Lily Allen

From the moment Lily Allen surfaced on the pop radar, she seemed destined to be a short-lived phenomenon. The daughter of a comedian who came to fame with a big assist from MySpace and hails from England, home to the most fickle music press on the planet? If she held on to celebrity for two years, she'd be lucky. But It's Not Me, It's You, Allen's new album, proves that her offhand style, first heard on 2006's Alright, Still, has more staying power than expected, thanks largely to her easy confidence and cheeky way with words. On her latest, the Divine Ms. L, who shares this bill with Natalie Portman's Shaved Head, chatters about her fucking fantastic life ("The Fear") and how exhausting it can be to spend ages giving head ("Not Fair") with a casual cool that defuses oversharing accusations, and her taste in breezy melodies remains unerring. Looks like this phenom isn't going anywhere quite yet.