The Musicgoer: Lily Allen's It's Not Me, It's You

LILY ALLEN
It’s Not Me, It’s You
(EMI)
**** (out of 5)

If we have to have overexposed pop stars in the world, then why can’t more of them be like Lily Allen, who has a wicked sense of humour, a candour that never crosses over into exhibitionism, a great eye for fashion, and a bubbly personality that practically spills over the edges of her new disc It’s Not Me, It’s You.

This one is as full of funny couplets as her 2006 breakthrough Alright, Still — “I’m not a saint, I’m not a sinner / Everything’s cool, as long as I’m getting thinner,” she chirps on “The Fear” — and “Not Fair” shows she’s still willing to take her boyfriends down a peg or two for their failings in the bedroom. But there are also songs here like “Chinese” and “Who’d Have Known,” two of the loveliest odes to cozy, dull domesticity since “Tea for Two.” She even gets away with addressing a song to George W. Bush and calling it “Fuck You” — it’s such a jaunty, upbeat sendoff to a small-minded era that even Dick Cheney might tap his toes along with it while he arranges for her phone to be wiretapped.