Lily Allen - Hard Out Here
Lily Allen has hinted at recording fresh solo material since last year, and on Tuesday (Nov. 12), the British pop star at long last unveiled a new song and video. "Hard Out Here" takes the "LDN" songstress into Auto-tuned, deeply sarcastic territory, as Allen tears into society's (and the music biz's) outlandish expectations for females.
"You should probably lose some weight, 'cuz we can't see your bones/You should probably fix your face, or you'll end up on your own," Allen sneers in the second verse of the bouncy song, which also takes aim at men who can openly brag about their sex lives while slut-shaming their counterparts. The video for "Hard Out Here" is pure, unabashed cheek, as Allen is first scolded by her agent for gaining weight during her two pregnancies but then flips the script, comically features some female ass-jiggling and even has silver, Robin Thicke-like balloons spell out… wait for it… "Lily Allen Has A Baggy Pussy."
"Forget your balls and grow a pair of tits/It's hard, it's hard, it's hard out here for a bitch," Allen sings on the song's chorus, before repeating the word "bitch" dozens of times. Lily Allen is back and is ready to slice your face off.
The 28-year-old singer announced that she would be taking a hiatus from recording following the 2009 release of sophomore album "It's Not Me, It's You," which was preceded by her acclaimed 2006 debut "Alright, Still." Since then, Allen and husband Sam Cooper welcomed daughter Ethel Mary in 2011 and daughter Marnie Rose last January. "Alright, Still" has sold 627,000 copies to date, accoding to Nielsen SoundScan, while "It's Not Me, It's You" has moved 353,000 copies.
Allen has popped up on a few tracks as a guest artist during her hiatus -- most notably T-Pain's 2011 single "5 O'Clock" and P!nk's "True Love," which came in at No. 84 on last week's Hot 100 chart. While there's no word on whether or not "Hard Out Here" will lead Allen's third studio album, it's a darn good harbinger of more material to come.