SXSW Performer: Lily Allen (Hammersmith, England)

English pop star Lily Allen is part of a new generation of MySpace musicians. In November of 2005, Allen started posting tracks on her MySpace site to see what fans thought of them. "Since then, it's gone mad," Allen said in her bio. (Her songs have received more than five million plays to date.) "The online support I got for my music grew quickly, then the next thrill was hearing it on the radio. The reaction has been so positive it's left me reeling a bit. But I'm happy and I know the songs can live up to people's expectations." Apparently so. Her first U.K. quirky single, "Smile," topped the UK airplay chart for six weeks in a row. "With the kind of music I do, you have to be direct and quite literal," Allen said in her bio. "I don't play an instrument, which really makes me focus on the vocal melody, and the lyrics are incredibly important to me." --Christina Fuoco-Karasinski

Performing 11 p.m. Wednesday, March 14, Stubb's, 801 Red River St.

website: http://www.lilyallenmusic.com/