Lily Allen is about four or five months pregnant, by my estimation. She got pregnant earlier this year after spending more than a year talking about getting pregnant and leaving the music business, and after a very public miscarriage back in 2008. Lily didn’t announce this pregnancy until about a month ago, and many assumed that she had waited beyond the first-trimester standard, just because she worried about having another miscarriage. It seems like those concerns were well-founded – Lily just opened up to a British publication about the complications that arose during the first months:

After suffering a miscarriage with her first pregnancy, Lily Allen‘s experience the second time around — she’s expecting a baby with boyfriend Sam Cooper — hasn’t been much easier.

“I came off the pill and, weirdly, a week later it happened. But then it was really difficult, I had complications,” the songstress, 25, reveals in The Sunday Times. “I had about a week and a half of really heavy bleeding and had to have lots of scans … I’ve been living in fear for the past three months.”

But not even health scares can deter Allen from wanting a family — a wish, she says, she’s had since childhood. “I’ve probably been saying it since I was seven!” she admits.

While her dreams may be finally coming true, the expectant mum insists she has no plans of combining her successful career — including a Grammy nomination — with her personal life.

“I don’t think it’s that much a part of me, to be honest,” she says of her decision to not tell her future children of her pop star days. “It’s something I’ve done, that I enjoyed doing, and I may go back to doing it in years to come, but I’ve got to believe that there is more.”

What will take center stage, then? Raising her kids in as normal and family-oriented environment as possible, Allen explains.

“It’s not that I didn’t enjoy my childhood, because I did, but I suppose I was always quite fascinated by how a normal family would operate,” she muses. “Because everyone I knew when I was growing up came from divorced parents. I do remember when I had my first proper boyfriend at 16, going to his parents’ house in Ireland and we all sat round had dinner together and I was really overwhelmed by the whole thing.”

[From People Magazine]

God, I actually feel for her. I can’t imagine going through that, and being so worried that something was going horribly wrong. But she seems to be doing better now – and her bump is growing by the day. Be safe, Lily.

I actually want to like Lily Allen. I think that of all the pop stars, she actually seems like she’s got half a brain, and she might be fun. But she killed it for me a long time ago, when she kept giving interview after interview after exhaustive interview about how she was going to end her career and have a baby. She was basically playing one of the oldest famewhore moves in the book – getting attention for “leaving the music business” and simultaneously creating her own famewhore Bump Watch for everyone to comment on. Well, she’s now pregnant (by her boyfriend, who is not in the business), and she’s supposedly on her “break”. So why, perchance, is she on a red carpet, showing off her bump in this hideous dress? Well, it was the premiere of “her mum’s film” but I also think Lily just wanted some attention.

Bump watch! British singer Lily Allen, 25, showed off her growing belly at the London premiere of Tamara Drewe Monday.

“Its Elle magazine’s 25th birthday issue this month,” Allen tweeted before the premiere. “There’s a party tonight to celebrate but I can’t go. Sorry Elle. It’s the premiere for my mum’s film Tamara Drewe, so I’m going there instead.”

Allen — who is expecting her first child with boyfriend Sam Cooper after suffering a miscarriage in January 2008 — admits that she’s still adjusting to her pregnancy curves.

“I’m aware of the fact that I’ve put on a considerable amount of weight, and I didn’t want it to become a talking point,” she tweeted in August just after confirming her pregnancy. “I’m feeling vulnerable enough as it is. Hence the jeans and pyjama top. Just wanted to be relaxed and not think about all that.”

[From Us Weekly]

Alright… maybe I’ll give her a pass on walking the red carpet for her mother – I can understand her need and desire to publicly support her mom. But Lily did manage to make the evening all about her, didn’t she? Now the story is “Lily Allen debuts bump in a hideous dress” rather than “Lily Allen is a good daughter, supports mum.” The detailing on this dress – the accents on the hem and the big, puffy sleeves are so cheesy. Ugh. I hate this vintagey, “precious” oh-look-at-me-I’m-so-dainty style.

Or could it be that this is just a reoccurring instance of my continuing Bangs Trauma? Lily’s bangs have taken on a life of their own. My personal opinion: beyond the age of 10 years old, your bangs should not be this thick.

Lily Allen on Sept. 6, 2010. Credit: WENN.

British singer Lily Allen, 25, has confirmed the rumors that she’s pregnant with her boyfriend Sam Cooper’s child. Allen has been wearing loose tops for months, but denied pregnancy rumors back in May. In an interview that came out in June Allen went on at length about her desire to step out of the spotlight and raise children. She also repeated for the umpteenth time that she’s about to stop making music and concentrate on her home life. It looks like we now know the reason. Allen has dropped plenty of hints that she has a baby on the way but she waited until the critical three month mark to make the announcement. She sadly suffered a miscarriage in early 2008 with her then-boyfriend, Ed Simons of the Chemical Brothers.

Pop singer Lily Allen and boyfriend Sam Cooper are expecting their first child, it was revealed today.

A recent scan revealed the chart topper, 25, was three months pregnant, and her spokesperson has confirmed the happy news.

Allen said: ‘It brings me great pleasure to tell you that Sam and I are expecting our first child.

She added to The Sun: ‘It goes without saying that we are both absolutely delighted.’

Allen, daughter of comedian and actor Keith Allen, started dating her builder boyfriend, 32, last summer.

The couple told friends and family the news at the weekend.

Allen’s spokesperson confirmed: ‘Lily Allen and Sam Cooper are very happy to confirm that Lily is expecting their first child.

‘Lily’s professional commitments will carry on as normal, including a scheduled performance at the Big Chill this weekend.’

Melvin Benn, Director of Festival Republic, Big Chill Festival said: ‘I have been in constant communication with her management on this issue for the past 2 weeks and they assure me that not only is Lily committed to playing but is very much looking forward to it.

‘So am I and the 35000 fans attending the Big Chill this weekend! It could be her last for a while.’

Her pregnancy follows numerous hints that she was retiring from pop music, and comes after she cancelled a performance at the Benicassim music festival in Spain.

She was also spotted staying clear of cigarettes and alcohol at the Wireless festival last month.

[From The Daily Mail]

In another recent interview, Allen said that she wasn’t too young to have children because “My mother had me when she was 23.” It’s important to her to be home for her children, and she explained that “Kids take up your whole life, particularly in the first two or three years. So it wouldn’t be very responsible of me to commit to doing a world tour if I had a baby.” Congratulations to Allen and Cooper on their upcoming arrival! Allen tweeted this photo of herself (below) holding up a copy of British tabloid The Sun announcing the news. Do you think she’s going to be able to stay quiet and stop doing interviews talking about her home life and plans? I doubt it, and I predict a photo spread with her new baby in Hello!. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it doesn’t quite jibe with the things she says.

Header: Lily & Sam on July 29, 2010. Credit: WENN.

Lily Allen has spent her retirement from the music business doing endless press and interviews about how she’s retired. Here she is again, with the same mouth-breathing expressions on the cover of the August issue of Elle UK (for the second time in less than a year). HuffPo has some excerpts from the story, and most of it is the same old boring-as-hell Lily Allen bullsh-t about body image and babies. But she does have a great story about The Kaiser, Karl Lagerfeld. She met him when she was hammered:

Lily Allen covers the August issue of Elle UK, and in the interview she talks about her weight fluctuations, plans to start a family and her first drunken meeting with Karl Lagerfeld. She has previously claimed to have body dysmorphic disorder and threatened to get gastric bypass surgery. Here are some excerpts from the interview:

On her weight:
‘When I was on tour earlier in the year, I’d be on stage for one-and-a-half hours a night, so since the tour finished in March, I’ve put on about half a stone. But I do Pilates three times a week. I am still body conscious, but I’m not so concerned with it; I don’t care as much.’

On babies:
‘I don’t think I’m that young to have a baby. My mother had me when she was 23. It’s difficult as a woman who wants a family. Kids take up your whole life, particularly in the first two or three years. So it wouldn’t be very responsible of me to commit to doing a world tour if I had a baby.’

On meeting Karl Lagerfeld and landing the Chanel campaign:
‘It was at a big party in Coco’s apartments in Paris. I was drunk and got lost in the building. I wandered into an attic room and Karl was there. I got really embarrassed and apologized, but he said, “No, come in.” We had a chat – although I can’t remember what about, I was so drunk. I do remember asking him about some shoes he’d designed that had a green ring in the heel [from the Chanel a/w 2009 collection]. I asked how they worked. He drew a diagram explaining the physics of making the shoe. I’ve still got the drawing. A week later I was asked to do the campaign.’

[From Huffington Post]

In other Lily-Allen-really-just-needs-to-retire news, she’s also been identified as the songwriter for the new and completely unnecessary Bridget Jones musical. That’s right. First it was a book, then it was one solid film and one horrible sequel, and not they’re making it into a musical. They want to do it in London first, next year. Guess we’re going to survive even more Lily Allen interviews through her retirement!

Photos courtesy of The Fashion Spot.

Here is Lily Allen on the cover of the July issue of Glamour UK. It’s kind of meh, right? I’m not an enormous Lily Allen fan, but the girl can look very interesting and high-fashion when styled correctly. I guess they were going for “accessible.” I guess that works. Also, the slightly billowy blouse doesn’t do anything for those pregnancy rumors, although in The Daily Mirror’s extensive excerpts from Lily’s cover profile, Lily doesn’t confirm her pregnancy, but does say that she and her boyfriend are planning to have children “in the next year.” Lily also talks about her plans for the future, plans which don’t include making any more music… so why is she on the cover of a magazine pontificating about being private? Ugh, I want to like Lily, but I suspect she’s an a–hole.

She’s the wild child pop star who swore at Sir Elton John, branded Courtney Love a crazy old lady and sang about her own ­brother’s drug habit. But hard-living party girl Lily Allen says she has ditched her late-night takeaways and Jack Daniel’s for healthy meals and folic acid supplements. And she is even talking of leaving ­London to live in the country.

The reason? Lily – who suffered a miscarriage two years ago – is trying for a baby with her new lover Sam Cooper. “I plan to have children in the next year,” says the daughter of hell-raising actor Keith ­Allen.

The Brit-award-­winning star – who has notched up more than 19 million song downloads since hitting the big time four years ago – plans to put her career on hold.

“Because people have stopped buying music,” she says, “the only way to make money is to tour – and I’m not willing to do that with babies around. A part of the way I became who I became was because I was subjected to a certain lifestyle from an early age. My parents hung out with famous people, but we didn’t ­necessarily reap the same ­financial benefits. So there was a part of me thinking, ‘I wanna be like those people.’ And once I’d achieved it, it didn’t make me happy. So I don’t want to put my kids in that position. I’d rather set up businesses, put a roof over our heads, then move to the country to shelter them for a bit.”

Lily, 25, decided to quit the high life after finding love at last with builder Sam, 32. She says: “I’m the ­happiest I’ve ever been. Having Sam around gives me confidence and that I’ve got him to lean on, whereas before I felt really lonely. Like it was me fighting the rest of the world. I don’t feel like I’m fighting anyone any more. I feel pretty levelled out.”

“Today is a typical day. I’ll be home by six and I’ll make dinner for Sam, who’ll get back from watching football at nine. I cook something different every night. Tonight I’ll make chicken, lemon and ­coriander parcels. Then we’ll watch ­Newsnight and go to bed.”

Lily is undeniably keen to settle down with her new chap. She adds: “I’ve always been a homemaker. And now I’m with Sam and he’s a builder. I’m really excited about us building homes together. As for marriage, it’s his choice. But I’d like to think so. ­People say, ‘God, you’re so lame, you’ve got to live your life,’ and I’m like, ‘I’ve done going out and getting drunk. I’ve met someone I ­really, really like. We’re really happy together. Why would I even think about not being with him?’”

Happily, she seems to have her ­insecurities under control at last. Lily – who has ­famously battled with weight issues – is finally comfortable with her curves. And that is thanks, largely, to Sam. She says: “I was the skinniest I’ve ever been last year, but I was deeply unhappy. The image of beauty we’re sold is this edgy, high cheekbones thing and I feel I’m a more rounded person. I think, ‘I’m Lily and I feel happy with the way I look,’ but I don’t see myself as pretty – although Sam tells me every day I’m the most beautiful woman in the world!”

As she turns her back on pop stardom, Lily has made a start on setting up in business. She and sister Lucy have founded a vintage dress shop in Central London called Lucy In ­Disguise, which will open later this year. And she is also creating her own record label to sign, “bands that I think make really good music, who are all ­really nice people I respect.”

Lily has always enjoyed an uneasy ­relationship with fame. She has had ­infamous run-ins with Amy Winehouse, Kylie Minogue and Katy Perry and lashed out at I Kissed A Girl singer Perry last year after the US star compared herself to a “skinnier version of Lily Allen”. But Lily – who had her ­drunken, on-stage row with Sir Elton at the 2008 Glamour Awards – says: “I think at that time I felt it was unfair that Amy was winning everything and that boys got more of a look-in than girls, and I was very angry. But I was a lot younger. And this time round, when I did win lots of stuff, I was kind of over it.”

She admits the flak has hurt, saying: “If I’m upset with myself, that’s when I look at negative comments. It makes me go, ‘See, I am rubbish, fat and ugly and all these people are saying it.”

And she is adamant that we have seen the last of Lily Allen, the pop star. “I hope in a year’s time I’m not gonna be asked to awards and I won’t be nominated because I haven’t put anything out there. ­Hopefully I can fade into oblivion.”

[From The Daily Mirror]

She strikes me as a very insecure woman who has spent her life building a lifestyle of overcompensation. Maybe she’s finally letting some of that stuff go, and maybe it is better for her physical and mental health to walk away from her pop stardom and all of the traps she (and the world) have set up for her to feel insecure. I don’t know why I’m psychoanalyzing this chick, I barely care. It’s just that she’s been talking about taking a step back or leaving music and doing this or that, blah, blah, blah for a year. And she’s still talking about it in big public interviews. I guess I’m hoping she actually goes away for a while and all of this isn’t just some big for attention because she’s too lazy to make another album.

Glamour cover courtesy of CoverAwards. Lily and her boyfriend Sam Cooper on May 30, 2010, and at the Glamour Awards on June 8, 2010. Credit: Fame Pictures.

These are some photos of a heavier-looking Lily Allen last week in London. These photos would have been enough for me to think that Lily might be pregnant, but The Daily Mail also has these photos - Lily over the weekend looking even more bump-y. Of course, The Daily Mail also points out that Lily tweeted her denial about being knocked up, but CB and I think that she probably is, and she’s just not ready to announce it yet. Back in late 2007/early 2008, Lily was pregnant, and she suffered a miscarriage. After that, she spoke about wanting children often, and late last year she announced she was taking one to two years off, perhaps to start a family. I think it’s on.

She’s been talking about starting a family since the beginning of the year. But Lily Allen has denied she is pregnant after pictures emerged of her sporting a suspicious-looking bump under her dress this weekend. The 25-year-old singer was spotted in Central London with her belly appearing to protrude more than usual.

However, Lily took to her Twitter account to state quite categorically: ‘I’m not pregnant.’

The sighting comes just days after her announcement to leave the music scene and focus on starting a family with her boyfriend Sam Cooper.

She said: ‘I’d like to have a child within a year. It’ll be a minimum of four or five years before I make a record again. I don’t think that mixes well with the idea of settling down and having children, which is ultimately my goal and more of a priority than flying around the world.’

Allen told Absolute Radio: ‘I’d want to be really hands-on for the first two or three years of having a little one. I don’t want to leave them.’

And in, January during an appearance at the Big Day Out event in Australia, she told the festival crowd ‘I want to have a baby’.

After suffering from a miscarriage three years ago with ex boyfriend Ed Simons, Allen has made it well known that settling down and raising a family away from the media spotlight is her goal. Lily has been dating Sam Cooper, 44, since July last year. She is said to have become enamored with the decorator’s down-to-earth manner.

Last year a source told The Sun newspaper: ‘Lil is tired of only ever being involved with well-known blokes. She wanted to go out with someone her own age who isn’t involved in music or the media. Sam is really down to earth. He grafts hard for a living as a painter and decorator and leads a totally normal life. Lily is completely smitten with him. They have known each other for a while but have only just started dating properly.’

[From The Daily Mail]

If she is knocked up, congratulations to her and to her boyfriend. If she’s not, I guess she’s just been enjoying her sabbatical with cheese fries and donuts, and why not? That’s what I would do if I had some time off. Not so much with the cheese fries, but definitely with Chinese food and corn chips. Can you tell that I’m hungry? Mmm… corn chips.

Lily Allen in London on May 13, 2010. Credit: WENN.

Remember how Courtney Love had a brief moment of lucidity last week? Yeah, that’s over. In spectacular form, actually. Yesterday, we heard about Love’s literal crack tweets regarding her desire to “hate f-ck” John Mayer with her powerful vadge. Then this morning, I awoke to this story at HuffPo about Courtney spending pretty much all of last night crack tweeting about how Edward Norton cheated her out of $300,000, and how he cheated Angelina Jolie and Brad out of money too…? But my crack tweet-to-English literacy is sub-par. I get a headache trying to decipher Lohan crack-tweets, so Courtney’s are way above my pay grade.

Anyway, it’s safe to say Courtney is no longer feeling any pain due to whatever maximum-strength crack she’s smoking. Not content to simple pick fights with Ed Norton and John Mayer (and her powerful vadge, probably), it seems she and Lily Allen are in the middle of some kind of beef. Let me just say, I’ve always had mixed feelings about Lily Allen, but the way she takes down Courtney actually had me giggling:

Safe to say Lily Allen won’t be catching any of those Courtney Love-fronted Hole reunion concerts. Things are definitely heating up over on Twitter, with the ever-bloomin’ English rose slamming Love for spreading rumors about some of Allen’s alleged diva demands—demands Allen says are completely bogus. But don’t call it a fight!

“I would never fight with her, as a rule I don’t pick on crazy old ladies,” Lily tweeted.

First, some backstory: It all started earlier this month when the music stars collided at London’s Brit Awards, the U.K. answer to the Grammys. On the red carpet, Love went out of her way to tell anyone with a microphone that while her Miu Miu frock was perfectly acceptable, she really wanted to wear a Chanel dress to the event (the Miu Miu PR department’s thank-you is no doubt in the mail).

Love claimed that she was denied access to any Chanel apparel, however, claiming Allen put a “lock” on all that design house’s wares.

Well, the accusation got back to Allen, and needless to say, she wasn’t happy. She was so unhappy, in fact, that she reportedly snubbed Love at this week’s much more casual U.K. music bash, the NME Awards.

Everyone caught up? Good. Now on your marks, get set, Twitter!

“Just clearing a couple of things up,” Allen wrote this morning. “Courtney Love and I did NOT have a bust up at the NME’s. There was an exchange of words, yes. She’s upset because she has got it into her head that i put a lock on some dresses for the brit awards. She’s made no secret of this and, when i saw her at the NME’s she tried to talk to me and i told her to shut up and stop spreading stupid rumours about me. And thats pretty much it. I would never fight with her, as a rule I don’t pick on crazy old ladies.”

Oh, our mistake. But she wasn’t quite done there. When asked by a follower if it actually transpires in celebrity world that stars put dibs on clothing, Allen seemed to deny the practice entirely—or at least denied that it’s something she ever engaged in.

“No but it’s the sort of thing a paranoid drug addled lunatic might come up with.”

As for Love, her defense was too little, too late soon.

The rocker, who has already redirected her ire to Edward Norton, actually offered a mea culpa to Allen last night.

“Dear i was told by my pr you had a ;ock on chanel couture this coulve been nonsense, it’s a compliment if true,” Lovee wrote, going on to admit that she was probably misinformed.

“I think i know the actual reality, if you did NOT have a lock wich i think is the mpore probable I was told nonsense. so end.”

Well, almost end.

“F–K i’m going to miss you all you brits with a few mean girls exceptions,” the U.S.-bound Love wrote this morning. “im taller than most girls so when some smaller girl picks on me it always looks like im a bully or mean, im really not, always.swear.”

Swear swear? OK then.

[From E! News]

Is that about it? Let’s see what else Courtney has been up to… ah, yes, she also took credit for making British actor/comedian Steve Coogan “cool”. Uh…yeah. Love said: “I’ve been embarrassed before, but that [fling with Coogan] was like a ten,. He was very, very nice – nicely spoken, didn’t know he was a super freak.” Love then said she was afraid she ruined Coogan’s rep, but then said: “Without knowing I’d actually made him really cool.” Jesus, Love.

Courtney Love in London on February 24, 2010. Lily Allen on February 25, 2010. Credit: INFphoto.com.

It’s hard to keep track of Tila Tequila, or even to muster the interest to try, because she talks so much constant sh*t online and lies so frequently. I’m not even going to bother to try and recap some of the insane things that have gone on in this little famewh*re’s drama-filled life. Her alleged “fiance” died and that’s sad for her, but she’s canceled out any pity I might feel for her with the way she’s behaved afterwards.

Much of Tila’s attention seeking is played out through her Twitter account, where she makes outrageous claims in an attempt to ratchet up the drama and receive some press. She said she was pregnant as a surrogate for her brother, then took that back, then again claimed she was pregnant and made various claims as to who the father was. She also recently claimed that she’s adopting a baby from Haiti and that she spoke to an “ambassador” from Haiti about it.

Maybe Tila realized that she’s overexposing herself online (as if she could have any concept of what that means) or maybe she just finally took her advisors’ (read: Joe Francis) advice and stopped broadcasting her every wild scheme. She’s deleted her Twitter account after claiming that it’s all due to various “haters,” including Perez Hilton. She’s still blogging through her website but her posts are usually a long rant punctuated by a few sentences in all caps. They’re easier to ignore:

Reality TV star TILA TEQUILA has followed in the footsteps of MILEY CYRUS and CHRIS BROWN and deleted her Twitter account – after she came under fire following a series of bizarre online ramblings.

The former model took to her page on the microblogging site in December (09) to reveal she was going to be a surrogate mum for her brother before claiming the father was a war hero who fought in Afghanistan.
Last week (begs25Jan10), Tequila went on to hint that rapper The Game was the baby’s dad, although the former G-Unit star vehemently denied he had had any involvement with the 28 year old.

The pregnancy reports came amid criticisms of Tequila for using the site to publicly grieve for socialite fiancee Casey Johnson, who died in January (10).

The TV personality hit back, claiming she relied on her internet fans because she was friendless – but after a nasty remark about her young nephew on Monday (01Feb10), Tequila decided enough is enough.

She wrote, “Twitter, by FAR has the most hateful, devil worshippers, racist, and violent community that I have ever experienced! Twitter is bad. My true fans know where to find me.”
She then deleted her account. Cyrus quit ‘tweeting’ in October (09), while Brown deleted his blog in December (09).

[From Contact Music]

Since I don’t want to talk about Tila Tequila after being forced to pay attention to her for 10 minutes, I’ll mention that self-proclaimed luddite Lily Allen is back online. She’s online and back on Twitter after about a three month hiatus. In December, she claimed she didn’t have a computer or Blackberry and that she was reading the newspaper and taking a break from technology. How long do you give Tila Tequila before she starts another Twitter account? If she holds out for two weeks I’ll be surprised.

If you have a higher tolerance for crazy than I do and want to read any of Tila’s tweets they’re still available on CelebrityTweet.

Lily Allen is a quitter. Except not really, she’s just taking a break for a few years, and her idea of a break is just not recording or performing. She’s going to take some time to set up her own record company and to set a up a shop. For “renting” clothes. Because she thinks fashion should be more “democratic”. She told the BBC: “It’s about getting really nice clothes but letting people rent them for affordable prices so they can go out and feel like a million dollars and it won’t cost them a million dollars.” Lily also pointed out that she’s stopped with all of her media stuff, no more tweets or Facebook or even e-mails. Well… I think this is called progress. This is called growing up. Hopefully.

Lily Allen has confirmed she’ll take “one or two years off from recording and performing music” from March 2010. It follows rumours of her quitting music to pursue a career in acting.

The singer said she would use the time off to start her own record label, set up a fashion shop with her sister and “spend some time in the home I’ve built for myself”.

Speaking to Radio 1′s Sara Cox she said: “My last gig is my Dizzee Rascal concert at the O2 (London) in March. That’s the last thing I’ve got planned. I’m just going to concentrate on doing some behind the scenes sort of stuff.”

Allen, who earlier this year became embroiled in public discussion surrounding illegal downloading, also spoke about why she had reduced her presence on the internet.

“I’ve stopped everything, I haven’t got a computer and I haven’t got a blackberry. I don’t do emails or anything now,” she added. “I’ve decided to stop being so hypocritical and consume things and pay for them. I buy music in vinyl and buy newspapers. I support the industry I’m in. I’m a neo-luddite, that’s how I describe myself.”

Whilst she takes a break from music she said she would set up a rental fashion store with her sister called Lucy In Disguise.

“It’s about making fashion democratic,” she said. “That’s the idea behind it. It’s about getting really nice clothes but letting people rent them for affordable prices so they can go out and feel like a million dollars and it won’t cost them a million dollars.”

The London singer says she’ll also use her time off to set up a record company.

“I’m going to get into signing new bands but at a really early level,” she explained. “I don’t want to compete with other record companies but I want to support new artists.”

[From BBC]

I really hope Lily hasn’t announced that she’ll take a break just so people will pay attention to her and start telling her “Oh, no, you can’t go, what would we ever do without you?” I say that because Lily seems like the type who would do something like that, and I wonder if she’s really as mature as this interview would indicate. I also say that because I think it would be a great idea for Lily to get away for a while and let people forget her for two seconds.

Lily Allen in London on December 2 (in the pink coat) and December 1 at the Morgan Awards (in the red dress, with Charlie Condou). Credit: WENN

There’s a British wannabe-diva battle brewing, and I can’t pick a side. Joss Stone gave a recent interview in which she claimed that Lily Allen “can’t sing” and that Lily is “more of a personality than she is a singer”. Now… here’s the thing. I don’t hate Lily Allen, but I think she’s a famewhore. And I like Joss’s voice, but her personality seems very… vanilla? Like, smug vanilla, though. Joss also seemed to be criticizing any singer (or perhaps any person) who wanted to, you know, actually make a lot of money doing what they love. As in, “Who said that musicians have to be millionaires? Who made this a rule? We don’t need that much money. We just don’t. We only need enough to make music and to eat and to go on tour.” Uh…

Joss Stone has launched an attack on fellow British singer Lily Allen, saying she “can’t sing.” She believes that Lily is more of a personality rather than a singer.

Lily is currently campaigning to try and make internet file sharing a criminal offense, to which Joss says, “She needs to sell records because she’s not a singer, and that’s not an offense to her because I think that she knows that too.”

“I think she’s a performer and she’s more of a personality than she is a singer. But I think when musicians are really making real music people come to the show and that’s what we make our money from, from playing live. And I think it’s probably harder for an artist like Lily and any other pop acts.”

“It’s really about the track and about their personality and their celebrity and that’s how they make their money is selling those records.”

“So the downloads – she’s not going to win that fight. None of us will win that fight. So let’s just accept it and let’s see it as something that can be beautiful and it might change music for the better. It might sort the weeds from the flowers.”

“Who said that musicians have to be millionaires? Who made this a rule? We don’t need that much money. We just don’t. We only need enough to make music and to eat and to go on tour.”

We highly doubt a lot of musicians agree with Joss on that one! We’re sure they’ve all gotten used to their cush lifestyle and could never go back to having a regular life with a lot less money! Do you agree with Joss here?

[From Hollyscoop]

So, if Joss wants to just make enough money to get by, good for her. But she seems a bit judgy about other people actually wanting to stock up a few million dollars for a rainy day. As far as the Lily Allen stuff goes… well, I’ll give Lily credit for actually co-writing most of her songs, and for using her mediocre voice to it’s fullest potential. I just don’t know which side to choose… probably neither.

Joss Stone is seen outside of a studio in London, UK on November 2, 2009. Lily Allen is seen attending The Q Awards 2009 held at the Grosvenor House in London, England on October 26, 2009. Credit: FAME.