My Thoughts Exactly
My Thoughts Exactly is a memoir by English singer-songwriter Lily Allen. The book was published on 20 September 2018, and several extracts from the book generated considerable press coverage prior to release. The book covers a variety of topics, such as "feminism, the tabloids, money, faking orgasms, bad managers, fame, sexual abuse, mental health, narcissism, co-dependency, festivals, motherhood, stalking and parking tickets".[1] It received positive reviews.
Background
Lily Allen is an English singer-songwriter. Born on 2 May 1985,[2] to actor Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen.[3] Under EMI, Allen has released four albums: Alright, Still (2006), It's Not Me, It's You (2009), Sheezus (2014) and No Shame (2018).
Allen says that she wrote the book so her daughters will be able to understand her perspective on the events in her life,[4] and to "set the record straight" following inaccuracies and misleading narratives by the British press.[5] Allen wrote more chapters for the book that were not included, saying she could have "gone on and on and on".[6] Her father did not read the memoir prior to its publication.[7]
The book was announced in August 2018
Press coverage
Several topics included in My Thoughts Exactly were revealed by news media prior to the book's release.[4] These include Allen being sexually assaulted by a music industry executive,[8] an intervention for Allen staged by Chris Martin,[9] and an apology in the book to Cheryl, with whom Allen had a longstanding disagreement.[10] Metro reports that Allen was unsurprised by the media response and "used to it".[6]
On 2 September 2018, Allen posted on Instagram that she had had sex with female escorts in 2014 while on tour promoting Sheezus.[11][12] Allen said that she made the Instagram post as the Daily Mail were planning to publish an article about it the following day.[13] Allen criticised the press for portraying the events as a "lesbian prostitute sex romp".[13][14]
On the day following the book's release, Alice Vincent of The Telegraph wrote an article entitled "Could Lily Allen's heartbreaking book spark music's MeToo moment?" Listing three incidents from the book in which Allen was taken advantage of by men in the music industry, Vincent writes that the book "could be a clarion call". Vincent notes that Allen wanted to name the record producer who sexually assaulted her, but the publisher's lawyers refused.[15]
Synopsis
Allen describes feeling neglected by her parents: her mother was addicted to drugs and her father was a narcissist who had affairs. Allen details the numerous schools she went to and describes a car accident involving her mother and brother which happened on the day she performed at a school concert. Aged 17 she met Lester, with whom she had an 18-month relationship. Allen overdosed on
Allen writes about many visits to the Glastonbury Festival. In 1998 at the festival, her father had a heart attack and took cocaine immediately after being discharged.[note 1] Allen writes about hosting the GQ Awards with Elton John, and a wrongful headline about the two falling out which followed. She says her three Ivor Novello Awards are the only awards she values, as other music awards are influenced by politics between record labels. Allen describes her first two sexual encounters at the age of fourteen, with men who were several years older. She describes a sexual encounter with Liam Gallagher, realising the next day that he was married to Nicole Appleton. Allen details her youthful lack of financial awareness which led her to accumulate a plethora of parking tickets. Allen began dating Sam Cooper in 2009, having known him for several years. They bought a countryside house once Allen was pregnant with a child they named George. However, she suffered a miscarriage seven months into her pregnancy, and then had sepsis. Soon after, Cooper proposed and they married in June 2011. Their daughter Ethel was born in November 2011 but her laryngomalacia meant she had to feed from a tube for the first eight months. Their second daughter Marnie was born in January 2013.
Allen struggled writing Sheezus as the label did not want her to discuss her motherhood and continued to sexualise her. Allen developed
In 2016, Allen was sexually assaulted by a record industry executive. She had been drinking following six months of sobriety, and awoke at 5 a.m. to find the executive slapping her buttocks and trying to put his penis into her vagina. She discusses the prevalence of abuse in the music industry, which went unaddressed during the
Reception
Anita Singh of
Fiona Sturges of The Guardian reviews that the book makes for "compelling but discomfiting reading" as "no detail is deemed too personal". Sturges describes the memoir as "visceral and affecting" and praises the "lucid and heartfelt account" of Allen's treatment by the press while criticising that her "characteristic self-awareness deserts her" when discussing her privilege.[21] Hannah Jane Parkinson of The Observer describes the book as "uneven". Parkinson praises Allen's commentary relating to the music industry and writes that her thoughts are "very honest" and "funny", calling Allen "smart and tenacious". However, Parkinson criticises the chapters relating to Allen's father and her inconsistency in acknowledging her privilege.[22] Nicole Flattery of The Irish Times writes that the book is "commendable for its frankness" and praises Allen's resilience, particularly following her stillbirth, and her description of being "treated as a sex object". Flattery opines that the novel's best parts "felt like spending time with a ridiculous, outrageous friend" while the worst "was like being left stranded with a girl you just met at the campsite on the last day of a festival".[23]
In 2018, My Thoughts Exactly was nominated for the FutureBook Campaign of the Year.[24] The book is one of seven chosen by the Evening Standard as the "best celebrity memoirs of 2018".[25] It is one of nine books listed under the "Showbusiness" category of The Guardian's best books of 2018.[26]
References
- ^ a b Maine, Samantha (15 August 2018). "Lily Allen announces tell-all memoir 'My Thoughts Exactly'". NME. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
- ^ Lynskey, Dorian (16 October 2016). "Lily Allen: the pop rebel who refuses to stay silent". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
- ^ Barratt, Nick (19 May 2007). "Family detective". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
- ^ a b c Heawood, Sophie (15 September 2018). "Lily Allen: 'I was pretty brazen with all my behaviour. I just didn't care'". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
- ^ a b McMullen, Sally (12 September 2018). "'Sheezus' Reborn: How Lily Allen Is Reclaiming Her Identity Through Music, Memoirs & Not Giving A F*ck". Music Feeds. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
- ^ a b Evans, Mel; Dosani, Rishma (20 September 2018). "Lily Allen could have 'gone on and on' with shock revelations in new book My Thoughts Exactly". Metro. Retrieved 25 September 2018.
- ^ McLean, Craig (23 August 2018). "Keith Allen: 'Being Lily's dad is terrifying'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
- ^
- Collier, Hatty (15 September 2018). "Lily Allen 'sexually assaulted by music industry executive after falling asleep in his hotel room'". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
- Savage, Mark (17 September 2018). "Lily Allen discloses sexual assault by record industry executive". BBC.
- Dixon, Emily (15 September 2018). "In Lily Allen's Autobiography, The Singer Says She Was Sexually Assaulted By A Music Industry Executive". Bustle. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
- Collier, Hatty (15 September 2018). "Lily Allen 'sexually assaulted by music industry executive after falling asleep in his hotel room'".
- ^ Seddon, Dan (16 September 2018). "Lily Allen reveals Coldplay's Chris Martin staged an intervention that gave her the "wake-up call" she needed". Digital Spy. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
- ^ Loughrey, Clarisse (16 September 2018). "Lily Allen blames her own struggles with sexuality for her feud with Cheryl". The Independent. Archived from the original on 18 June 2022. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
- ^ Stow, Katie (4 September 2018). "This is Why Lily Allen Hired Female Prostitutes". Cosmopolitan. Archived from the original on 6 September 2018. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
- ^ O'Connor, Roisin (2 September 2018). "Allen says she slept with female escorts on Sheezus tour: 'I was lonely'". The Independent. Archived from the original on 18 June 2022. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
- ^ a b Stolworthy, Jacob (5 September 2018). "Lily Allen defends sleeping with prostitutes: 'I had post-natal depression'". The Independent. Archived from the original on 18 June 2022. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
- ^ "Lily Allen says she slept with prostitutes 'to deal with postnatal depression'". The Telegraph. 5 September 2018. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
- ^ Vincent, Alice (21 September 2018). "Could Lily Allen's heartbreaking book spark music's MeToo moment?". The Telegraph. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
- ^ "Lily Allen: I haven't spoken to dad since my memoir was published". The Irish Times. 29 November 2018. Retrieved 4 December 2018.
- ^ Singh, Anita (20 September 2018). "Lily Allen's My Thoughts Exactly is an infuriating, devastating showbusiness survivor's tale". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
- ^ Rogers, Jude (26 September 2018). "Lily Allen's memoir is uniquely candid about the dark side of fame". New Statesman. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
- ^ Glass, Katie (16 September 2018). "Review: My Thoughts Exactly by Lily Allen — the dark side of sex, drugs and fame". The Times. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
- ^ Salter, Miles (7 December 2018). "Book review: Lily Allen, My Thoughts Exactly". The Press. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
- ^ Sturges, Fiona (20 September 2018). "My Thoughts Exactly by Lily Allen review – sex, self-loathing and growing up in the limelight". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
- ^ Parkinson, Hannah Jane (30 September 2018). "My Thoughts Exactly by Lily Allen – review". The Observer. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
- ^ Flattery, Nicole (22 September 2018). "My Thoughts Exactly by Lily Allen: a strangely persuasive read". The Irish Times. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
- ^ Jones, Philip (30 November 2018). "Carlton, Mostly Lit and HQ pick up FutureBook Awards". The Bookseller. Retrieved 4 December 2018.
- ^ Sexton, David (29 November 2018). "Christmas Books: The best celebrity memoirs of 2018". Evening Standard. Retrieved 4 December 2018.
- TheGuardian.com. Retrieved 4 December 2018.
Notes
- heart attack being drug-induced, saying that he had acute food poisoning.[16]