Here are two secrets about Lily Allen’s return to the ring, Sheezus.
1. She did it for the money
2. It’s better than she seems to think it is.
In interviews Lily has been self-deprecation personified: “I think there’s probably better to come from me and there’s been better stuff in the past as well. I was just relieved to have something that slightly resembled me.” Following Amy Winehouse’s death four years ago, Lily, the bad girl of modern girlie pop, retired to marriage and motherhood. Her return has been heralded with stories of Lily in tears as she says goodbye to her kids before returning to the world of fame and money and hit rock albums.
It was the money that brought her back but she is a real pop star and while lyrically she doesn’t have the reflexes quite where she needs them, Sheezus is what she pay your money for: a poison bon bon of cultural hubris which if never less than a blast of energy and deliverances, is nothing more than a by the numbers Lily album. Certainly compared to her own litany of girl competitors, Lady Gaga, Lorde, Katy Perry, Lily hasn’t missed much of her top spin.
The bolts itself fast and hard to the masthead with the tight sweet sneer and the music biz opening “Sheezus” and maintains its cool sneer through M.I.A. rips, Def Jam nods, and odes to married life. That all these work so well is astounding. Not just the dance nods and disco slaps but the grafted pleasure of married life “As Long As I Have You” which cooks em some gum stew of melody and zydeco. A song this sweet needs no excuse from this side of the aisle.
“As Long As I Have You” and “Close Your Eyes” are two pieces of straight up happy stuff, surrounded by misery to be back in the ring tracks on all sides. It skips through modern pop soundscapes with ease and at its most reflexively meta manages to bring the track.
Only a couple of these songs don’t sell themselves very well, “URL Badman” “I don’t like you, I think you’re worthless, I wrote a big piece about it on my WordPress” she sneers at the wordsmiths of the world, and while I don’t mind the dig, I wish the song was a little better.
Lily has put herself up in battle with her peers and while that may well be a little silly, if you take it at face value it is a fight she has absolute won. Sheezus is a damn good album whatever Lily might think to the contrary.
Grade: A-
