Lily Allen: It’s Not Me, It’s You

Posted by jamie on Feb 20, 2009

Lily Allen

It’s Not Me, It’s You

There’s a dilemma I’m suffering trying to review a Lily Allen record that’s different to writing on almost anything I’ve written about before, and it’s basically this: the problem with reviewing a Lily Allen album, namely the music, the songs you here when the CD is on, is pretty difficult when there’s so much baggage around Lily and her music.

But the real dilemma is this: should I really try to write without noticing any of this anyway?

Since Lily exploded into mainstream pop consciousness with Smile and the spectacularly brilliant Alright, Still in 2006, it’s been difficult to ignore her, especially if you live or work in London. The tabloids and the freesheets have something of a fixation on Lily, and, after a while that became mutual: they’re often getting dissed in her blog and the odd pap gets kicked or told off on the way. So, it’s difficult to ignore Lily. Difficult, that is, when it isn’t possible. She’s there. All the time.

Being hounded non-stop by the tabs hasn’t helped Lily get on with making It’s Not Me, It’s You , but it’s clearly a recurring theme in the record, and the Sun get a mention in the opening lines of the first track, Everyone’s At It.

Much has been made of It’s Not Me, It’s You being an album about her ex-boyfriends, but Lily’s position as a tabloid pet has clearly made enough of an impression on her as well – its a running theme through the album’s lyrics as much as the ex-boyfriend material.

The two-and-a-bit years since Alright, Still turned Lily in to a celebrity appear to have, unsurprisingly, made a massive change in her life. Alright, Still’s “Everything’s Just Wonderful” talks about being refused a mortgage, yet soon after the record came out, she was returning fire to tabloid hacks in her blog, asking “how many of these male journalists had bought their own house before they were 23”. No need for a mortgage, I guess.

OK, five paragraphs and we’ve barely discussed the songs. But you get my point, right? Not only is the sound different to Alright, Still, but the content is different: she’s talking about different things because her life’s different and she’s in a different place, with new problems. From thelondonpaper it doesn’t look like life’s got much easier, mind. In fact, It’s Not Me, It’s You comes across as pretty angry, whether it’s the paps, the exes or the circles of the rich and famous that Lily’s never pretended to like and rips in to in INMIY’s first single, The Fear.

All of this has made the music change ever so slightly – where AS was a largely up-tempo, and occasionally cheery effort, where even downbeat words were set to catchy, upbeat songs, INMIY is moodier and more atmospheric. More attention’s gone in to the synth here, and the stomp-alongs are rarer, even if they are just as good. Not Fair, for example, and instantly enjoyable, as are Never Gonna Happen and Fuck You: great fun, deliciously catchy pop gems: her label must be tearing their hair out that one is so obviously out unsatisfying sex and one is full of swear words. This, perhaps, explains the choice of The Fear as the first single – fewer hooks and less chart-friendly all around, it’s perhaps an unlikely choice, but the song has grown on me since it came out, and, in case it’s relevant, has now been chosen for the montages on Match of the Day. Bonus.

The Fear is more in keeping with the album as a whole: more sombre, and, though it has its hooks, the music is ethereal, ambient, and, in places, almost bleak.

A quick word on Lily’s swearing: not an issue, I suspect, for many on here, but spare a thought for a reviewer on iTunes who’s upset that the language means she “can’t” let her young daughter listen to INMIY despite the fact that she (the daughter) has been eagerly waiting for it since LDN was released as a single. To put it simply, lady, Lily is not a children’s artist: ignore the graphics and the fact that her songs all chart highly and listen to them: none of them have been High School Musical, and bleeping words in Smile or LDN will become obvious to your kids once they start to actually listen to their records. OK, she’s got issues, we all have, but this is a serious record and fair play to her for tackling them “sweary rubbish” is as unfair as it is ignorant, namely very. You might as well write a letter to Jack Daniels complaining that your 6yr-old always bokes on the carpet and fights the sofa after a few too many – it’s not intended as a kids’ drink. Yeesh.

The real bonus about all this is that it highlights something that’s often been overlooked in all the hype over Lily’s relationships, partying and her range at New Look: her voice.

When first listening to Alright, Still it’s surprisingly easy, looking back, to get as far as Littlest Things without really noticing that Lily’s got an absolutely stunning voice. She’s a great singer, but it’s the very highest notes there that are really supreme, and it’s clear from pretty early in INMIY that she’s either got the license to express herself a little more, musically speaking, with these or that someone at EMI has told her to just get cracking that voice out. It’s here on INMIY in all its glory and it sounds absolutely superb, so points to whoever had that idea. 22 and I Could Say are particular highlights here – as are The Fear, and Him.

Lily’s lyrics on INMIY are as stunning as they were on A,S. If you loved the “Tesco/Alfresco” bit in LDN then look out for Him: “Caucasian/Tax Evasion” and the even more brilliantly unpredictable “Suicidal/Creedence Clearwater Revival” are only two among the many on a speculative, wistful song about God, think Joan Osbourne (or Dr Evil)’s One Of Us, but with Lily’s voice and uniquely witty way with words and you’re halfway there. It’s a gem.

INMIY is Lily Allen for 2009 on a stick, thoughtful and more outward-looking, with the world and its villains as much the subject of her acid wit and sharp rhymes as her exes and her bank manager. The attitude that made Alright Still instantly so lovable is well and truly intact, and Lily’s songs have moved a step forward both in terms of their focus and the way they’re put together. Still, though, there’s enough of what was great about Lily already: the attitude, the lyrics and the gleefully sugarry pop music; only now it’s embellished with crunchy, more powerful production and an even more impressive vocal. A must for Lily fans (obviously) and a lesson to any doubters: a seriously good quality record, and brilliant fun.

Track listing:

Everyone’s At It

The Fear

Not Fair

22

I Could Say

Back to the Start

Never Gonna Happen

Fuck You

Who’d Have Known