Lily Allen has revealed she is busy writing and recording new music, and has been inspired by country and western hits, after previously criticising Beyonce’s move from pop into the genre.
The singer has been working in Nashville, with fans hopeful for a fifth album to follow the release of her fourth record No Shame in 2018.
While Lily has admitted that her new output is ‘not an album’ she has said she is working on a number of new tracks and hopes to channel her love of country and western music.
‘I’m just making some space for some music,’ she told Nick Grimshaw and Angela Hartnett’s Dish podcast. ‘For some music to reveal itself.’
‘It’s not an album, it’s just, yeah, I’m just, you know, trying some stuff out, see if it works. I do love country and western music. And also I feel like with my writing, it’s quite storytelling, sort of like narrative led music.’
Lily Allen has revealed she is busy writing and recording new music, and has been inspired by the country and western genre
Earlier this month Lily criticised Beyonce’s new country album Cowboy Carter, calling it ‘calculated’ and has questioned why she chose to cover Dolly Parton’s Jolene
‘Because I don’t feel things, so it’s never about emotions. So… yeah, and country, country and western music lends itself quite well.’
Earlier this month Lily criticised Beyonce’s new country album Cowboy Carter, calling it ‘calculated’ and has questioned why she chose to cover Dolly Parton’s Jolene.
Referring to her writing and recording session in Nashville, Lily said: ‘I’m here because I love country music and always have done, not saying Beyoncé doesn’t, but I tell stories in my music and that’s what country music is.’
Speaking on her BBC Sounds podcast Miss Me? with her best friend Miquita Oliver Lily explained that Beyoncé’s transition into country music struck her as ‘calculated,’ stemming back to her husband Jay-Z’s speech at the Grammys criticising organizers for never awarding her with the honours for Best Album.
‘I think it’s been quite calculated,’ the Fear vocalist said. ‘I feel like when Jay-Z got up at the Grammys, that was part of this campaign.
‘It was before the album had come out or even been announced and she was wearing the blonde wig and a cowboy hat.’
Lily said that the actions were taken in an ultimately-successful effort to ‘challenge the institution,’ noting that Beyoncé ‘is the most played woman on country music.’
She also intimated that Beyoncé had taken a bit of a shortcut in covering Dolly Parton’s 1973 mega-hit Jolene.
The singer has been working in Nashville, with fans hopeful for a fifth album to follow the release of her fourth record No Shame in 2018
‘It’s quite an interesting thing to do when you’re trying to tackle a new genre and you pick the biggest song in that genre,’ Lily said. ‘I mean you do you, Beyoncé.’
Lily has explained how she feels little pressure in releasing her own new music, despite huge anticipation from her fanbase, after being dropped by her former record label, Parlophone in 2019.
‘Because I’m out of the deal, or actually I’m not, I’ve got a deal. I’ve got a distribution deal,’ she explained on Dish.
‘But it means that I don’t really have like an A&R team, which is artists and repertoires are the people that, you know, help you with the music and putting it together, so I’m kind of left to my own devices and I haven’t got like a deadline. No one has any anticipation.’
Instead she is focused on trying to enjoy the process of songwriting and collaborating after six years away from the music industry, during which she concentrated on her two children and acting.
Lily teased: ‘I do love country and western music. And also I feel like with my writing, it’s quite storytelling, sort of like narrative led music’
She is focused on trying to enjoy the process of songwriting after six years away from the music industry, during which she concentrated on her two children and acting (pictured with her daughters Marnie and Ethel in 2022)
Explaining the process of writing with others, Lily told Nick and Angela: ‘You don’t trauma bond. You talk and you maybe you might play a couple of things that you’ve written, and then you’ll be like, “So the way that I like to work is this.”‘
‘And then they’ll go, “Yeah, that’s totally great,” and then they’ll start working in a completely different way and you’re like, this is cool. Literally said that this is what I hate to do.’
She added that she will sometimes come up with an excuse to leave a studio session if she isn’t clicking with the collaborator, confessing:
‘I tend to not finish things if I don’t think that they’re really good. I’ll suddenly get a very bad headache, and I have to leave.’
‘Or my kids have injured themselves. You never ever know that you’re onto a hit, but you might know that you’ve done something that makes sense.’
Dish from Waitrose is available on all podcast providers.
