Lily Allen reveals she turned down invitation to record ‘smug’ Band Aid 30 single

"I prefer to do my charitable bit by donating actual money," says singer

Lily Allen has become the latest artist to criticise Band Aid, revealing that she finds the charity campaign to be “smug” and that she declined an invite to participate in this year’s effort.

Allen revealed her reservations in a new interview with the Daily Mail in which she says that she chose to donate money to the fight against Ebola as opposed to joining the likes of Bono, Chris Martin, One Direction, Sam Smith and Paloma Faith in recording an updated version of the 1984 single ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’.

“I got an email asking me to do it,” says Allen. “It’s difficult to explain why I didn’t do it without sounding like a complete cunt. I prefer to do my charitable bit by donating actual money and not being lumped in with a bunch of people like that.”

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Adding that she is not bothered about upsetting Band Aid organiser Bob Geldof, Allen continues: “It’s like the success club and I’m not really in that club. I don’t think I’m above it all – I’m way below it. But there’s something a bit smug about it.”

Allen’s comments follow criticism of the lyrics to ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ from Emeli Sandé, one of the artists who joined in the recording of the charity single on November 15. Sandé has suggested that the charity effort would benefit from a whole new song.

Similarly, Fuse ODG revealed that he too turned down an invite to record the single.

‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ was established as the fastest selling single of 2014 so far on its first day on sale this week. The song seems certain to be Number One this week and raised £1 million in one day after going on sale Monday (November 17), according to Geldof.

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