It’s been a busy few weeks for Lily Allen, with both a Mercury Prize show performance and a highly-publicised new memoir. My Thoughts Exactly, which details allegations of abuse within the music industry, debuted at No.6 on the Sunday Times Bestsellers on sales of 4,520.
No Shame peaked at No.8 on the albums chart in June but has not seen a significant sales boost from the Mercury nomination. Sales to date are 19,306, according to the Official Charts Company.
But the success of the book and its attendant publicity could help revive the well-received record.
“As Lily always does, through selective press interviews, she is showing that she’s an artist who has an important voice and a voice that won’t be silenced,” said Parlophone director of marketing, strategy & partnerships, Jack Melhuish. “She is an important commentator and that is amplified by the conversation about both the album and the book.”
Asked if she was hoping for an impact on her album from the memoir, Allen told Music Week: “For sure, I’d really like my album to be heard by people.”
It’s a record that she put a lot of emotion and pain and a lot of herself into
Jack Melhuish
Allen did strike a negative tone about her label backstage at the Mercury Prize ceremony, though Parlophone confirmed they are still actively working the record.
“We are absolutely continuing our campaign with Lily, we have more visual output to come from her,” said Melhuish. “The album will be worked selectively with retailers to re-promote it. This is a record that we think is important as a signifier for the breadth of Parlophone.”
Melhuish said the publication of the book and the Mercury Prize last month “happened to coincide very nicely”.
“Just for her to be nominated as one of the Mercury albums of the year has been tremendously gratifying for Lily personally,” said Melhuish. “It’s a record that she put a lot of emotion and pain and a lot of herself into. So to see it acknowledged as being an important and significant record has been very gratifying for both her and for us.”
My Thoughts Exactly is published by Blink, which is also issuing Noel Gallagher’s first book on November 1. Any Road Will Get Us There (If We Don’t Know Where We’re Going) is a behind-the-scenes account of Gallagher’s world tour and the making of the Who Built The Moon? album.
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