Lily Allen: Hormones Made ‘Sheezus’ Album Suck?

Lily Allen is one of those British artists who tread the line between pop royalty and almost indie. But her latest album Sheezus has had her looking more Kate Nash than Adele, or even Amy Winehouse for that matter.

But is the reason for that simply because Lily’s Sheezus wasn’t up to snuff? Allen is saying that that may have been the case, reported British tabloid TheMirror.

Maybe the songs aren’t good enough this time, who knows? I just know I can’t wait to get back into the studio.

Lily also continued to note that management problems could be to blame for Sheezus‘ failure on the charts. Although Allen’s first two singles — the Robin Thicke misogyny-attacking”Hard Out Here” and “Air Balloon” — managed to crack the top 40 in the United Kingdom, third single “Our Time” was relatively unsuccessful and Lily’s latest single “URL Badman” currently stands at an embarrassing No. 93 on the chart.

Title track “Sheezus” was not released as a single due to the line “But then again I’m about to get my period/Periods, we all get periods/Every month, yeah/That’s what the theory is.” However, despite only being promoted with a video and a digital download push, Allen’s video attracted 3.3 million hits on Youtube. Critical reaction has been mixed, as has historically been the case with Lily, to both the album and the track, although many fans have hailed it as one of her best tracks.

But don’t let Allen’s comments about the album fool you — Lily still doesn’t exactly take full responsibility for Sheezus’ failings. In fact, Allen actually blames hormones from her recent pregnancy and childbirth.

I put my trust in other people, which I don’t usually do. I usually go with my own gut feeling but maybe I wasn’t feeling as confident as I have in the past because of all the hormones.

But Lily’s bottom line about the album still appears somewhat inconsistent — like Kanye West whose album Yeezus inspired Allen’s recent work, her ability to criticize herself is still refracted through her tough exterior. Despite what the charts might say, Lily at least likes some of the album, even if Allen’s overall message was convoluted.

The first thing I came back with was “Hard Out Here“ and that was important to me, a real statement of intent, even though you couldn’t put it on the radio over here because it had too much swearing. I thought it did really well and then management and the label chose to go with “Air Balloon” and I just think starting with something really aggressive and in your face and then going in a different -direction… people need to know what they are getting.

Whether singles “URL Badman” and “Our Time” are able to make a recovery is yet to be seen, but Lily Allen has certainly not been deterred by Sheezus‘ tepid success. Like she raps in the title track, “Give me that crown, b***h. I want to be Sheezus.”