Most Disappointing Music of 2009 #2

2nd Most Disappointing Album of 2009 – Lily Allen’s “It’s Not You It’s Me”

Unlike Wolfmother’s second album, Cosmic Egg, where the band’s style didn’t change enough, Lily Allen changed her entire musical style between albums. Her first album, Alright Still, bounced between dance, synth-pop, and just enough hip-hop to spice things up. No single style dominated the album. I’ll say more about Alright Still at a later time, because I really liked it. For now, I’ll just say that hearing her first album was an appetitzer for more. But the chef changed the recipe half-way through, to strain the metaphor. Read more tortured metaphors after the break.



On her second album, Allen plays with country music (“Not Fair”), political commentary (“F*ck You”) and a couple kinds of synth-pop ballad (“I Could Say” and “Who’d Have Known”), and the overall tone of her music is darker and more pessimistic. The pessimism on Alright Still was disguised by bouncy music and clever lyrics, but here it’s exposed for all to see (compare “LDN” to “I Could Say” and “Not Big” to “Not Fair”).

This blatant pessimism was the thing that really ruined the album for me; if I want to hear depressing pop, I’ll listen to Coldplay. Not only that, but I felt the songs were a bit weaker and less catchy than the ones from Alright Still. There were still a few gems, though – when Allen hits the synth-pop on “The Fear” and “Back to the Start” she shines.

Track Rundown:
1. “Everyone’s At It”: At first, it kind of sounds like a The Killers track, but it relies more on drums and bass than synth and guitar like they do. The song’s about how ‘everyone’s at it,’ it being drugs – recreational and prescription. Maybe this is a big problem in Allen’s peer cohort (geez, do I sound like a sociologist!), but it’s much less one in mine. I don’t have the numbers on hand, but I think Allen might be overestimating exactly how many people are ‘at it.’ Actually, this song smacks of those 10 o’clock news stories that have equal parts sensationalism and fear-mongering (geez, do I sound like a journalist!). Finally, the song doesn’t do much else than complain that everyone’s at it and point out how tired Allen is of that scene; no specific stories are being told, and no resolution is suggested. Maybe that’s just a sign of her/our generation’s way of dealing with social problems.
2. “The Fear”: Someday, this song will be played during the first act of a Disney movie. It’s what people in the Trope Identification industry refer to as an “I Want Song” http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/IWantSong. Actually, this song is basically the formula for the making of today’s media starlets. What Allen seems to want here is the quickest way to get famous, even though she’s conflicted at how she’s supposed to feel about it (this “The Fear” she keeps talking about seems a little unconnected with the rest of the song. What is she fearing?). “I am a weapon of massive consumption….” Makes this song seem like a companion piece to Green Day’s “Last of the American Girls” (even though that song made me think more of the 80s than the present, but I digress). Music-wise, it’s synth-pop, but the tone seems a little bit depressed and aimless, just like the life the song describes.
3. “Not Fair”: Ah, Lily Allen does country… great. The music is supposed to be a homage to or a knock-off of a Dixie Chicks type song. I guess. It doesn’t really fit in musically with the first two songs. But hey, it’s different and different is good! Right? Anyway, the song lyrics tell of a emotionally and platonically healthy relationship deepsixed by lack of skill in the bedroom. I sure hope this isn’t an autobiographical song, because there is such a thing as too much information. Not to mention “Not Big” from the first album, which follows the same theme, except it’s hip-hop instead of country, and she seems to exult in the dressing down of her partner. In “Not Fair” she seems sad and disappointed. But I notice that it doesn’t seem like she’s actually communicating with her guy about the problems. Interesting conflict resolution, Lily.
4. “22”: I can describe only describe this as a melancholy reggae song. Which should be an oxymoron. The lyrics tell of a young woman who’s living an unfulfilled life and hoping for something better to swoop down and rescue her. She’s searching for something lasting to grab onto in her life, but she’s only getting temporary and fleeting contact with the people around her. “22” might, might, be the most depressing song on the album. I’d compare it to “Everything’s Just Wonderful” from Alright Still, but that song had a shred of optimism buried deep within it. “22” has no such thing.
5. “I Could Say”: Here, we have Lily Allen hiding optimistic lyrics into an understated, mellow melody. Thematically it’s similar to “Smile” and “Knock Em Out” from Alright Still, though the song’s presented much differently, i.e. without the schadenfreude and good-nature of the other two. Musically the song’s a piano ballad that edges towards The Killers’ style synth hits. Lyrically, the song’s about a girl breaking up with her boyfriend because she can’t see any sort of future in their relationship, and then reveling in how free she feels and how much better her life is post-breakup. Interestingly, if you listen to “22” and “I Could Say” right after each other, the latter has a lyric that goes: “I could say I’ll always have feelings for you/But I’ve got a life ahead of me and I’m only 22…” Huh, how about that?
6. “Back to the Start”: Musically, this starts out closer to “Boom Boom Pow” than anything serious. The song’s about realizing how terrible Allen was to somebody she was competing with all her life, and realizing how much she regretted being mean to them, and hoping to reconstruct the relationship. This is another song I don’t particularly like due to not really identifying with the subject matter. I think there’s studies somewhere that girls and women are capable of holding these sorts of really long grudges, but that it’s less common for guys. Another reason is that it’s a little to dance/trance for my taste.
7. “Never Gonna Happen”: This song seems Italian for some reason. I think it’s the accordion and the oom-pah. The song’s subject matter bugs me too. As far as I can tell, it’s about a girl rejecting a guy’s interest, but then phoning him up for a quickie, then telling him she doesn’t love him (though he does, and via bombastic declarations). It just seems like a really mean thing to do. I can’t tell if it’s supposed to be a novelty joke song like “Alfie” from Alright Still or not, but I don’t really think so.
8. “F*ck You”: Up until this point, you could play this album around your grandma and not feel real bad about the subject matter. Unless she’s deaf or a real hardcore anti-Bush person, she won’t enjoy this one. The tone’s cheery and all, but I just can’t get over the blatant message. It’s kind of curious why Allen decided to add such an American-oriented song to a relatively chill album. Oh wait, no it’s not. She’s popular over here. Duh. Sells more albums. Right. Never mind. What ever it takes, kiddo…
9. “Who’d Have Known”: Here’s the other romantic ballad of the album, along with “The Fear” and maybe “I Could Say.” The difference between this and “I Could Say” is that Allen’s actually happy and satisfied in her budding relationship with the dude. Which is nice and all, good for her, but after the likes of “Not Fair” and “Never Gonna Happen” it seems a little schitzo. It’s a nice song and all, and one of the ones I like better, but the blatant optimism is pretty jarring, what with the tone of the preceding 8 songs.
10. “Chinese”: “Chinese” is clearly set in the same relationship as “Who’d Have Known.” She just sounds like she’s in such bliss. I’d imagine there was a drastic change in Allen’s relationship status during the making of this album. She was in one she wasn’t happy in (“Everyone’s At It”, “Not Fair,” “22,” “I Could Say,” “F*ck You,” and “Never Gonna Happen”) which she ended triumphantly and started a much happier one, where she’s feeling more benevolent (“Back to the Start,” “Who’d Have Known,” “Chinese,” and maybe the rest of them).
11. “Him”: Part 3 of the Lily Allen in Love Saga. Except this one’s about religion for some reason, but I’ll include it because it’s in the latter day ‘Benevolent Lily’ mode. Basically this song is a knock off of that “What if God is one of us…” song, except filled with references to modern young people’s lives. It’s really interesting, if you’ll permit me to go slightly off topic (and since I don’t really like this song, I’ve got little more to say about it), how my generation deals with faith. Supposedly, according to the Gen-Y books I’ve read, we’re a grab-bag of different stuff, but I’ve really only encountered people who’s faith is really understated (as in not cartoony religious right-type) or atheists. Maybe it’s just a factor of living up in the northern Midwest rather than anywhere near the south and the Bible Belt. I wonder how people down there would react to this song. They’d probably think it was blasphemous; how dare she compare The Lord to measly little Gen-Y kids. Lynch the Brit! (ahem) Moving on…
12. “He Wasn’t There”: This one’s a lot closer to some of the songs on Alright Still. The music sounds like a 40s jazz record, with Allen filling in the role of the singer. Lyrically, it melds the classic “My Guy” type song with something close to a religious-y song. It’s ambiguous. Ultimately, just as the sweet guitar riffs in “Spirit in the Sky” aren’t enough to redeem the message, I think there’s a similar case here. Maybe? Not sure.
13. “Kabul Shit”: Hoo boy, just reading the title makes me squirm a little bit. To be perfectly honest, I hate it when bands get political. Just because you make a bit of money on the touring circuit doesn’t mean you need to broadcast your opinions to your listeners. At least not in song. Save it for interviews and articles. Especially when they’re doing it more to be trendy than they actually believe it. I’m not questioning Allen’s belief that saving the environment is good and killing people over religion is bad, but I do question the choice of putting all these opinions into one song. If I want to hear from a political pop star, I’ll listen to U2. Is this song a remix of “Everyone’s At It”? The melody is close. I think this one, “F*ck You” and “Everyone’s At It” are my least favorite tracks on the album.
14. “Fag Hag”: The song’s about as non-PC as the title suggests. The placement of this song (right after the super-political “Kabul Shit”) makes me think this is supposed to be another novelty song. It’s a weird one to put as the last track. And if the Wikipedia page is to be believed, it’s a weird song to end your music career on (Also in September 2009 Allen announced that she is considering a career in acting and that she will not renew her record contract. – Wikipedia).

Like I said before, I’m all for artists reinventing themselves and their acts. To change is to live. But Lily Allen might have been better served establishing one style before reinventing herself. I’m also really disappointed to learn that she probably won’t be making any new albums. An unsubstantiated bit on Wikipedia claims it’s because she isn’t making money due to people downloading her music illegally. Thanks a lot, internet pirates. Thanks.