Lily Allen - It's Not Me, It's You

Rating:

* * * *

It's easy to forget how Lily Allen came to the world's attention. Cavorting around town in too-short skirts and stumbling drunkenly out of clubs, Allen is mentally lumped with all those other "it" girls, famous for not-a-lot. But before the tabloids even knew her name, she had a fervent fan following on MySpace and won the hearts of many a music writer with her sweet, saccharine voice and sharp, cutting lyrics.

When her debut album

Alright, Still

arrived out of nowhere in 2007, it was a breath of fresh air from an unknown scamp.

Two years later, the follow-up

It's Not Me, It's You

arrives in a much different climate.

The synths and sirens of

Everyone's At It

and

The Fear

make for a frosty start to the record, especially when paired with curiously hypocritical (or are they self-satirising?) lyrics.

But just when you think Allen's gone all serious on you, she pulls out the deliciously bitchy i - about a lover's sexual incompetence - that defies you not to smile. An electro-bluegrass backing track only adds to the silliness.

Likewise the accordion gypsy swing of

Never Gonna Happen

takes the poisonous sting out of the track, aimed at a lovelorn young man who just won't get the message.

But the most direct - and best track of the album - is the delightful cheeky farewell to George W. Bush,

F*** You

, set to a Carpenters-style piano melody and complete with Chipmunk harmonies.

Elsewhere on the record, Allen muses on wider social trends -

Everyone's at It

is about recreational drug use and

22

is a sad commentary on young women today - and more personal experiences.

I Could Say

and

Back to the Start

are classic cathartic break-up tracks, the former blaming him, the latter taking responsibility for the split. While

Chinese

is an ode to her mother - who has always been there for her - and

He Wasn't There

is a song of forgiveness, aimed at her often absentee father.

Paired with Greg Kurstin's inspired, eclectic production - which takes listeners from neon-lit nightclubs to 1920s Vaudeville music halls - the album reminds you exactly why Allen became famous to start with.

Joanna Hunkin