Official Charts Pop Gem #65: Lily Allen – LDN

Phew! We have been well and truly feeling the heat this week. As temperatures soared at Official Charts HQ, we asked for Pop Gems with a summery vibes for our Hot Hot Hot theme.

We wanted tracks that would be the perfect soundtrack to a BBQ or a day at the beach – summer anthems crying out for sunglasses, slinky shorts and as many ice lollies as you can get your hands on.

We got it down to this magnificent dozen:

And as we tried desperately to eat our ice cream before it melted, we went for a tune that is bursting with sunshine: Lily Allen’s LDN. Watch the video for this amazing track before we explain why oh why it had to be Lily.

Why it had to be Lily

Since her first appearance on the Official Chart back in 2006, Lily has been like a breath of fresh air. Superbly refusing to act media-trained in interviews or on social media, Lily’s the kind of popstar who’d be honest and tell you if your hair looked awful or compliment your trainers without a hint of jealousy. Oh, and she’s really good at being a popstar. Plus summer 2006 pretty much belonged to her thanks to debut single Smile and its follow-up LDN, so it’s only right she gets the honour of summer anthem in 2014 too!

The song

LDN was originally released as a buzz single with a very different video from the version which was eventually a hit. With its laidback reggae vibe and Lily’s sweet vocals masking the true horror underneath the lyrics, LDN is the kind of love letter to the capital that says “Look, I know you’re a bit useless and disgusting, but you’re mine and I don’t want anybody else”.

While not released until September 2006, the track oozes summer every second it's playing. Sun is in the sky oh why oh why would we wanna pick anything else? Right? Peaking at Number 6, it’s sold over 165,000 copies. Take a look at Lily’s Top 20 best sellers counted down by us just before the release of Sheezus.

See the original vid for LDN. It’s pretty cute, isn’t it?

Lily’s chart story

Lily Allen has scored 15 Top 40 hits on the Official Singles Chart including three chart-toppers – Smile (2006) The Fear (2009) and 2013’s Somewhere Only We Know. Ten tracks went Top 10, including her collaborations with Mark Ronson (2007’s Number 8 hit Oh My God), Professor Green (2010’s Number 5 Just Be Good To Green) and T-Pain (2011’s 5 O’Clock).

Lily’s 2009 Number 1 The Fear sold 560,000 copies so far and is Lily’s biggest selling single in the UK.

Lily’s first two albums, Alright Still (2006) and It’s Not Me It’s You (2009) have both passed 1,000,000 copies in sales.

It seems fitting we should pick Lily as our summer anthem. Last night she played the opening night of the Latitude festival, stepping in for Two Door Cinema Club, who had to cancel after frontman Alex Trimble fell ill on his way to London.

Lily faced a backlash on Twitter, but it didn’t faze her. Saying she was “exhausted by the nastiness”, Lily went on to shrug off the haters:

I understand that you're disappointed but I don't think that warrants abuse. They asked, I accepted,I will give it my all, + hope you enjoy.

— lily (@lilyallen) July 16, 2014

And then, as any other popstar would definitely not do, she posted a pic of her having a bit of a bad hair day (although we quite like it, actually).

Bad Lattitude problem pic.twitter.com/qYUcPXUGyX

— lily (@lilyallen) July 18, 2014

And that’s why we love Lily and why she’s our Pop Gem this week!

Playlist central

Not feeling the LDN vibe? Check out all the other tunes on our Hot Hot Hot playlist.

Catch up with every single Pop Gem ever ever ever thanks to our Spotify and Deezer playlists. Subscribe to them to get new Pop Gem poptabulousness every week!

Pop Gem Hall Of Fame

Today's Pop Gem is the latest in a long line of amazing pop songs that have been inducted into our Pop Gem Hall Of Fame. Take a look at all the tracks who've received the honour so far

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