Still Wouldn’t Want To Be Her Brother

I previously blogged about Lily Allen and just a short time later, Sheezus came out. Since I simply love to drive the GrandTour in a moebius loop falling in on in itself, I’m jumping a couple steps back to cover it..

NOW.

First off, with “Sheezus” Lily continued to piss people off, mixing feminism with vulgarity and loaded imagery. Let’s take “Hard Out Here.” Twerking, commercialism, cultural appropriation and sexism in one catchy auto tuned jingle.

All the same, in the midst of the usual pop snark, is one of the sweetest songs I’ve ever heard Lily sing. She covered Keane’s “Somewhere Only We Know” for the bonus disc. Now, the original is one of my favorite songs. And while no one could fault Lily for lack of emotional investment in her songs, one would seldom site them for simple, pure unadulterated sweetness. Her cover gets the perfect mix of heartbreak and hope. The video… with it’s mix of animation and making of, uses alienation to get a similar effect. Seeing the animators working so hard so brief moments of animation is a perfect analogy for both Allen and the song. So hard, for so little, and it’s worth it.

So if you haven’t gotten this album yet, get it. Try to get the bonus disc as well. “Sheezus” may not hit the five stars her earlier albums did, but it’s a fine line. Lily Allen continues to have fun with touchy subjects, writing catchy tunes with brains and soul. And if she pisses people off, well, that’s gravy.

Artist: Lily Allen
Album: Sheezus
Year: 2014
Date Listened in Tour: 5/19/14
Rating: ****
Best Songs: “Somewhere Only We Know”, “Hard Out Here”