According to The Sun, Lily Allen has been dropped by her management company due to 'disappointing' sales of her fourth album, No Shame, which went to Number 8 on the charts. “IE: Music had thought they would be a match made in heaven with Lily but it has proved the opposite,” a source told the newspaper. “Her album was a disappointment when it came to sales, peaking at just No. 8 in the charts.” (Lily also had to pull out of two dates on her US tour due to an inflamed throat and vocal cords.) Now, the singer is now managed by her ex-boyfriend DJ Seb Chew, who she broke up with in 2007 and is still close friends with.
Money aside, it makes little sense that Lily has been dropped now, because it’s undeniable that the very, very talented musician is going through a renaissance.
Released in June last year, No Shame was lauded by critics as Lily’s best - and most honest, self-critical - work yet, so much so that it was nominated for last year’s Mercury Prize. It followed her split from ex-husband Sam Cooper, the father of her two girls, with songs detailing her old heavy-partying lifestyle, (meaningless) sex, her addictions to alcohol, drugs and how touring affected her relationship with her children. Three is even written from the perspective of one of her kids. “I've been out making lots of friend,” she sings. “You can't play with us, 'cause you're always off on tour. One day I hope you'll meet them.” There's brilliant collaborations with Giggs, Burna Boy and Lady Chann, but the album is as heartbreakingly honest as her memior My Thoughts Exactly.
The more low-key album was a sharp - and welcome - juxtaposition to her bombastic third album Sheezus, which she admitted was made while she was having an identity crisis after an extended hiatus. “I think that the idea going into ‘Sheezus’ was really well-intentioned,” she told Stereogum. “I think I was suffering from postnatal depression when I started writing it, and I think I was having an identity crisis, that I did not know I was a new mum. I felt like I needed to be a pop star to pay my bills, and I didn’t feel like that, so I did what I thought pop stars should do, and it was very wrong.”
Lily Allenis one of the strongest women in the music industry, and now she's found her feet again, we’re sure she’ll continue to be Alright, Still - with or without her management.