Here's Everything Lily Allen Attacks in Her Scathing New Video (original) (raw)

What doesn't Lily Allen throw shade at in her latest video may be the easier query to answer, but behold—the British popstress's latest dispatch is an uncompromising one.

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What doesn't Lily Allen throw shade at in her latest video may be the easier query to answer, but behold—the British popstress emerged from a lengthy hiatus with a Keane cover last week, and the latest dispatch is an uncompromising one. "It's hard out here for a bitch," she mouths repeatedly in the glitzy but scathing pop track. That's the colorful video above. Here's a quick look at anything and everything she attacks within it:

• How the music industry treats female pop artists: The video opens with Allen on a literal operating table as doctors and handlers scrutinize her: "How does somebody let themselves get like this?" "A lack of self-discipline, I suppose." Soon after, Allen sings: "Don't need to shake my ass at you 'cuz I've got a brain." Then: "If I told you 'bout my sex life, you'd call me a slut." Throughout the video, Allen's scantily clad dancers pour champagne on each other and parody pop videos.
• David Letterman: "Letterman says no," a handler tells Allen in the opening moments. (In fact she did perform on Letterman in 2007 and again in 2009.)
• Three 6 Mafia: Allen's chorus refrain, "It's hard out here for a bitch," is a thinly veiled reference to Three 6 Mafia's "Hard Out Here for a Pimp" ... from eight years ago.
• Miley Cyrus: Of course, there's ample twerking in the video, among other hints of Miley's "We Can't Stop" video.
• Hip hop materialism: "I won't be bragging 'bout my cars / Or talking 'bout my chains," Allen promises; her dancers mockingly throw dollar bills around.
• Body image issues in celebrity culture: In the second verse, Allen mocks those who tell her how to look: "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."
• Product placement: Spot the "E-Lites" being smoked in synchronization around the 2:35 mark? That, too, seems like a dig at Miley.
• Robin Thicke: Around the three-minute mark, spot Allen dancing in front of balloons spelling out "LILY ALLEN HAS A BAGGY PUSSY," an allusion to the "Blurred Lines" video.

If nothing else, it's quite a bolder comeback than a mere Keane cover.

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.

About the Author

Zach Schonfeld is a freelance journalist and critic based in New York. He was formerly a senior writer at Newsweek. His most recent book, How Coppola Became Cage, was published in 2023.