It's Not Me - It's Most Certainly HER! (It's Not Me It's You - Lily Allen)

Member Name: GramiWay

Product:	It's Not Me It's You - Lily Allen
Date:	02/06/09 (85 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A handful of good songs

Disadvantages: Most of the songs especially 'Not Fair'. Samey, boring and unimaginative vocals, repetitive etc

Lily Allen...
The things that come to mind when I think of her as a person are not very pleasant and would probably get me into trouble if I said them. Personally, I think she has an awful personality and she sees fit to abuse other people's talent when she is evidently lacking it herself in certain areas...

Anyway, despite my personal dislike for her, her breakthrough record 'Alright Still' released back in summer 2006 was a lyrical masterpiece and actually very creative and clever so it was with a hasty shake of my biased attitude towards the singer that I borrowed 2009's second attempt 'It's Not Me It's You' from my best friend and sat down to see whether or not Lily could impress me again.

Sadly 'It's Not Me, It's You' is a devastating comedown from her previous heights and is a record that is soaked in potential but is doused in poor vocals and the same repetitive and generic beats. In short, it's a lazy follow up that has one or two strong songs on it and the rest just seem like they've been stuck on and rush released to generate some cash for poor lil' Lily.

The best track is easily number 1 single 'The Fear', which is a tongue in cheek poke at the celebrity world and it's values. Lily has embraced a more electro style this time round though there's still evident influences of ska and RNB grooves bouncing around the CD. 'The Fear' has a hypnotic beat and the whoel song works its way around you like it's some sort of dreamworld. Lily's vocals are spot on as she protests about the world we live in with a touch of gleeful yet energetic innocence in her voice. It's very clever and is something different for both the artist and the music scene though it seems that Lily has just continued to recycle its format over and over for the rest of the album.

'Everyone's At It' is one of the less annoying tracks on the album due to the fact that Lily's vocal don't sound like a strangled child who is merely just speaking the lyrics rather than singing them. It has a twirling beat and an infectious melody whilst the tongue in cheek style does wear a tad thin, the song has very interesting lyrics about drug abuse.

'Not Fair' annoyed the hell out of me from the moment it started. Using a very clever western style beat that sounds like it's pounced straight out of a cowboy film, the song soon slides downhill with Lily's awful drawl about not being satisfied in bed. It seems to me like we've heard this all before on her last album though she's just gone and jumped on the electro bandwagon that's currently taking over. I find it hard to take her seriously when the subject matter is so ridiculous and her vocals are so weak that they're barely audible over the accompanying melody.

'22' and 'I Could Say' are easily saving moments for what is an awfully constructed album. The former again has a very childlike feel to it but its bouncy, feel good melody was enough to get me tapping along in time to the music. 'I Could Say', again uses the same recycled electro formula that's been present on every track so far though Lily this time sounds more sincere and emotional. The production is equally polished and gives the songs a quaint yet modernised feel whilst also forging their own individuality.

To further reinforce my point about the recycled beats and ideas listen to 'Back To The Start'. It sounds like the aborted and abused child of 'The Fear' with Lily 'talking' as fast as she can to try and disguise this fact. It's lazy and you struggle to shake the tune of the aforementioned track out of your head as you listen leaving you extremely disorientated.

A lot of people seem to be going crazy over 'Fuck You'. Apart from the obvious reason for people being drawn to the track this is just 'Lily Allen uses bad words and a 'puppet on a string' esque tune' Part 79. I can't see the appeal in it at all and it just causes my disappointment with the record to swell. 'Who'd Have Known' on the other hand sounds like Lily has stolen the melody to Take That's 'Shine' and thrown her own lyrics in. Whether or not this is intentional or not I couldn't find from any research about the album but it's a nice little tune that is again let down by her monotone and dull voice.

The other tracks on offer here are nice enough and I do admit that there isn't a track apart from 'Not Fair' that is completely awful but there's just something lacking here from the formula that reaches out and grabs you and convinces you that this a record worth investing in.

A note for anybody reading who may wish to purchase this CD for their children. There are two versions of the record which are exactly identical bar from the fact that one removes all the explicit language and believe me there's a lot of it! Acoustic versions of 'The Fear' and final track 'He Wasn't There' are also included.

Lily Allen seems to be riding a crest of fame purely on her ability to cram as many swear words and insults into a song as she can. Her writing style is brilliant and I have no cricitisms against it as she manages to weave realistic and humourous tales that jump out at you and make you stand up and take notice. However, a lot of the lyrical ideas on 'It's Not Me It's You' are just recycled from her last album and in my honest opinion, she could easily make a name for herself writing for other artists. As a singer I just don't think she is any good. Her vocals are lazy, she can hardly sing in tune and she adopts the same techniques all the time. Whilst she may have got a new image and a new bag of electro beats and special effects that sound like something from a child's toy behind her, I'm not impressed with this record though judging by its success across the world, I must be one of the only ones...

A complete tracklist for those who wish:

01 - Everyone's At It 08/10
02 - The Fear 10/10
03 - Not Fair 02/10
04 - 22 07/10
05 - I Could Say 09/10
06 - Back To The Start 04/10
07 - Never Gonna Happen 03/10
08 - Fuck You 06/10
09 - Who'd Have Known 06/10
10 - Chinese 05/10
11 - Him 05/10
12 - He Wasn't There 03/10

Summary: Shows that she's clearly not 'alright still'