmother Henrietta [Conrad, the television producer] a lot and going out for dinner with her and interesting older people. I find that my life was sort of lacking in friends. I’m meeting more interesting people who tax my brain a little bit.’

For all the intellectual ambition, she is disarmingly honest about her sense of creative fraudulence. ‘I’m just so full of self-loathing that I don’t think that I’m any good at all,’ she says. ‘I mean I’m so terrified working with new people and [her producer] Greg Kurstin has sussed out that I’m not really confident, I’m terrified of it.’ Where does that come from? ‘I spoke to my therapist about it, and he said all creative people he works with say the same thing. That’s the thing with creativity, it doesn’t come from being educated in something. It comes from nowhere. So you can’t really define it.’

Does she want to be doing this, all of it, in ten years’ time? ‘What I really want out of my life is to have children, that is looming somewhere. I don’t think I want to be doing this at the same time as that, I certainly wouldn’t want to mix the two. But I do enjoy it.’

And it shows. My hunch is that Lily Allen will still be a force to reckon with ten years hence. The naysayers and tabloid snipers may claim otherwise, but that’s their problem. It’s not her, it’s them.

Previous page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

More articles from: Matthew d'Ancona | this section

Print this article | Email to a friend | Permalink | Comments (21)

Post this entry to: del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit

Post comment

Vernon Howell

December 16th, 2008 5:49pm Report this comment

From Bryan Adams to Lily Allen. Excellent work, Mr. Editor. I'm hoping for Roots Manuva next week. Also, Frankie Poulain from the Darkness has a book out about his time in the band. You might want to look into that.

David Short

December 18th, 2008 6:04am Report this comment

I wonder what percentage of Spectator readers know who Lily Allen is, and of that percentage how many give a damn?

What is happening at the Spectator?

Vernon Howell

December 18th, 2008 8:39pm Report this comment

The editor is a delayed adolescent infatuated with pop stars, that's my guess.

David Short

December 18th, 2008 9:24pm Report this comment

No, I think the Editor is being bullied into this crass stuff by vulgarising boss.

Let's hope D'Ancona can salvage his hitherto sparkling career before it's too late, and he becomes a joke.

Ed Hope

December 18th, 2008 11:37pm Report this comment

I thought that the "quintessence" of Englishness was a demure rose rather than some drunken, plain-faced, talentless little slapper.

A. MacAulay

December 19th, 2008 11:52am Report this comment

Once again, David Short, just to confirm your feeling, I at least have never heard of Lily Allen and having read the first paragraph of this article, I will quickly forget her.

Champagne is full of bubbles. More and bigger bubbles does not improve it. This article is one such bubble.

Whether Ms. Allen is a "drunken, plain-faced, talentless little slapper", I can't really say, but she is probably a good example of a modern rose

Mike

December 19th, 2008 3:08pm Report this comment

The word corny springs to mind. How can you take this silly young girl, who - let's be accurate - writes doggerel seriously.

The article adds no critical evaluation, no insights or interesting observations. So this silly doggerel writer is getting older, realizing there is more to life than clubbing and wants a baby.

So do millions of young woman approaching.

Good God man, this article would be about right for the tabloids.

A.C.

December 20th, 2008 9:42am Report this comment

The only thing more annoying than the stubborn, neocon GWB are the even more ignorant pop stars in Britain and America who delusionally think they have anything of substance to say about him and politics in general. Why don't you educate yourself first, Lily, and then write some lyrics of substance about the corruption of our entire Western political class as embodied by the so-called "mainstream" parties? Until then, you're wasting people's time and living in ignorant bliss.

Josa Young

December 22nd, 2008 1:36pm Report this comment

I highly recommend Lily Allen spends at least a weekend if not longer with a variety of children of all ages - including small, demanding babies, crazy energetic 3-year olds, and 14 year old boys - in my experience truly appalling age. You need to be old, tough and experienced to deal with parenthood. Even then it is hard enough. You also need to be in as solid and permanent a relationship as is humanly possible. A baby is for life not just for Christmas.

Craig McArthur

December 22nd, 2008 1:59pm Report this comment

After reading the article I looked up Lily Allen on the internet and listened to some of her videos. They were fantastic! The lyrics are so clever and she is sooo sexy. I loved the song about her brother Alfie.Messrs.Howell and Short are silly old farts!

Mark Solomon

December 23rd, 2008 1:56am Report this comment

I am sorry but is this the Spectator for the alternative universe? In the one I live in, the Speccie was an entertaining right of centre serious political magazine, not another tabloidy-hello celeb pushing waste trees. Nothing in this article or Lily's political positions merit the Speccie saying one word about her. Oh and Matthew, you may have drunk the Obama KoolAid but this is not the New Statesman and a default contempt for George Bush should not be assumed automatically. Some of us think he is/was right on many things and at least he tried to tackle the important issues of the day.

A. MacAulay

December 23rd, 2008 12:47pm Report this comment

After reading Craig McArthur's contribution, I took his example and looked at the girl on youtube. OK. Absolute mainstream pop of the kind that has been produced in Britain for the last 40 or so years. That past is mined relentlessly in sound and image. The ELO cover, which I last heard as original in about 1979, tells us from which quarry Ms. Allen's musical producer dredges his inspiration. At no time does any arrangement tax or try Ms. Allen's voice which comes over as a twiddly, mid-level twitter.

In other words, she is a thoroughly produced product for an audience of pubescent schoolgirls. Ms. Allen is probaly very nice, but makes a living by being trivially iconic, when she is not being iconically trivial. If she remains true to her calling she will buy a farm, a Golden Retriever, have a baby and start saving dolphins or something equally meaningful.

The interesting questions are why the article addressed none of this and how her record company wangled Mr D' Ancona and the Spectator into giving her such a puff just before Christmas.

Steve T

December 23rd, 2008 1:16pm Report this comment

I see from 'Craig McArthur''s comments that Mr D'Ancona has taken to making pseudonymous postings in defence of his shockingly poor judgement.

Verity

December 24th, 2008 2:59am Report this comment

David Short - Well, you got me to rights. Never heard of this individual.

Verity

December 24th, 2008 3:03am Report this comment

The added nightmare, is, you cannot navigate off this page. It doesn't matter what you do. You return to this page.

And they've put the comments back up at the top. Dear God!

Verity

December 24th, 2008 3:05am Report this comment

Is there any way on God's earth of getting off this page? It doesn't matter what you click, you are trapped in this hellish page.

David Short

December 24th, 2008 11:14am Report this comment

Craig McArthur, if you would like to meet and call me 'a silly old fart' face to face, then let me know.

If you don't agree, then you are a coward.

Choose your weapons. I am sure I have some hobnailed boots somewhere.

David Short

December 24th, 2008 11:18am Report this comment

All of you, look no further than the arch-vulgariser and oldest swinger in town that heads up the 'New' Spectator.

Didn't you know?

shark

December 24th, 2008 4:00pm Report this comment

D'ancona - give up and pass the reins to someone else or we'll all be throwing our toys out of the pram next.

A. MacAulay

December 24th, 2008 5:32pm Report this comment

And yes, Craig McArthur (whoever you really are doesn't matter) don't be so disparaging about old farts! "The answer, my friend is blowing in the wind", and don't forget it!