Cockney

Lily Allen rides the wave of British Pop with a bit of a mocking edge, with great results. 'Alright, Still' was her debut album and is loaded with talent. She sings with a "mockeny" accent, imitating Cokney well enough to make you notice ('fings' instead of 'things').She has a street mouth so expect...more occasional explicitness, but it seems very much to add to her sassy style.Her matter of fact singing style makes it all the more pleasant when she reaches tough vocal ranges and tricks.

Besides the catchiness of her pop rhythms, 2 things make her a great listen: Her lyrics and her expansive palette of sounds.

All of her lyrics seem very carefully written and often have some social message, though nothing overbearing. Lily seems determined not to be a pop cliche with cheesy words and songs. It helps that she applies some great musical curation, adding sounds (samba, salsa, swing, 40's era tracks, electro and techno) that completely change the tone of some songs and are often in intentional contrast to the words. Anyway, here are some of my favorites, which will be updated as I listen more:

Smile - A girl getting revenge on her promiscuous boyfriend. Simple vocal harmony with an fun and heavy, DJ type beat throughout.

LDN - A #1 hit on brit radio, a walk through London is not all sunshine and roses as it first seems. Another nice, modern bass beat with a distinctly samba orchestra background.

Littlest Things - Not as well known as the 2 above, but probably my favorite. It's a recollection of a lost love, told in modern words against a distinctly acoustic background of piano arpeggios and guitar strumming, which collude with modern synth sounds and effects for near-perfection. She sings in her manner-of-fact way, interspersed with very impressive and almost touching vocal harmonies.

I highly recommend this album, also available on iTunes.