Following up 2006’s Alright, Still- a Myspace minor to Internet celebrity making album, Lilly Allen presents us with It’s not me, It’s You. Full of the same charming quirkiness as her last release, Allen’s follow up record does not disappoint.
While her last album had a delightful retro pop-meets reggae sound thanks to producer Mark Ronson, she made the right move making It’s not me, It’s You with Greg Kurstin. This album has a wider spectrum of style and is a full-blown display of character driven pop.
To call Lily Allen a pop singer seems almost an insult in comparison to the fabricated images we conjure up when we think of the modern day pop star. More than any artist I know of Allen presents her precocious and cheeky personality completely uninhibited, being just the right amount of sweet and salty.
While this album has a few songs that move in a different direction, like “Him” a Joan Osbourne-esque conversation about what the Good lord may be like (Allen thinks his favorite band is Creedance Clearwater Revival) and the achingly sweet “Who’d have known” tracking the transition from just friends to more. Fans who love her tongue in cheek lyrics, will appreciate the are gems of goading on this album. Mocking celebrity in “The Fear” and berating a clingy guy before taking him in for a one-night stand in “Never Gonna Happen” Lily is full of cutting couplets and lines so snarky they’re sweet.
Along with sharp-witted lyrics It’s not me, It’s you is littered with inventive beats and musical influence. “Not Fair” features a sound reminiscent of the Old West, and “He Wasn’t There” has all the grainy wholesomeness of a 1930’s vaudeville hit.
Twelve tracks of catchy tunes and biting lyrics, It’s not me, It’s you is a highly anticipated album that did anything but disappoint, and can only be expected to take off the same way Allen’s first release did. While Allen has a love-hate relationship with the press, her fans stand by her light heartedness, respect her straight forward writing, and have learned from her not to take anything too seriously-something I hope she continues to hold onto in her music.
[www.myspace.com/lilymusic]
Tags: Album Review, Local Music
