It's frustrating that Lily Allen has "quit music" - which, lest we take her too seriously, is something she's threatened many times before - just as she was reminding us all what a unique and intriguing pop star she could sometimes be.

Her campaign against illegal file-sharing demonstrated, to those who'd maybe forgotten of late, that Lily is that rare thing: an opinionated and thoughtful musician who hasn't had all the spirit and personality vacuumed out of her by media training.

Lily Allen at Glastonbury 2008

It's also ironic that Allen has "ended" her musical career by critiquing the online world - and given the tsunami of misogynistic abuse she's received since starting the file-sharing blog, who can blame her? - because in many ways she is/was the first true pop star of the blog age. Initially promoting herself via Myspace (or so the media cliché ran; EMI's marketing budget also helped), she maintained a closeness with her fans thanks to a self-deprecating blog in which she listed her failings in language that mimicked her straight-talking lyrics ("fat, ugly and shitter than Winehouse").

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