Reporter: Ray Martin
Producer: Stephen Rice, Sandra Cleary
Outrageous — totally. Offensive — frequently. Successful — absolutely.
Lily Allen ticks all the boxes for a thoroughly modern pop star.
And this bolshy Londoner's wild ways have certainly generated plenty of headlines.
Like the time she abused a stunned Elton John at an awards night — infamously telling him to
"F – Off".
And then there are Lily's many colourful run-ins with the paparazzi. All of which have simply made this 24-year-old singer even more famous.
In January, Lily brings her quirky talents to Australia. But it may well be our last chance to see her perform.
Because she's now threatening to call it quits. She says she wants to settle down and, heaven forbid — have kids.
Story contacts:
www.lilyallenmusic.com
Lily Allen is performing in:
Brisbane January 19, Melbourne January 28
www.ticketmaster.com.au
Sydney January 21
www.ticketek.com.au
The Big Day Out is sold out.
Full transcript below:
STORY - RAY MARTIN: Lily Allen may only be 24 years old, but this sharp-tongued Londoner has already managed to offend a lot of people.
ELTON JOHN: Are you going to have another drink?
LILY ALLEN: (BLEEP) off, Elton. You know what, I'm 40 years younger than you. I've got my whole life ahead of me.
RAY MARTIN: Even in the company of rock royalty like Sir Elton John, pop music's newest wild child won't be tamed.
ELTON JOHN: I can still snort you under the table.
LILY ALLEN: I don't know what you're talking about.
LILY ALLEN: I love it how people are always going, "You know Lily's got a drink problem." It's like I only have a drink problem in that I was a complete lightweight, which is why you'd always see pictures of me with my eyes rolling in the back of my head because I can't take my booze.
RAY MARTIN: Now I've interviewed Prince Charles and Madonna and presidents and prime ministers, why am I nervous about interviewing you?
LILY ALLEN: I have no idea. I won't bite your head off, I promise. (SINGS) # I'll take my clothes off and it will be shameless # because everyone knows just how you get famous... #
RAY MARTIN: In three short years, Lily's zoomed to stardom with her quirky songs and a take-no-prisoners attitude. She's had two #1 albums which sold over 5 million copies but it's her outrageous public antics, as much as her success, that gets attention.
RAY MARTIN: Were you always a wild child as a kid?
LILY ALLEN: Ah, no, actually, I wasn't. I was incredibly quiet when I was a child. Um, I had a comfort blanket until I was like 14 and I used to suck my thumb.
RAY MARTIN: Oh, did you really?
LILY ALLEN: Yeah, I didn't really talk much.
RAY MARTIN: You left school at 15. Why? Why did you leave school so early?
LILY ALLEN: Um, I don't know. I never really liked school, it was never really what... I didn't really like sort of authority and I kind of felt like I wanted to educate myself, really. It's weird, I just knew that I was never going to be in a job that required for me to have a degree. (SINGS) # At first when I see you cry, it makes me smile # Yeah, it makes me smile... #
RAY MARTIN: Lily is one of a new generation of self-made stars. Impatient with the traditional ways, she decided to fast-track her career on the internet. MySpace, Facebook, Twitter - she used them all to market her music and it made her a megastar.
LILY ALLEN: While I was writing, you know, material, trying to get material together, I heard about this space called... this website called MySpace and I put up a few of my songs and I guess it was just word of mouth, you know, it just kind of got bigger and bigger.
LILY ALLEN: My songs are literally like... I compare them to my sort of classroom doodles. (SINGS) # Don't understand how one can watch so much TV # My baby brother Alfie how I wish that you could see...#
RAY MARTIN: From the start, Lily's songs were autobiographical and everyone else in her life is fair game. In one of her recent hits, she laments an ex-lover's disappointing performance in bed.
RAY MARTIN: Did he ever find out?
LILY ALLEN: No, no.
RAY MARTIN: He don't...
LILY ALLEN: Pretty much all of my lovers haven't been able to perform, so it's about all of them. No, but he did, the guy who it's about. He didn't find out and he never will because I wouldn't want him to. I wouldn't wish that on anyone and I haven't told a soul.
RAY MARTIN: Have you thought that you're touching a nerve with the issues, the things you write about?
LILY ALLEN: I hope so and I definitely hope I'm touching a nerve because I think, you know, that that's what I like to do is to get people thinking.
RAY MARTIN: It's that honesty and irreverence that have won her fans around the world. And Lily's lyrics about the day-to-day tribulations of her life, have struck a particular chord with young girls in search of a life and a love.
LILY ALLEN: It's really nice to be able to write something that those girls can connect with and take something from, you know. Yeah, it's the best feeling in the world, you know. I mean, these girls came up to me the other day when I was in...just sitting in Soho, having a dinner with my boyfriend, and these girls were just like, "We love you so much, "we just live our lives by your rules," and I was like, I was so overwhelmed and I couldn't believe it. They were literally in tears. It was really moving, really, really nice.
RAY MARTIN: What do you say to them because they probably meant it?
LILY ALLEN: Please leave me alone. Um, no.
RAY MARTIN: It's not the fans she wants to get away from. Strangely enough, this internet junkie is now opting out of the online social networks that helped her build her career.
LILY ALLEN: I think when you have that much access to information and literature on yourself, it can become really, really dangerous and I'm actually sort of in the middle of conducting an experiment. I've been without a computer or BlackBerry for three weeks now.
RAY MARTIN: Why?
LILY ALLEN: Just because I wanted to see what my life would be like without using the internet for a bit, and it's just been so positive for me, anyway. I haven't read anything that anyone has had to say about me at all and it's been brilliant.
RAY MARTIN: But even more staggering for her fans, Lily is so angered by the scale of online music piracy, she's threatening to walk away from her singing career forever.
LILY ALLEN: It's when people feel they can just take that stuff without paying for it that it makes me really angered, angry and incensed, because essentially there's not investment now to put into new music and young creative people aren't being given the chances and opportunities that they once were and that really upsets me. So I'm not willing to make music at the moment because I don't feel like people value it. (SINGS) # When she was 22 the future looked bright # But she's nearly 30 now and she's out out ever night... #
RAY MARTIN: I've heard you mention it before that so much of what you want now is to have children, take them off to school, make lunches, all those sort of basic things?
LILY ALLEN: Well, that's just obvious, isn't it, that's what we're here to do.
RAY MARTIN: Even stars?
LILY ALLEN: Yeah, well, that's... we're just human beings, we're meant to reproduce, that's what we're put on the world for. I've made enough money to pay off a mortgage on my flat and I'm happy with that.
RAY MARTIN: Is that it?
LILY ALLEN: Yeah. I don't need to sell anything any more to anyone. I've got what I need.
