Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Lily Allen Wears Too Many Crowns On Sheezus

Lily Allen has always made great music that sticks out from the crowd of over-manufactured pop tarts. On 2006's Alright, Still Allen mixed pop in with ska, reggae and hip hop. On 2009's It's Not Me, It's You Allen had forsaken all things dancehall for a synthpop outing with elements of country and jazz thrown in. Both albums had lyrics dealing with social commentary and family and romantic relationships.
On Sheezus, out earlier this month, Allen mixes in all those things into one album and it's not always the best thing.
From social commentary on the dubstep-filled "URL Badman" or the funky "Insincerely Yours" or married life on "As Long as I've Got You," Allen does good on these songs. Other songs that Allen pulls off with ease are the electropop first single "Hard out Here" and "Take My Place." The latter is the most emotional songs on the record, dealing with the miscarriage Allen suffered in 2008.
Some songs aren't as memorable as others. "Close Your Eyes" is a slow R&B song that is meant to sexy but it doesn't turn out successful. "Life for Me" is a silly song that is about married life, however Allen has done this song better on this album and this song comes off as redundant and annoying.
The two best songs on the record are the title track and second single "Air Balloon." The title track is a sarcastic pop song that deals with the world's obsession with pop divas.
"Ri Ri isn't scared of Katy Perry's roaring/ Queen B's gone back to the drawing/ Lorde smells blood yeah she's about to slay you/ Kid ain't one to fuck with but she's only on her debut/ We're all watching Gaga/ Lol oh ha ha/ Dying for the art so really she's a martyr/ Second place will never cut it for the divas/ Gimmie that crown bitch/ I wanna be Sheezus," Allen sings during the chorus.
The song references Kanye West's 2013 album Yeezus. "Air Balloon" is another synthpop song that has bubblegum pop influences and social commentary in it's lyrics.
This album is good, it's just weighed down by the many styles of music Allen attempts to pull off. Hopefully on her next one she'll cut down on the many different hats and truly become Sheezus.

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