'It's a beautiful record': Parlophone chief Mark Mitchell talks up Lily Allen's No Shame

'It's a beautiful record': Parlophone chief Mark Mitchell talks up Lily Allen's No Shame

Lily Allen’s fourth album, No Shame, represents some of the singer’s “best work to date”, according to Parlophone co-president Mark Mitchell.

Speaking to Music Week in the run-up to today’s release, Mitchell highlighted the honesty of Allen’s songwriting.

“The thing that people don’t always think about first with Lily is the honesty in her songwriting, and this record is no different,” he said.

“It’s incredibly personal, humorous in places and incredibly sad. It’s a beautiful record, it’s got a lot of hits and it’s also vulnerable in places. It’s definitely some of her best work to date.”

The first glimpse of the new record arrived back in December 2017, with Trigger Bang (feat. Giggs). The song has been streamed 3,225,881 times and has a to date sales tally of 35,291, according to the Official Charts Company.

Allen then announced the album’s release in March this year, dropping two new tracks, Higher and Three, simultaneously. Higher has 545,796 streams to date, while Three has been streamed 349,098 times. Also from the album, Lost My Mind was released earlier this month.

It’s a beautiful record, it’s got a lot of hits and it’s also vulnerable in places

Mark Mitchell, Parlophone

Mark Ronson, Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig, Burna Boy, P2J, Fryars and Cass Lowe are among the collaborators on the 14-track release.

Allen commands five million monthly listeners on Spotify and has already hit the promo trail in America, with a performance on Late Night With Seth Myers in the bag and tour dates to come.

Mitchell confirmed that the Parlophone will pursue further international impact.

“Lily has always enjoyed good support in the US, I think she epitomises that classic British talent and they really get that in the US,” he said.

“She’s been over for a couple of small warm-ups in LA and New York and she did Seth Myers’ show. It’s gently building and we’ll continue it throughout the year.”

Allen’s biggest selling single to date is 2009’s The Fear (663,009 sales, OCC), which Mitchell described as “one of the best pop songs of the last 20 years”.

Her cover of Keane’s Somewhere Only We Know has sold 845,881 copies.

Allen’s biggest selling album is 2006’s Alright Still (1,141,883 sales). It’s Not Me It’s You, from 2009, has sold 1,069,971 copies. Sheezus, released in 2014, has shifted 112,941 copies.

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