19

Named for her age while she wrote it, 19 grew out of the demo her friend posted on Myspace and her signing to XL in 2006. Producer Jim Abbiss, whom she met on a Jack Penate session, produced eight of its twelve tracks. Eg White co-wrote and produced Chasing Pavements, Melt My Heart to Stone and Tired, and Mark Ronson produced Cold Shoulder. She wrote Best for Last, Crazy for You, First Love and My Same alone. Hometown Glory was written when she was 16, in about ten minutes, after her mother urged her to leave West Norwood for university. The Bob Dylan cover Make You Feel My Love was her manager Jonathan Dickins's suggestion.

It reached number one in the UK and has sold more than 2.5 million copies there, and over 8.5 million worldwide. In the United States it entered at 61 and rose to 11 after her Saturday Night Live appearance in October 2008. The Observer's Caspar Llewellyn Smith gave it five stars. The Independent's Andy Gill called it a passably decent debut. It was nominated for the 2008 Mercury Prize. Four singles were released: Hometown Glory, Chasing Pavements, Cold Shoulder and Make You Feel My Love.