“22” by Lily Allen

Lily Allen made "22" with Greg Kurstin for her second album, It's Not Me, It's You, and it's a two-hander all the way: they wrote it together, and Kurstin produced, recorded and mixed it while playing the bass, guitar and keyboards himself, leaving Allen the vocal. Regal Recordings put it out as a single in August 2009, the album's third in Britain and fourth everywhere else, and France got a version of its own, "22 (Vingt Deux)".

Critics were split, though some warmed to its rousing sound and to the lyrics. It made the top 20 in the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands and Australia. The video turns a mirror on Allen, who looks back at her younger self and sees how much of her life has gone on shallow things, and the song later turned up on the international soundtrack of the Brazilian soap Viver a Vida.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.