The music world is rife with young, female pop singers these days. If the Grammys are any indication, most of the good ones are British. One singer that was overlooked at this year's awards ceremony is continuing the phenomenon.
Lily Allen's newest album, It's Not Me, It's You, is a poppy wonderland that fits into the fabric of the current music scene. But there's a wonderful apathy to the desires of others snuck in between the lines of computerized bass and keyboard arrangements that saved this album from being written off.
Everyone's At It is easy to tune out since it becomes repetitive about halfway through, along with the single The Fear. There are plenty of dance club and techno hits, but those don't add anything particularly new.
Thankfully the album improves as it goes along, adding some funk and some vaudevillian pop. There's even some pleasantly folksy country like you'd hear in the Sega Genesis racing video games on Not Fair.
The track 22 is good, solid pop that could be from a modern Dusty Springfield, and includes some genuine piano work for a few seconds to interrupt the constant barrage of virtual instruments.
But it is the songs when she smarts off that make this album incredibly addicting and hilarious. She is the female version of Ben Folds, especially on Never Gonna Happen and a song with a title that is unprintable.
I hated the latter song at first because of the keyboard demo intro, but then the incredibly cheeky vocals about what a judgmental person can do with their opinions make it possibly the best song of the album. It's also probably a song that some people who have read my reviews would like to dedicate to me. But this song's so good, I'll take it.
Even censored it includes horse neighs and kazoo sounds over the objectionable words that just serve to emphasize the playfulness of the kiss-off.
This album doesn't have the depth of, say, an Alanis Morissette album of bitterness, but that makes it better. Allen doesn't take herself (or anyone else for that matter) seriously, and it might cause some listeners to skip down the street offending innocent bystanders with her happy song. Now that's rock and roll.
3 Culture
Susan Tebben
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