Lily Allen

It's Not Me, It's You

Regal Records

Grade: B

Lily Allen is a star in Britain, with every step (and misstep) breathlessly covered by the media, which may give U.S. fans a distorted version of why she matters.

It's Not Me, It's You is back to make the case. Allen is a great singer and a very good songwriter, and when those two connect it can be magic. Rather than be intimidated by what has happened to her now-tabloid life, she takes it in as part of the human experience.

Everyone's at It is a rant against drugs, illegal or otherwise, and the top-to-bottom dependencies being developed, from crack addicts to Prozac users.

"I don't know what's right and what's real anymore," she sings in The Fear, a song about doing whatever it takes to become rich and famous and the mixed messages in society. "Life's about film stars, and less about mothers."

In 22, she sings of a woman who can't find happiness in her personal or professional life: "It's sad but it's true how society says her life is already over." A song with an unprintable title takes aim at racism and war, but in a shallow way that misses the mark, as do Never Gonna Happen and Back to the Start, a pair of kiss-off songs to a lover that are just a little too cute.

While pointing out some of the shallowness of society, she's not afraid to indulge in it herself. In Not Fair she laments that her lover is perfect in every way - except in bed.

Him, however, is the soul of the album, with the Him in question being God. "Do you think he's pleased? ... Do you think he'd think the things we do are a waste of time?" she wonders, painting God as perhaps unsure what to do next with humanity: "Ever since he can remember / People have died in his good name ... he doesn't know who's right or wrong." The bigger questions are also dosed with humor - apparently, according to Allen, God is a big Creedence Clearwater Revival fan.

Forget the tabloid image. Allen's songwriting is going to be remembered far longer than a public spat with Elton John.

Mark Brown is the popular music critic. Brownm@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2674

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