Who honestly thought Lily Allen would make it this far? In this post-major label music world female pop stars crash and burn with the seasons and new ones rise with a MySpace page and blog in hand. For every Allen there is a Winehouse waiting in the wings.
Allen has drunkenly sparred with everyone from Katy Perry to Elton John at awards shows since her bright and refreshing 2006 debut “Alright Still which sold more than 2.5 million copies in its first year. Allen was the first of many British neo-pop singers to cross the Atlantic (i.e. Adele, Estelle and Duffy). Today she still continues her role as the sarcastic, brash foul-mouthed observer in her newly released album It’s Not Me It’s You.”
Arguably one of the biggest releases for the English this year “Still” has brought Allen more interviews and press junkets than one could count. But one thing has been clear in all of the stories: She has changed from attention-seeking tabloid fodder to a homebody. However Allen still uses her hip-hop style sparring with her competitors but with a different and more effective delivery.
Allen ditched former collaborator Mark Ronson (Amy Winehouse Kaiser Chiefs) and the ska/swing combination he employed on her debut (and Winehouse’s) to a darker more adult-orientated pop of LA-native Greg Kurstin (The Bird and the Bee Britney Spears Kylie Minogue).
The combination of Kurstin and Allen provides the most original background music from a pop star in a long time. Allen’s too-personal lyrics give an almost feminist vibe and they vary from complaining about the perfect boyfriend who severely lacks in the lovemaking department (the electro-bluegrass “Not Fair”) to her swing-style W. Bush-bashing “F*** You.” Allen covers everything in between becoming a perfect observer to the life she has created for herself as a partying pop star desperate for change.
“I don’t know what’s right and what’s real anymore/I don’t know how I’m meant to feel anymore/When do you think it will all become clear Allen sings over the electro-pop synths on the impressive lead single The Fear.” The range of her voice uses her English-cockney accent to barely crack a depressed smile over each track.
Elsewhere when Allen is not making verbose statements about drug use or her lovers’ limitations she turns the camera on herself to startling results. You have not been in love if you can’t relate to Allen on the easy-going piano ballad “Who’d Have Known.”
“And I’m becoming/Amazed how/You’re quite affectionate in public/In fact your friend/Said it made her feel sick/And even though it’s moving forward/There’s just the right amount of awkward Allen sings over a blatant Goldfrapp-piano rip-off.It’s hit and miss on Never Gonna Happen where Allen needs to put a (presumably Burberry) boot down on a relationship. But I don’t understand what else a girl in my positions’ to do/ Now I know you feel betrayed/ It’s been a week since I got laid Allen sings to no avail over accordions.
But despite some slips, Kurstin makes each track sound fantastic and fresh as each song switches styles and tempo from the one before it. Electro-pop, traditional ballads, bluegrass, swing and ragtime piano – yep, they are all in there. Kurstin mashes and bashes each contemporary piece to mold around Allen’s melodies and moods. The change of intensity from track to track definitely keeps the listeners on their toes. The songs are what a major label could only dream of – a successful attempt at defeating the sophomore slump.
Even with urstin manning the soundboards, Still” wouldn’t be complete without Allen’s trials and tribulations as a songwriter. Who else could take on governments drugs and premature ejaculation? With Allen we get a true if not flawed pop star who wears it all on her sleeve.