It's Not Me, It's You

Rolling Stone (p.63) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[I]t sounds fantastic. With producer Greg Kurstin at her side, Allen has gotten more musically eclectic, jettisoning the thumping rock-steady of ALRIGHT, STILL without sacrificing catchiness or dance-floor bounce." Spin (p.78) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "IT'S NOT ME, IT'S YOU dials down the sass in favor of sincere self-reflection and a greater grasp of morning-after consequences." Spin (p.31) - Ranked #19 in Spin's "40 Best Albums Of 2009" -- "[T]he darkly comic IT'S NOT ME, IT'S YOU reveals an English social satirist..." Entertainment Weekly (p.54) - "[H]er most wounded musings are paired with serious hooks....She pokes excellent fun at her own material-girl id on 'The Fear'..." -- Grade: B+ Entertainment Weekly (p.104) - Included in Entertainment Weekly's 'The Best Albums of 2009' -- "[R]eeling between pop-political indictments and disarmingly personal confessions." Billboard (p.37) - "Allen is probably better (and funnier) detailing her disdain for the party scene than she was describing her love of it." Q (Magazine) (p.92) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Allen keeps it reliably real. Music's a richer place for her telling it as it is." Mojo (Publisher) (p.108) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he centrally heated electro-pop of 'Chinese' describes the coupled-up joy of TV and a takeaway, while Allen's voice breaks into a genuine smile on 'Who'd Have Known'..." Blender (Magazine) (p.60) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "She offsets an assault of cheekiness with confessions so intimate, they could have been drafted during an A.A. meeting." Pitchfork (Website) - "This is perceptive pop for a consumer culture OD'ing on consumer culture and Houdini investments....Her plight -- bare, self-conscious, petty, fearful -- is familiar." Clash (Magazine) (p.101) - "IT'S NOT ME IT'S YOU is a dangerously likeable shift for the girl who continues to wear her heart in her songs....Britain's mouthy pop-idol returns triumphantly and with the brawny guts to stick with what she knows best."

流産や別離を乗り越えて、やっとリリースに漕ぎ着けたセカンド・アルバム。みずからスキャンダラスな私生活を赤裸々に暴露しまくって、すでにプロモ体制も万全!?　だが、そういった歯に衣着せぬ物言いこそが彼女の魅力で、怖いものナシのパンクな生き様は本作の歌詞にも活き活きと映し出されている。常に毒づき、皮肉たっぷり。しかも喚き叫ぶのではなく、とびきりラヴリーな旋律に乗せてというのがこの人の落としどころ。とにかくメロディー作りのセンスには舌を巻くしかない。共謀者はプロデューサーのグレッグ・カースティン（バード・アンド・ザ・ビー）。牧歌的でまろやか、口当たりは良いが歌ってることは過激──スキップしながらお花畑を踏みにじっているかのようだ。
bounce (C)村上 ひさし