Smile (Lily Allen song)
history}}
"Smile" is Lily Allen's first mainstream single release, and was penned by Lily Allen, Iyola Babalola and Darren Lewis (the duo who produced the track as Future Cut). The organ riff is a sample of Jackie Mittoo playing keyboards on "Free Soul" by The Soul Brothers, written by Jackie Mittoo.
About the record
Allen announced through her MySpace blog that her first official single would be "Smile", taken from her debut album entitled, Alright, Still. The track was sent to radio a few weeks later, and was added to radio playlists immediately. The music video premiered in early June on all mainstream music channels in the UK. Allen also appeared on the cover of The Observer Music Monthly as well as performing on UK TV shows, such as Top of The Pops.
"Smile" was released to iTunes UK on 26 June 2006, ahead of the physical CD release on 3 July. It spent most of its first week at number 1 on the iTunes chart before entering at number 13 in the Official UK Top 40. The physical single is backed by two B-sides including "Cheryl Tweedy", a track which generated publicity (Allen states she wishes she looked like Girls Aloud member Tweedy in the lyrics). The single rose to number one in the UK on 9 July, selling 39,501 copies in that week. It amassed 2 weeks at the number one spot selling a further 35,228 copies, falling to number four in its fourth week (the same week the album was released). The single ended 2006 as the UK's eleventh best selling single of the year. The single peaked at number forty-nine in the US, mainly due to digital sales.»Top 40 Singles of 2006, from BBC Radio 1 website
There is a remix ft. Robin Thicke and Samantha Jade to be released on 16 August 2007.
In the April 2007 issue of FourFourTwo it is suggested that the song is about Ashley Cole. This would mean "the girl next door" is a personifying metaphor of Chelsea and it would also explain having Cheryl Tweedy on the B-side.
Music video
The music video, directed by Sophie Muller (who also directed the video of previous UK number-one "Hips Don't Lie" by Shakira), shows Allen getting revenge on an ex-boyfriend (played by Elliott Jordan) who cheated on her. She pays some thugs to beat him up, then takes him to a cafe to console him while the thugs trash his apartment and scratch his vinyl records. At the cafe, she puts laxatives in his coffee so he gets diarrhea. Later, as a result of the laxatives, he has to come to her house to use the toilet as his has been blocked by the thugs. The video finishes with Allen walking down the street smiling while the ex-boyfriend is DJing in a nightclub only to find that all his vinyl records have been scratched. Allen commented in an interview that the video was banned on MTV because it contained mugging. It also has a profanity in its first verse; the offending lyric 'But you were fucking that girl next door' is censored in some releases, but present in others. "I got really offended when my single, Smile, got banned from MTV in the UK because it had the word fuck in it!"
Promotion
On the day of the official release of "Smile", Allen performed and did an exclusive record signing at private record store Sister Ray in Soho, London. She performed four songs from her debut album Alright, Still: "LDN", "Knock 'Em Out", "Littlest Things" and "Smile", followed by the signing. Earlier the same day, Allen performed on the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge with DJ Jo Whiley, performing an acoustic version of "Smile", and a cover of The Kooks' "Naïve", to apologise for insulting them via her MySpace blog.
The song was re-recorded by Allen in Simlish, the fictional language used in The Sims games. The Simlish version was used in the Sims expansion pack , in which Allen also had her own character.
The song also appeared in .
At the 2007 South By Southwest music festival, Allen said she was "so sick of this song" before performing it.»Smile Songfacts. Songfacts. Retrieved April 2 2007.
The song is featured on the 2007 Judd Apatow film Knocked Up.
EastEnders Episode in Time to say goodbye
Other versions
Rapper Example has recorded a new version of "Smile" called "Vile", which is an answer song written from the perspective of the ex-boyfriend (although he was never actually Allen's boyfriend). Both songs were then parodied by Chris Moyles on his Radio 1 breakfast show in a song called "Piles". There is also a remix to the original "Smile" version featuring rap artist WhoSayin? which can be found at his music site reverbnation.com/whosayin or myspace.com/whosayin. The original version of Lily Allen's "Smile" is very hard to come by.
Formats and track listings
These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "Smile".
- "Smile" — 3">CD1 (UK and 7" Vinyl)
- "Smile" — 3
- 13
- "Smile" (Aaron LaCrate's Gutter Mix) — 2:59
- CD2 (UK)
- "Smile" — 3
- 13
- "Cheryl Tweedy" — 3:15
- "Absolutely Nothing" — 4:04
- "Smile" (music video)
- "Smile" (Digital Soundboy Mix) — 5">12" Vinyl (Promo)
- "Smile" (Digital Soundboy Mix) — 5
- 00
- "Smile" (Digital Soundboy Dub) — 5:00
- CD (Australia)
- "Smile" — 3
- 13
- "Cheryl Tweedy" — 3:15
- "Absolutely Nothing" — 4:04
- "Smile" (Aaron LaCrate's Gutter Mix) -2:59
- Digital download release (U.S.)
- "Smile" — 3
- 13
- "Smile" (Aaron LaCrate's gutter mix) -2:59
- "Cheryl Tweedy" — 3:15
- "Absolutely Nothing" — 4:04
- "Smile" - 3:13
- "Smile" (Clean Version) - 3:13
- "Smile" (Aaron LaCrate Gutter Mix)
- "Smile" (Digital Soundboy Mix)
- "Smile" (Mark Ronson Version Revisited) (Mark Ronson Remix)
- "Smile" (Mark Ronson Version Revisited - Clean Edit) – 3:13
- "Smile" (Original Version ft. WhoSayin?) - 4:22
Charts
{| class="wikitable"
!align="left"|Chart (2006)»"Smile - chart positions". αCharts.us. Retrieved February 11 2007.
!align="center"|Peak
position
|-
|align="left"|Australian ARIA Singles Chart
|align="center"|14
|-
|align="left"|Ö3 Austria Top 40
|align="center"|23
|-
|align="left"|Belgian Ultratop 50 Singles
|align="center"|20
|-
|align="left"|Dutch Top 40
|align="center"|1
|-
|align="left"|French Singles Chart
|align="center"|8
|-
|align="left"|German Singles Chart
|align="center"|41
|-
|align="left"|Irish Singles Chart
|align="center"|7
|-
|align="left"|Italian Singles Chart
|align="center"|18
|-
|align="left"|New Zealand Singles Chart
|align="center"|6
|-
|align="left|Swedish Singles Chart
|align="center"|23
|-
|align="left"|Swiss Singles Chart
|align="center"|11
|-
|align="left"|UK Singles Chart
|align="center"|1
|-
!align="left"|Chart (2007)»"Lily Allen - Artist Chart History". Allmusic. Retrieved February 7 2007.
!align="center"|Peak
position
|-
|align="left"|Canadian Hot 100
|align="center"|44
|-
|align="left"|U.S. Billboard Hot 100
|align="center"|49
|-
|align="left"|U.S. Billboard Pop 100
|align="center"|25
|-
|align="left"|U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks
|align="center"|8
|}