Lily Allen: 'Nobody at Radio One knows what the f**k they're doing'

The acerbic singer doesn’t hold back when discussing the station that dropped her from its playlist

Woe betide any broadcaster to censor its listeners from the perils of Lily Allen.

Least of all Radio One, who predictably received a tongue lashing from the singer, after management dropped her music from the playlist.

"The truth is nobody knows what the f**k they're doing," she told PressPlay during an interview session posted via YouTube.

"They can pretend they’ve got a formula that works and [that] they know they’re exactly in control of the game but they’re just not. No one knows."

Asked whether she was referring to Radio One specifically, she said: "All of them. Every single one. Some of them are really nice people, but as soon as they start telling you that they know how the music industry works, you’re just like, ‘Really? Well why is it in such a terrible state then?’

"I hear that radio stations look at Shazam lists in order to work out what they’re going to play now,” she added, again on the subject of Radio One. She comments after the interviewer references Ed Sheeran’s shock labelling by the station as “the most influential artists in black music” at the moment.

"Cool…" she added sarcastically. And then she laughed.

Asked whether radio play was still deemed important to artists, Allen answered: "I don’t know. I mean, if you walked into a major label, you’d think that, because that’s all anyone seems to whine on about.

"But then saying that, I’ve had a lot of support from Radio One and Radio Two in the past – not so much from Capital this time around. But people plan release schedules around (radio play), and it all hinges on that. You kind of do think, ‘Is this the way forward?’"

Elsewhere in the interview, she discussed the sexism of the "elder males" still in top music industry positions.

"It sits better with them to be able to assert their power and control over something that they see as weak and I think they probably see women as weak."

She also said she thought her album Sheezus wasn’t exactly a "triumph", and "couldn’t wait" to get back in the studio.

The interview was uploaded after Allen stepped in to replace Two Door Cinema Club to headline Latitude Festival. For some reason, there was a bitter social media backlash against the last-minute substitution, almost as if she were replacing last year’s incredibly iconic Kraftwerk and not an utterly forgettable wet indie band.