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

So, the new Lily Allen album is out. Or, well, almost out - it's streaming on MySpace for everyone to hear, and I decided to give it a listen.

It could probably considered a guilty please, but Lily's debut album 'Alright, Still' has a special place in my heart. It's a great pop record with edge and wit, and it reminds me of the summer '06 where I went to London for the first time. At the time I really liked Lily Allen because she made smart pop music that didn't sound like all the American crap that's still filling pop music nowadays. I'm a bit of an anglophile and couldn't help but be seduced by her British accent and swagger. She seemingly didn't care for the pop clichés and wore a ball gown with a pair of trainers and sang about how fucked up London is under the surface. She was new, different, fresh and wasn't afraid to to say what she thought.

Over the last year or so - and especially the last few months - I've begun to lose my faith in Lily as an anti-popstar popstar (yes, that is most definetely two 'popstar's after each other). She began wearing high heels and Chanel dresses, dyed her hair pink, flashed her boobs (not on purpose, though) and it seemed that every day there was a new story about her oh-so-wild drug-taking, booze-drinking, girl-snogging, blowjob-giving life. Not that there's anything wrong with that - I like Chanel and I really don't care about tabloids or gossip. But god, it's annoying to hear a new story about the celebrity Lily Allen every day followed by her favourite statement of 'I'm not seeking press attention, I wanna be famous for my music'. And I'm not really blaming her for being in the press a lot since she really does seem to be followed by paparazzis everywhere - it's just that entire 'I'm just saying what I think' attitude she has. I can't help but feel like she probably really wants the attention.

But let's skip to the point: her new album 'It's Not Me, It's You' is out and I've heard it. Openers 'Everyone's At It' and 'The Fear' are both solid pop songs. The lyrics rage against drug addicts (who, seemingly, are most of us), tabloids and celebrities. It's not fantastic or groundbreaking, it's just quite nice. But then it all goes a bit downhill. While listening to 'Not Fair' I found myself tempted to hit the 'Next' button. It's all happy electronic beats, cheesy country-guitar and about how somebody's not good in bed. What really bugs me about the songs on this album is the instrumentation (or lack of this). I remember talking with my father about how I found it so lovely to listen to a mainstream pop album with at least some 'real' instruments back when 'Alright, Still' came out. Sadly, on this album, Lily's vocal is accompanied by a wave of electronic beats and some pretty awkward styleshifting. The cheap techno synths of 'Back To The Start', the fake French vibe on 'Never Gonna Happen' and the cheerful piano banging on 'Fuck You'. It's not extremely bad, it just makes me ask myself if I'm listening to the new Katy Perry or Lady Gaga album. 'Who'd Have Known' steals it's chorus from a Take That song which makes it all just a little bit more awkward. The last tracks on the album are, like the first two, pretty nice. 'Him' is a highlight. It sounds like it could be a lost 'Alright, Still' track and features something as charming as lyrics about God.

"Do you think he'd drive in his car without insurance
Now is he interesting or do you think he'd bore us
Do you think his favourite type of human is caucasian
Do you reckon he's ever been done for tax evasion
Do you think he's any good at remembering people's names
Do you think he's ever taken smack or cocaine
I don't imagine he's ever been suicidal
His favourite band is Creedence Clearwater Revival"

To compare I tried listening to 'Alright, Still' and again I found myself loving it. It still sounds like the perfect pop record. On 'It's Not Me, It's You' there's definitely no 'Knock 'Em Out' with cheeky spoken word flow or 'Everything's Just Wonderful' with its genius Kate Moss-weight loss rhymes. The lyrics are still very Lily, I just feel like they sound a bit forced.

Overall it's not the worst album I've ever heard but definitely not the best either. It's a pretty average pop album that I guess a lot of her fans will be pleased with... I tried looking it up on Last.fm and I don't think I've seen any negative comments about the new album yet. Is Lily right? Is it just me? Sadly, it might just be Lily losing the plot.