EVERYONE HAS a price; it certainly doesn’t take much to win the favour of Lucy Dearlove, Head of Music at rarefm. In an email sent out to the station’s Yahoo mail group, Miss Dearlove appealed for a reviewer for a Lily Allen gig. Entry was free but came with one condition, “You have to be prepared to write a cracking review”. But this wasn’t because Dearlove is a big fan; instead it seems “the lady at EMI [Allen’s record label] has been really nice to rarefm lately.”
Only four days later, a gushing review appeared on the rarefm website. The review readily praised Lily, giving special mention to her lyrics, which supposedly were one of her strengths. In ‘Not Big’ she moans “I’m sorry if you feel that I’m being kinda mental. But you left me in such a state. But now I’m gonna do what you did to me, I’m gonna reciprocate.” Quite the wordsmith.