Search - Lily Allen :: It's Not Me, It's You

Building on Alright Still's success

Alan Gilfoy | 07/12/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Lily Allen, It's Not Me It's You

4 stars out of 5



In many ways Lily continues the things that made her first album work without merely cloning that album; that's generally a good thing, eh?



Though I later became a far bigger Gagaphile, Lily was the first modern mainstream pop star whose songs I found myself interested in much at all. She was actually the first to show me that hit pop music [i]could[/i] be intelligent and enjoyable.



Lily does have an interesting singing voice. She doesn't go for theatrics such as holding high notes; her vocals stay clear and even without getting boring.



However, where I think she really works well is the juxtaposition of the airy style of the vocals and beats with the biting social commentary of some of her lyrics. This is what I found in "F*** You", the song that got me introduced to her. (I actually ran across that when Googling for Eric Idle's "The FCC Song", which also uses gratuitous profanity as a part of sarcastically making [i]its[/i] point). Great dig at the attitudes/mindset of the far right.



I also saw that in "22" (aimlessness of some young women coupled with overdependence on boyfriends or the idea of boyfriends), "Everyone's At It" (drug-fueled lifestyle, prescription or otherwise), "The Fear". Accordingly, those are my favorite songs on the album.



Lily does have her share of songs with more-standard themes such as clubbing and boyfriends/breakups. However, while often not my favorite songs of hers, they still work fairly well because of the voice, variation from typical pop instrumentation/production, and Lily's lyrical sarcasm. "I Could Say", "Not Fair", "Never Gonna Happen", "Who'd Have Known" and "Back To The Start" come to mind here.



(Not Fair also has an undertone of neglect or abuse, even if not in a violent sense, that does add to the song's feel.)



A few weak tracks, but the stronger ones are very good and interesting."

Lily rocks!

E. David | 06/23/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Ok, I stumbled upon Lily Allen a few years back. I bought her first album "Alright, Still" and could not believe the honesty in her lyrics. Very entertaining. Plus her songs are catchy! I still like her first album better then this one. But I am definately a fan and look forward to future albums."

It's not just me, It's amazing

Ben Nicholson | Cornwall, UK | 07/12/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I start off by saying if your going to buy this for your 10 year old daughter, bad idea, but I'm sure your not so I carry on. A brilliant album, very catchy and has a meaning. It's so Refreshing to see somebody who writes from her heart Most of the songs are brilliant with some ok one's, in short no fill in's. This is a brilliant album and a must buy it's one of the best album's of 2009."