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

Follow-Up to Alright, Still Containing the Number 1 Single The Fear

Feb 24, 2009

British tabloid darling and MySpace success story, Lily Allen releases her second solo disc and shows no signs of a sophomore slump.

With a wit that could cut glass, and bouncy tracks backing her poignant lyrics, Lily Allen made a name for herself with her debut disc, 2006’s Alright, Still. Three years later, she’s back with an equally witty but stronger sounding follow-up It’s Not Me, It’s You.

Taking a gamble with new electronic sounds, Allen leaves behind the faux reggae groove firmly planted on singles “Smile” and “Alfie” from her first album. Fans of Alright, Still may approach her new sound with caution. However, lead single, “The Fear”, a track dealing with the illusions of fame, drips in layered electronics and dance beats typical of the overall new sound of the album, and has already placed Allen at the top of the charts.

Not Fair, Not Gonna Happen

While the title It’s Not Me, It’s You sounds like an immature crack, on her second album, she tackles difficult and intimate themes of relationships, either before they start (“22”), while they’re going well (“Who’d Have Known”, “Chinese”), after they begin to fade (“Not Fair”) and the aftermath (“I Could Say”, “Not Gonna Happen”) with depth, maturity and humour.

On “Not Fair”, a bizarre spaghetti western-influenced track, Allen sings about the ideal man, perfect in all aspects except the bedroom; “It’s such a shame/ I look into your eyes/ and then you makes this noise and it’s apparent it’s all over”. Meanwhile on “22” she comments on how the supposed girl’s dream of a ‘Knight in Shining Armour’ seems less and less like a reality. “It’s sad but it’s true how society says her life is already over”, given that the unnamed girl’s nearing thirty and single.

Everyone’s At It

Allen also goes for the jugular at times, commenting on many of society’s vices such as absent fathers (“He Wasn’t There”), the delayed Bush-basher “F**k You”, the dark side of fame on “The Fear” and the anti-addiction anthem “Everyone’s At It”. Offering a dismal glimpse into the private lives of famous and not so famous people hooked on drugs, Allen comments on how fast parents are to get their kids onto drugs such as Prozac, without realizing they’re already crack addicts. Once a well documented party girl herself, Allen offers this inside look with the eyes of both a partaker and a spectator.

Elsewhere, such as on “Chinese”, she sings of the new-found joys of staying in and ordering Chinese food with her boyfriend and simply watching the television. Allen’s life may have calmed down since she released her first album, luckily she retained her wit and what she learned musically from those experiences.

Rarely does a sophomore album outshine the predecessor, but It’s Not Me, It’s You maintains all the elements of Alright, Still that worked, and amplifies them a thousand fold. The first near-perfect pop album of 2008.

Lily Allen will tour in support of It’s Not Me, It’s You with opening act La Roux. Album is now available on CD as well as digitally.

The copyright of the article Lily Allen It's Not Me, It's You Review in Dance/Techno Music is owned by James W. Coates. Permission to republish Lily Allen It's Not Me, It's You Review in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.