10 Best Revenge Songs
8. Lily Allen - "Smile" (2006)
"Smile" was Lily Allen's first single, and it set her up as a straight-talking, subdued soloist with a super smooth voice. On "Smile", Allen tells us all about how she was betrayed by her boyfriend, and makes use of this vocal style to just barely mask the contempt she now feels for him.
This is a song with a reggae beat that suggests utter glee in the mischief that Allen has been causing for the aforementioned bloke. Despite what the melodic chorus might suggest, it doesn't feel like Allen 'feel[s] bad for a while' at all. However, the song itself is drawn from some very real pain; it's inspiration was Allen's real split from her boyfriend Lester Lloyd, and her subsequent depression and drug abuse. This emotional fuel is almost certainly where the underlying melancholic mood of the song comes from.
This is a charming piece of reggae pop that's more complex than the simple, joyful melody might suggest. "Smile" shot Lily Allen into the mainstream and, whilst she has since moved away from the direct lyrical style of "Smile", it remains to this day one of her most memorable tracks.