Lily Allen - No Shame [Clear]

Lily Allen's No Shame gets a crystal clear pressing here, a fitting look for the 2018 album where she dropped the persona and simply told the truth.

Her fourth record arrived after a turbulent stretch of divorce, tabloid scrutiny and self-doubt, and she wrote about all of it with startling directness. It earned a Mercury Prize nomination and remains the most personal work of her career, trading the cheeky satire of her early hits for something rawer and far more vulnerable.

Trigger Bang, with London rap veteran Giggs, looks back at her hard-partying years with a clear, unsentimental eye. Family Man is a stark, piano-led reckoning that refuses to let her off the hook. Three may be the most heartbreaking song she has written, sung from the point of view of her young daughter asking her not to go. Your Choice, with Burna Boy, adds a warm, Afrobeats-flavored sway.

The production keeps things lean and modern, leaving plenty of space for the lyrics to land. Allen's voice is as sweet and conversational as ever, which only makes the honesty cut deeper.

It is the sound of a pop star growing up in public and owning every moment of it, and on clear vinyl it looks as unguarded as it sounds.