Lily Allen burst onto the international stage a few years back with a hit debut album and an army of MySpace supporters. It didn’t take the tabloid mafia long to latch onto the now 23 year old and since then she has become nearly as famous (arguably more) for her offstage antics as her music. Having survived a number of run ins with media and fellow celebrities, she has returned in full force, using her newfound superstardom as fodder for this, her sophomore album, interestingly titled It’s Not Me, It’s You.
Written by Allen and co-writer/producer Greg Kurstin, It’s Not Me, It’s You is an eclectic mix of middle finger rendering songs dressed in electronically drenched pop suits. In fact, the main fault with this album is the juvenile, “the world is all wrong and I am all right” style lyrics that are fine here and there (“Everyone’s At It,” “The Fear,” “He Wasn’t There”) but largely come off like an eight graders journal renderings. I think Allen may have actually taken two steps backwards in this department this time around. The aforementioned songs are a little more thought out though, as if she took the journal entries and fine tuned them into a more poetic form that works better as a song.
What makes this album so intriguing though is the music. The electronic, almost dance, grooves of songs like the inaugural tracks, “Everyone’s At It” and “The Fear” are stunning and since the lyrics manage to keep up on these particular songs they end up as certain album highlights. Interestingly, Allen seems to be a bit bipolar musically as songs like “Chinese,” “ Not Fair,” and the downright lame “F*** You” come off as Ragtime inspired pop pieces. While all this makes for an album that certainly keeps you on toes and holds your interest musically, the lyrics will most definitely lead you towards a few solid tracks that you’ll want to constantly revisit. There is little need to revisit the entire album though.
This is not as good as Allen’s debut but there are enough bright spots to lead fans to believe that she has the potential to knock it out of the park with the next album.
Reviewed by Mark Fisher
