"Alright, Still" by Lily Allen

I don’t know where I came across this chick, but apparently she’s blown up all over the UK. Smile, the album’s first track, starts off with a bouncing reggae beat and some ska horns, and then this sexy-hot brit starts purring, “When you first left me, I was wantin’ more, but you were fucking’ that girl next door…” Whaaat? When the chorus dropped in with “when I see you cry, it makes me smile,” well, I was sold. She’s dirty and cheeky without being obnoxiously arrogant and crass, and she's a little bit vicious, which I love.

Lily certainly does travel some well-worn territory on Not Big (#5), which turns into a bit of a theme – the tell-off of former, current and hopeful-but-unworthy paramours continues through most of the album’s 12 tracks. Yes, okay, maybe she flirts with obnoxious arrogance at times, and the “take what you take, give what you give, be what you want, just as long as it’s real” chorus on Take What You Take (#9) is as cloying as you think it is; Holden Caulfield she is not. Still, these missteps are belied by the genuine angst on Littlest Things (#8) and the warmth and humor of Alfie (#11). Plus, casually-delivered lines like "A fella looking dapper, but he's sitting with a slapper / Then I see it's a pimp and his crack whore" seriously mitigate some of her more saccharine pop songs.

Lily Allen’s got that Pussycat Dolls filth and glam-pop image with the insecurity and fuck-you streak of Courtney Love and behind it all is a fun pop-ska sound that is going to have teenage girls twirling around their bedrooms for most of 2007. The first single, Smile, is already getting a little bit of airplay.