Lily Allen - Sheezus [Clear]

Lily Allen came back swinging on Sheezus, her sharp-tongued 2014 third album, reissued here on clear vinyl.

It was her first record after a five-year break that followed It's Not Me, It's You, a stretch in which she stepped away from music, got married and started a family. She returned with plenty to say about fame, motherhood, sexism and the pop machine itself, and she said it with her usual wit and zero filter.

Longtime collaborator Greg Kurstin produced much of the album, alongside Shellback, DJ Dahi and Fraser T. Smith. The title track takes a swipe at pop rivalries over a stomping beat, while "Hard Out Here" skewers industry double standards with gleeful sarcasm. "URL Badman" turns its sights on keyboard warriors. Every song lands with a punchline and a point, and Kurstin's bright, punchy production keeps the hooks coming.

This pressing also carries her hushed take on Keane's "Somewhere Only We Know," a reminder that beneath all the bite sits a genuinely tender singer. The contrast between the two sides of her personality is exactly what makes the record so much fun to live with.

Funny, pointed and catchy as anything, Sheezus has aged into one of the more fearless British pop records of its decade.