Lily Allen

Thanks to her omnivorous musical tastes and outspoken lyrics, Lily Allen has made a name for herself as a keen observer of personal and societal issues alike. Allen was a near-instant success: Her official debut single, 2006's lilting yet vindictive "Smile," topped the U.K. charts, while her first full-length Alright, Still sold millions of copies and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Music Album. Her multi-platinum 2009 sophomore album It's Not Me, It's You streamlined her mix of witty storytelling, with pop, reggae, and hip-hop influences as it tackled topics like fame and drugs as well as relationships. After 2018's social media-obsessed, electronically inclined No Shame, Allen leaned into acting in television, film, and stage productions (including a Laurence Olivier Award-nominated performance in the 2021 play A Ghost Story). She brought some of this theatrical flair to 2025's West End Girl, an inspired, sometimes brutally honest return to form. The daughter of comedian Keith Allen, Lily spent most of her childhood bouncing from one school to another; in fact, she attended 13 different schools between the ages of five and 15. This constant moving meant she didn't have much of a chance to make lasting friendships, so Allen entertained herself with books and, especially, music: she listened to everything from T. Rex, the Specials, and the Slits to the Happy Mondays and drum'n'bass, and even ran away to see the Glastonbury Festival when she was 14. After she left school a year later, she realized that music was the only career for her. Allen concentrated on her songwriting and singing, developing a style that was equally sweet and pointed. In 2005, she set up a social media page and posted demos of her songs as individual tracks and as part of two limited-edition "mixtapes" that also featured tracks by Dizzee Rascal, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Ludacris. The critical acclaim for her work fueled Allen's publicity, leading to tens of thousands of followers on social media, airplay on BBC Radio One, and a record deal with Regal/Parlophone before the end of 2005. Allen began working on her full-length album with producers such as Greg Kurstin, Mark Ronson (with whom she also collaborated on a cover of the Kaiser Chiefs' "Oh My God" that appeared on her second mixtape), and Futurecut, and released a limited-edition 7" of LDN as her debut single in early 2006. Both LDN and Smile, which followed months later, were chart successes, with the former reaching number seven on the U.K. chart and the latter hitting number one the week it debuted. Hot on the heels of Smile came Allen's first full-length, Alright, Still, which she supported with a slew of dates stretching out to the end of the year. Despite the speed of her success, Allen continued to remain active on social media, maintaining a connection to her growing fanbase. Allen rang in 2007 with more tour dates, including gigs in Japan, Australia, and the U.S., and the U.S. release of Alright, Still. She also earned nominations for British Breakthrough Act and British Female Solo for that year's Brit Awards, while "Smile" and Alright, Still were nominated for British Single and British Album, respectively.Allen spent most of 2007 touring, but also collaborated with Dizzee Rascal on Maths and English's duet "Wanna Be," and provided vocals on Basement Jaxx's Crazy Itch Radio. In February 2008, Allen launched a talk show on BBC Three, Lily Allen and Friends, which lasted through that April. That month, Allen posted two new demos on social media, including "GWB," which was about U.S. President George W. Bush. For her second album, she reunited with Kurstin, co-writing several songs with him as well as providing the lyrics. She also worked on songs with Jamie Reynolds of the Klaxons and wrote a song about comedian James Corden for the 2008 Shockwaves Awards. Another new song, "Everyone's at It," debuted that fall, and Allen courted controversy again with an unauthorized cover of Britney Spears' "Womanizer" that December. It's Not Me, It's You, which covered topics like drugs, fame, family, and society, arrived early in 2009, preceded by the single "The Fear." Despite the album's success, which included platinum certification in the U.K. and a debut at the top of the charts in the U.K., Canada, and Australia (and at number five in the U.S.), in September 2009 Allen did not renew her record contract and took a hiatus from making music.She remained busy, however, founding her own label In the Name Of (which included Cults on its roster), writing songs for the musical version of Bridget Jones' Diary, and starting a family with her boyfriend Sam Cooper, whom she married in June 2011. The following year, she announced that she was in the studio working on new music with longtime producer Kurstin; she also sang vocals on P!nk's Kurstin-produced 2012 single "True Love." Early in 2013, she gave birth to her second child. By November 2013, she had released a cover of Keane's "Somewhere Only We Know" for a holiday television commercial by U.K. retailer John Lewis. The single version promptly became her third U.K. number one single. Two subsequent singles, "Hard Out Here" and "Air Balloon," both reached the British Top Ten as well, and both appeared on her third album, May 2014's Sheezus. The album debuted at number one in the U.K., and hit number 12 on the U.S. Billboard 200. Following the album's release, Allen performed at Glastonbury Festival, and embarked on a headlining tour which took her through 2015. In 2018, she returned with her fourth studio album, No Shame, which included the single "Trigger Bang" featuring rapper Giggs and introduced a more intimate electropop sound. The album debuted at number eight on the U.K. albums chart and appeared on the heels of a difficult period for the singer, who had gone to court over ongoing harassment by a stalker. Later in the year, Allen finalized an amicable divorce from Cooper and published a memoir, My Thoughts Exactly. Allen then devoted some time to her acting career, appearing in the 2019 film How to Build a Girl, then made her West End debut in the 2021 play A Ghost Story, earning a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress. She returned to music briefly in 2022, joining Olivia Rodrigo at her Glastonbury Festival performance to sing "F*ck You" as a protest of the Supreme Court's ruling that abortion was not protected by the U.S. Constitution. More acting gigs followed, including leading roles in the 2023 TV series Dreamland and the stage productions The Pillowman (2023) and Hedda, a reimagination of Hedda Gabler (2025). She also created her own sex toy and hosted the podcast, Miss Me?. Features on tracks by Oscar Scheller, DJ Spoony, and SHY FX preceded Allen's fifth album, October 2025's West End Girl. Partly inspired by the fallout of her marriage to actor David Harbour (whom she wed in 2020), Allen's first album in seven years took the form of a song cycle and earned widespread praise from critics for its unflinching detail.
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