February 6, 200916 yr It's Not Me, It's You Review Everyone's At It. 9/10 The lyrics are so clever, it's not really that catchy but I keep humming the bit after 'everyone's at it" The Fear 10/10 This one of my highlights from the album. Perfect and so catchy, again the lyrics are very meaning full (but I guess I could say that for more than half the album). Not Fair. 9/10 This song would even please my dad just because of the style the song is. The lyrics are so funny and it could possibly a future single 22. 7/10 My least favorite song from the album. A bit dull in places but does pick up around the chorus, but it's just not grown on me as the others I Could Say. 8/10 I never really though Lily could do slow tracks but I Could Say kind of is a slow one and is really good. The futuristic sound could've made Girls Aloud quiver in their boots Back To The Start 10/10 The second favorite song on the album because it's energetic and the chorus is amazing, fast and tiny bit complicated makes it pure gold Never Gonna Happen 8/10 We've had country/western so why not include a spanish number. It's verses are really good but the chorus seems to be a bit slower and the spanish vibe isn't used in it :( f*** You 10/10 Possibly everyone's favorite song from the album! I adore it, it's lyrics are so funny and the high picted f*** You's send me on a laughing spree (the best bit where the f*** You's become Chipmunked). This needs to be her second single because she'll have another massive hit on her hands Who'd Of Known 6/10 Like I've recently said I've never enjoyed slow Lily tracks and it's the same for this song. The lyrics are sweet and catchy but it's just a bit flat. And the last "alo-ooo-oo-ne" it makes it really depressing Chinese 8/10 I file this under "B" for "Blogtastic". The lyrics are absolutely random but it's a hard time to get them out of your head Him 9/10 Really enjoyed this track because of it's Goldfrapp kind of feel. Her voice does seem to be out of place in some parts. He Wasn't There 8/10 To finish of the album is this old 50's sounding track. Many people don't like it, but I like it because of the funny tune playing throughout the song. Overall 9.8/10* *The lyrics are written perfectly, and deal with most issues surrounding most people's love lives and other things. Many are also quite random and puts a smile on my face and in some cases makes me laugh a tiny bit. The variety of the album is also great because that's what made me love her first album, this time we have country, 50's melodies and spanish vibbed music which makes the album a very interesting mixed bag. The only problem with this album is possibly the slow tracks, I've never enjoyed her slow tracks because I don't think they really suite her and it's the same issue here. Plus in 1 or 2 songs her voice seems to be out of place on certain parts. But I've really enjoyed the album, mainly because of the chorus parts of all the songs, so catchy and funny. And my highlight has to be "f*** You"
February 7, 200916 yr K, since I've pre-ordered the album I'm not letting myself listen to all the tracks full length but I had to give 'Back To The Start' a spin and my God is it fabulous or what!? Do we know if it's the next single yet?
February 7, 200916 yr Author Not sure yet. Hopfully we'll get some news on that in the coming weeks. Fuck You had better be a single
February 8, 200916 yr The album is outstanding! Better than Alright, Still. Also, it's #1 on iTunes and I think it can make #1 next Sunday! :o
February 8, 200916 yr I hope F You ISN'T a single. Not yet anyway. I Could Say really HAS to be released...
February 8, 200916 yr Author Fuck You would make an epic 4th single. Similar to Alfie :wub: Not Fair would make a good single. The Fear acoustic is just :heart:
February 8, 200916 yr Absolutely love this :wub: I like it MUCH more than 'Alright, Still' but I was never a big fan of that tbh! Rating: 09.0 Everyone's At It // Good album opener - possibly a future single? 09.5 The Fear // Great lead single 08.0 Not Fair // Not one of my favourites, but still a genuinely good song. 08.0 22 // I love the chorus to this. 10.0 I Could Say // One of my favourites. Not much changed from the demo, which I'm really pleased about 09.0 Back To The Start // The verses of this are great and I quite like the 'messiness' of the chorus 07.5 Never Gonna Happen // Not THAT keen on this, but still pretty good 08.5 F*** You // I like the new added-in bridge. Like others have said, the high-pitched f*** yous are fantastic! 09.0 Who'd Have Known // Really like this, Perhaps not as much as the demo, but the chorus is growing on me! 09.5 Chinese // Adore the chorus on this especially 10.0 Him // My favourite from the album. Just wonderful 06.0 He Wasn't There // Not too keen on this. Doesn't really seem to 'go' anywhere really Overall - 9/10 Brilliant album, only one song I would skip really - 'He Wasn't There'. Songs like 'Him', 'I Could Say' and 'Chinese' are the standout tracks for me, I guess the slower tracks.
February 8, 200916 yr K, my iTunes ratings: ****- Everyone's At It ***** The Fear ****- Not Fair ***-- 22 ***** I Could Say ***** Back To The Start ***-- Never Gonna Happen ****- f*** You ****- Who'd Of Known ***** Chinese ***-- Him **--- He Wasn't There
February 10, 200916 yr Everyone's At It - 9/10 - Typical Lily lyrics to shock, a great start to the album :P The Fear - 9/10 - Worthy number 1 hit :) Not Fair - 9/10 - A really unique song and it stands out on the album, I love the tune and the lyrics are :o :P 22 - 7/10 - A decent song, nothing special though. I Could Say - 8/10 - Again, a decent track, I don't think I can say it being a single though Back To The Start - 10/10 - The chorus is just epic :wub: Never Gonna Happen - 10/10 - Is it French, Russian, Spanish :P? Any way I really love this song, it would make a great third (or so :P) single F*** You - 10/10 - The non explicit version sounds funnier :P, but still this is a great hard hitting song with a great tune, very Alfie-esque Shine :kink: Who'd Have Known - 8/10 - A good song, but not particularly standout on such an amazing album Chinese - 10/10 - I liebe this song, it's just fantastic! Him - 10/10 - Some more shocking lyrics, but it's such a good song, there's not much to say about this album really :P! He Wasn't There - 8/10 - Nice song, I love the tune :P. Overall - AMAZING :D There is such variety on this album, every track is distinctive, not a bad track on it! Well worth the wait :)! Seriously, this is a contender for album of the year :P! Edited February 10, 200916 yr by nickthenoodle
February 12, 200916 yr Lily Allen: It's Not Me, It's You [Capitol; 2009] Rating: 6.6 "I might not write a very good second album. The thing to do is not take yourself so seriously. The moment when you sort of start to believe all that stuff is when you get in trouble." That's Lily Allen talking to this website in November 2006. At that point, her MySpace clarion of a debut, Alright, Still, was four months into what would become a 17-month stint on the UK's album chart. With her bluntly nonchalant, blog-like songwriting about dudes with small dicks, breezy beats worthy of a terrible Ska-lright, Still joke, and link-happy marketing campaign from the web up, Allen offered the music industry a way forward if not fiscally, at least artistically. She was the New Pop Star-- slight voice, bawdy, prom dress 'n' trainers, self-sufficient. The Anti-Idol. "Refreshing" followed her; "candid" was her friend. And, more than anything, Lily Allen was funny, excelling in the droll British humor of someone who had sold drugs in Ibiza at age 15 and realized the absurdity of a 15-year-old selling drugs in Ibiza. So it seems odd for this chart guerrilla to fall into so many trad-pop trappings on sophomore album It's Not Me, It's You. There's the sound: Alright, Still's hissy, homey samples are booted for decidedly more streamlined and schizophrenic backdrops. The voice: Allen's conversational and unpredictable flow is replaced with broad, upfront lines. The words: Since she's the story day after day now, the singer's journalistic wisecracks have turned inward-- and this time Lily's taking on biggies like religion, family strife, and drug abuse. The publicity: photo shoots for every wheezing print mag left, including brooding black and whites for Interview and Blender. She's taking herself a bit more seriously, in other words. It's troublesome. But there is such a thing as good trouble. The push-pull between Lily's sober side and the side that slurred about how she'd "still f***" 82-year-old Tony Bennett at an awards show last year can make for some appealing and slippery social commentary. Take first single "The Fear", part admission, part brag, part apocalyptic vision. "I want to be rich and I want lots of money/ I don't care about clever, I don't care about funny," she starts, "I want loads of clothes and f***loads of diamonds/ I heard people die while they're trying to find them." For almost any other artist, the lines would be barbed, sarcastic, and, ultimately, uppity and bland indictments. But not for the loudmouth who recently told Spin about how she hopes to marry a multi-millionaire and admitted to The New York Times that she spent $143,000 on clothes and jewelry in 2008 alone. She's part of the problem and is plagued by an overwhelming sense of collapse; she has her cake, throws it around the restored dining room and then feels a tinge of panic while observing the mess. This is perceptive pop for a consumer culture OD'ing on consumer culture and Houdini investments. "I don't know what's right and what's real anymore," she confesses, sounding like the world's loneliest Real World alum. When she turns her nose up at easy targets-- W., faith, hypocritical druggies-- this typically beyond-her-years 23-year-old can seem naïve. Futuristic Justice-meets-Care Bears synths flit by as Allen condemns cracked-out teens and their prescription parents on "Everyone's At It", but such revelations come off about as insightful as one of those "but Dad, I learned it from you" PSA's. Righty-baiting "f*** You" utilizes "Sesame Street" piano plinks to serve its too-goofy hook-- and makes it clear just how easily Allen's winsome brattiness can turn into grating novelty. In her Spin cover story, she talked about her penchant for older men, complaining how 25-year-olds "think they know everything and they're just f***ing idiots." Given songs like "f*** You"-- and considering her usually savvy self-awareness-- the quote is particularly unfortunate. Aside from a couple Alright, Still-type kiss-offs-- the quotable country lark "Not Fair" about an underwhelming bedmate and oom-pah circus lark "Never Gonna Happen"-- Sincere Lily takes grip on the rest of the LP. Family-minded tracks "Back to the Start" and "He Wasn't There" attempt (and fail) to hide rote therapy maxims behind maddening electro and faux-jazz, respectively. Britney/Kylie/Nelly producer Greg Kurstin works like a radio-ready Jon Brion, tossing out disparate styles with ease, but the stunt arrangements sometimes sound entirely divorced from Lily's accompanying sentiments. But form meets function well on two mid-tempo love songs, "I Could Say" and especially "Who'd Have Known". An airy, angst-less rewrite of Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone", "I Could Say" is snarkless and lovely-- Kid Icarus theme music via bulletproof Europop. "Who'd Have Known" is prime Lily 2.0, growing up without the heavy-handed, 2D "maturity"; it's a knowing ode to early love and all the uncertainty, excitement and irrationality that goes along with it. "I don't have anything that I'm really passionate about. Maybe I just haven't found what it is yet. But it's not music, which is a shame, because it would be good if it was." That's Lily Allen talking to the New York Times last week. After the quick-hit success of her offhand debut, such a blasé attitude toward international success would be understandable, if a bit nuts. But, given the more considered It's Not Me, It's You, the quote comes off more like hedging; there will always be someone for vultures to photograph, but she's wise enough to know it might not always be her. Even if the new album can be cheaply on-the-nose and opportunistic at times, it's hard to root against Lily Allen. Her plight-- bare, self-conscious, petty, fearful-- is familiar. You see me; I see you. http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/reco...-not-me-its-you
February 12, 200916 yr as per usual, my favourite track is one not highly rated by a lot of others :lol: my review anyway: 1. Everyone's At It - love this, fantastic start to the album and would make a great, if controversial, single // 9/10 2. The Fear - obviously great, but by no means my favourite track on the album // 9/10 3. Not Fair - comedy country pop! not something that usually works but this is fantastic, reminds me of Alright Still era Lily // 9.5/10 4. 22 - love this, the lyrics are so true and the music is absolutely great, especially in the chorus // 9.5/10 5. I Could Say - beautiful song, I absolutely adore this // 9.5/10 6. Back To The Start - very fast paced! I do like it a lot but it's the weakest song on here so far for me // 8/10 7. Never Gonna Happen - sounds Austrian...the backing music sounds like Hermes House Band!!! Good song though, like the lyrics again and very much like Alright Still Lily again // 8/10 8. F*ck You - the BJSCVIII winner! This is a clever song, and I love the progression it's made since the demo // 9.5/10 9. Who'd Have Known - Shine is one of my favourite songs of recent years and this is a nice homage...she does ballads very well! // 9/10 10. Chinese - fantastic again, lyrics that I think most of us can relate to and brilliant melody and chorus // 9.5/10 11. Him - so...my favourite track! I think the lyrics are very clever, but the music is absolutely fantastic, really struck a chord with me...wouldn't make a very good single but sticks out for me as a very good album track // 10/10 12. He Wasn't There - shame this was put on the album as it's the only below 8/10 standard track...it's certainly not bad and is a grower but ruins the consistency a tad...at least it wasn't stuck in the middle of the album I suppose // 6.5/10 overall: despite the last track, this has got to be approaching pop perfection...the first 11 tracks are almost perfect in flow and mood, I absolutely love it, and I am a HUGE fan of Alright Still, this is excellent in a very different way and I am so pleased that she has lived up to the hype 9.5/10
February 12, 200916 yr 11. Him - so...my favourite track! I think the lyrics are very clever, but the music is absolutely fantastic, really struck a chord with me...wouldn't make a very good single but sticks out for me as a very good album track // 10/10 This is my favourite as well. Everything about it is just :wub: 'I Could Say' is definitely up there too though, I like her ballads more than the up-tempo songs I think :heart:
February 13, 200916 yr Interesting read from Pitchfork, though I'm not included to take anybody who rates Who'd Have Known as a highlight of this album too seriously. :heehee:
February 13, 200916 yr Wow I just got Lily's new album :wub: I love it, especially Chinese and F**k You. I put my CD into my computer to sign up to her Opendisc it's really cool with loads of extra videos stuf.
Create an account or sign in to comment