Allen: 'Girl groups need to challenge boy bands'

Lily Allen is surprised so few girl groups are marketed towards young women, considering that demographic buys so much music.

The 21-year-old chart-topper wishes more female bands would step forward to challenge the dominance of fashionable boy bands.

She says: "It's funny because one of the main markets for buying music is 15 to 24-year-old girls. It's really strange there aren't any females directly trying to appear to that age group or talk to them on a lyrical level.

"I think they try and make bands with the right amount of hair gel. Make sure the lead singer is quite good looking and the bass player has an air of mystery and Bob's your uncle.

"It is odd there aren't any females doing that, especially not young females. At the same time, I'm not just appealing to that audience."