So can I tell you a dirty little secret? I have ridiculous affinity for Cockney/Mockney girl pop.
Lily Allen, Kate Bush, Amy Winehouse, M.I.A, I love them all. Here are four of my favorites.
Kate Nash was born in 1987. She’s got a bit of Regina Spektor and a bit of Lily Allen but I like her better than both of them combined. However I keep getting Kate Nash confused with Kate Bush because
a) It’s only a two letter difference
b)I’m old and I swear if any of you young whippersnappers say “Kate Bush? Who’s that?” I’ll pop a goiter.
Here’s Foundations off her album Made of Bricks. I question her shoes.
I love Lily Allen because although she’s a hot mess, she’s an identifiable hot mess. We all know a girl like her, the endearing girl who Just Wants To Be Loved but knows she left her panties at whathisnames’ house.
(This has Never Happened To Me, nor have I ever said “I can’t remember his name, but I’m pretty sure it was one of the apostles.”) I love this video –the lip synching is almost as bad as the Kate Nash video, but I think this one is on purpose– of Lily Allen’s Knock ’em Out off Alright, Still featuring a delightfully chavvy big girl.
Okay, I don’t think Amy Winehouse is a major and inevitably tragic talent and I don’t think Mark Ronson is Teh Greatest Producer Evar. I’ve got better producers on speed dial — although I’m avoiding one of them because I was supposed to make him eggnog, and as of yet I haven’t done it as much as failed to do it in every conceivable way. Whoops.
Yes the video of Back to Black off the eponymous album is more than a little hokey, but I’m a sucker for a classic hearse.
M.I.A. on the other hand is a significant talent. I saw some of her installation art by happy accident a few years ago in London and bought Arular later that day. Her enormous hit Paper Planes off 2007’s >Kala (named after her mother) isn’t exactly a good message for the kids, but I find it –particularly the video– compelling and infuriatingly catchy.
I love, love, love Amy Winehouse and Kate Nash. Add a little bit of Adelle and Charlotte Sometimes, and I am in musical heaven.
Comment by Moviegirl20 — December 29, 2008 @ 4:18 pm
You missed Adelle!
they’re all guilty pleasures, but they are fun. I adored “Knock ’em out” the first time heard it on the radio. And Yeah for fan videos!
Comment by zanthine — December 29, 2008 @ 5:44 pm
Oh, how I love Mockney Girl pop- I have all the songs you just linked on my iPod in heavy rotation.
Comment by Tiff — December 29, 2008 @ 9:07 pm
Ah, I love those ladies too! I’m also a fan of Lady Sovereign, though she’s more grime than pop. There’s just something about saying the “th” sound as an “f.”
Comment by Lunakitsch — December 30, 2008 @ 1:42 am
Alas, I’ve used many of Lily’s excuses while waiting tables. “Oh, you want to go to the strip club? I dunno, that doesn’t seem like a good place for a pregnant lady to go, does it?”
Comment by chouflur — December 30, 2008 @ 2:55 am
I usually don
Comment by Tyrone Willets — February 17, 2009 @ 9:12 pm