“Lily Allen has a baggy pussy.” Deal with it, America. You chuckled or playfully chided when a certain pop jock declared in balloon letters, “Robin Thicke has a big dick,” via the “Blurred Lines” video, and now Britain’s former favorite rising daughter is back to test the double standards at play in the music world. Seen above (and excerpted below), her video for brand-new song “Hard Out Here” has its own inflated message to share.
The clip is directed by Christopher Sweeney (Lana Del Ray, Foals, Jessie Ware) and has fun spoofing a litany of music video tropes, from champagne pour-overs to gratuitous twerk-fests. Meanwhile, the hook says it all: “Forget your balls and grow a pair of tits / It’s hard out here for a bitch.” She also shouts out the glass ceiling, “Inequality promises that it’s here to stay / Always trust the injustice ‘cos it’s not going away.”
Meanwhile, the production seems to hark back to Britney Spears’ pop-’90s. Allen’s last album was 2009’s It’s Not Me, It’s You, which landed her on SPIN’s cover. Shortly thereafter, she shared that she might quit music altogether. In the resulting hiatus, Allen married and became a mother. She announced her return to the studio last year, inspiring our piece, “Pop Needs Lily Allen More Than Lily Allen Needs Pop.”
She also appeared on Pink’s breezy “True Love,” and recently covered Keane for John Lewis.
