Review - Lily Allen - Sheezus

After stepping out of the spotlight and dramatically “retiring” several years ago, Lily Allen has kept a fairly low profile, only appearing on a track here or there. What we didn’t know was that she was quietly recording a follow up album...only a year or so after her “retirement” (note how I keep using quotation marks).

‘Sheezus’ is a delightful return of one of pop’s great outliers; a breath of fresh air from the electro dance pop radio fodder of Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and the like (whom she name drops in the title track). Sure, it’s produced by Greg Kurstin and Shellback (names attached to almost all of the biggest hits these days), but Lily is careful to make sure she stands out from the other women on her level.

Allen also continues her reign as the star in pop with the biggest mouth, never missing an opportunity to speak her mind on any topic. Lead single “Hard Out Here” is a call for men to “grow a pair of tits”, and a play on the Oscar-winning track “Hard Out Here For A Pimp”, which makes it even more brilliant. The album bounces from her speaking on women’s issues and her children to fun anthems like “Air Balloon” and “Our Time”.

No matter what she’s saying or the tune behind it, Lily Allen is incapable of creating a bad (or less-than-catchy) pop tune.

Listen to: “Hard Out Here”, “Air Balloon”, “L8 CMMR”, “URL Badman”