Lily Allen - Alright, Still

Download: "Everything Is Just Wonderful"

This is a totally hot album. Due to the common trend of one or two good songs per pop album, I wasn't expecting much when I picked this up, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Allen is beyond cute and is also incredibly vulgar, which makes for an interesting twist to her already rather sharp wit (for example, in "Shame for You," she breaks out this gem: "Oh my God you must be joking me/ If you think that you'll be poking me"). She plays off of some pretty big back beats that are often groovy and even sometimes straight reggae.

This 21-year-old Hammersmith, England native signed to Parlophone last year and has done nothing but build buzz since. This is my favorite track off of her new album Alright, Still, which finally hits the U.S. today. Much of her popularity has been attributed to the wonderful world of MySpace, but after hearing this album, I think she might have ended up there eventually on her own laurels. Alright, Still is so far my favorite of 2007 and is full of hits: at my last count, eight.

(Ian Anderson)