“Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” This expression is often misquoted and misattributed. The actual phrase is “Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, nor hell a fury like a woman scorned,” and it appeared in William Cosgrove’s play The Mourning Bride in 1697.
Fury is one reaction, but if you were a scorned performer with a pen, a pad, and wit, you may choose to go another route.
On her first single, “Smile,” Lily Allen sings about how when her cheating boyfriend left her for his sidepiece, she was sad. In real life, Allen was depressed when she broke up with her boyfriend, DJ Lester Lloyd. A drug overdose led her to seek medical treatment for her depression.
In “Smile,” Allen’s ex calls the singer to complain about the problems in his new relationship, which make him very sad. She may feel a little sympathy for him, but mostly it’s schadenfreude. “At first when I see you cry, it makes me smile / Yeah, it makes me smile / At worst I feel bad for awhile, but then I just smile / I go ahead and smile.”
The “Smile” single was released in the UK in July of 2006. At that year’s Secret Garden Party festival, Allen performed the song on the main stage, while Lloyd was set up in a tent opposite where Allen was. She told a reporter “So he and his new girlfriend had no option but to watch me perform to a couple of thousand people singing ‘Smile’ back to me. Oh, it’s the little things, eh!”
Today is Lily Allen’s 31st birthday. Here are twenty career highlights to make you smile.
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