The Fear

Stop the presses! Lily Allen in doing-something-worthy-of-merit shocker! For the last year or so, the gobby queen of the LDN scene hasn't really done much other than get drunk, get angry and blog. It's been 877(!) days since her debut "Alright, Still" came out (and even longer since biggest hit "Smile"), which was full of ska-pop tunes which soundtracked that summer.But all that's changed now. Gone is the cod-reggae and Vicky Pollard image, and in comes synth-pop and a more mature, wiser Lily. Starting off with soft acoustic guitar plucking and lyrics which are about as sarcastic as me, Chandler Bing and Bill Hicks in a room together.

It's pretty clear that Ms. Allen has the lobotomised, reality TV-adoring Barbies of the world (well hello, Pussycat Dolls) in her sights, and so she should too. For far too long, Big Brother wannabees have been clogging up pretty much every media outlet in the country and it's time for it too stop.

The song goes on with increasing levels or cynicism and sarcasm, bursting into an electro-pop stomper of a chorus, talking about the "fear" of the current celeb-fuelled world. I think I can smell another Number One going Lily Allen's way with this single. In terms of electro-pop, if this is any indicator of the quality of "It's Not Me, It's You", then Franz Ferdinand will have a struggle on their hand to better it.


9/10