It's Lily Allen

Tuesday November 25, 2008

The management team behind James Blunt's global ascent will look to elevate Lily Allen to similar heights with the release of her new studio album It’s Not Me, It’s You in February.

Todd Interland and the team at 21st Artists were appointed to manage Allen late last year. But they already believe that the new album she has delivered could build considerably on the strong foundations of her debut Alright, Still; an album which has shifted a healthy 2.5m copies for EMI globally since its release in 2006.

Interland has his sights set on the international market, and in particular the US, where Alright, Still has sold 500,000 units since its release despite having a relatively limited radio presence there.

“The fact that the album sold so well in the US is particularly impressive given that it was predominantly press-driven. She had radio support from Hot AC and AAA formats, but that was really only on the first single. I think we have the songs on the new album to get more than one bite with radio this time around,” says Interland, who adds that Allen’s profile in the US has increased significantly since her debut.

“Although that first album came out more than two years ago, Lily’s profile in America has continued to grow solely through press and participation in other campaigns such as Mark Ronson’s album.”

Unlike Alright, Still, which featured a cast list of contributors including Future Cut, Ronson and Johnny Bull, It’s Not Me, It’s You was entirely co-written and produced by Greg Kurstin, the LA-based songwriter and producer, who is well-known for his cutting-edge pop productions.

Over recent years, Kurstin has worked with Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Sia, Ladyhawke, All Saints and Peaches and performed with Beck, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Jane’s Addiction among others. Kurstin also co-wrote and produced three tracks on Allen’s debut: Alfie, Not Big and Everything’s Just Wonderful.

“Lily was very aware that she didn’t want to make Alright, Still part two,” says Parlophone’s head of A&R Jamie Nelson, who A&R’d the new album and originally introduced the pair during sessions for her first set.

“She really wanted the new album to be a progression and didn’t want to make an album with a cast of thousands; she wanted to make a consistent album, and so working with Greg really enabled her to do that.”

When Allen was first signed to Parlophone her debut was already taking shape, with half of the album’s tracks already in the can. With the Future Cut tracks completed and providing the creative benchmark for the set, Nelson brought in other writers, including Kurstin, to finish the record.

Despite the length of time between records, Nelson insists that the writing and recording process itself flowed consistently, with sessions taking place sporadically between an old stately home in Gloucester, Greg Kurstin’s LA Studio and a small cottage in the Cotswolds in which Allen and Kurstin were holed up for sessions earlier this year.

It was a schedule born out of creativity. “It took a long time because it was written in parts, and that’s what worked well for Lily,” says Nelson. “They would spend time apart, Lily would go about other things in her life, write lyrics, live a bit, and then they’d come together and bash out some songs. I think they both enjoyed working that way.”

Throughout the recording process Allen was active on her MySpace profile, posting new material and dishing up her daily observations on the world via her blog.

To this day, it is an area of promotion over which she maintains complete control, allowing her an element of interaction with her fanbase that few artists can claim. It was MySpace, after all, that gave Allen her initial exposure: having posted songs from her debut album online in 2005, she caught the eye of the British media and public alike, and the subsequent interest opened her label’s eyes to the mainstream appeal of her debut.

“Lily is still very much the MySpace artist and has complete control over it, which is vital, I think. It’s something that is important to her and she’s close to it,” says Interland, noting that they resist any urge to try and manage the profile. “It’s something that is discussed between label and management but if we were to start trying to manipulate it, it would not send out the right message.”

Parlophone president Miles Leonard echoes Interland’s feeling on the site. “MySpace is something that is very important to Lily and if we were to start interfering with that it would be very transparent,” he explains. “The fact that Lily is so active on the site can only be a positive thing for us – it’s a very direct route to a very targeted sector of her audience.”

As the major prepares to push the button on the new album, it has implemented a three-week promotional campaign internally to set the release up as one of its top quarter one priorities. Members of EMI’s executive team flew into London from the US, Asian and Australian markets earlier this month and Allen has been visiting her record company’s offices in Europe this month.

“This has been a long time coming but all the better for it,” says Leonard, who admits the two year gap between albums could be construed the wrong way. “Usually when an album takes so long, it’s because something is not working. Not the case. The majority of the album was finished at the beginning of the year; our timing decisions were more driven by the set-up of the record. We talked about it coming in quarter four but we still had work to do on the record and didn’t want to rush it. It’s a hugely important record for us and we wanted to ensure we had all of the tools together, to enable us to deliver when we needed to deliver.”

Allen’s debut album was released on 12” vinyl in the UK on July 3, 2006 and it reached number one on July 24 following the full commercial release. Stateside, the album sold 34,000 copies during its first week of release, taking it to number 20 on the charts. Since its release, the album has been nominated for best British album at the Brit Awards and Allen was up for best new artist at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards. This year it was nominated for a Grammy award in the best alternative music album category.

Leonard is confident that in the new album they have something that can connect on a broad level.

“She has delivered an album that will put her back into the musical sphere where she needs to be,” he says. “We are not short of singles, that’s for sure. The challenge is more which order the singles come in. Lily has a very unique talent: she has a way of combining very strong melodies with edgy sensibility and I think all the great artists can do that.”

Leonard adds, “We have had a lot of people over in the past week, both from EMI and from a selection of international media, and the response we have got has been very favourable. Everyone has taken very quickly to the record and I think there is, as you would expect, quite a bit of anticipation out there.”

In the UK, Parlophone will take lead single The Fear to radio on December 1, ahead of a commercial release on January 26. The album will follow on February 9, with a national tour of the UK to follow. “This is a global priority for EMI and we’re going to back up all their efforts,” affirms Interland. “We look forward to having it out there.”