It's Not Me, It's You is the second studio album by English singer Lily Allen, released on 4 February 2009 by Regal Recordings and Parlophone. It was produced and co-written by Greg Kurstin, with whom Allen had previously worked on her debut studio album, Alright, Still (2006). The album represents a departure from the ska and reggae influences of its predecessor, incorporating electropop with elements of jazz.
Upon release, It's Not Me, It's You received positive reviews from critics, praising Allen's "sharp tongue" and calling the album "wonderful". The album was a commercial success, debuting at number one on the charts in the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada. It was later certified triple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), and has sold 1,070,340 copies in the UK alone. It was also certified four times platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for shipments of over 280,000 copies in Australia. The album has sold over two million copies worldwide.
The album's lead single, "The Fear", also debuted atop the UK Singles Chart, where it remained for four consecutive weeks. Other singles include the UK top-five entry "Not Fair", "Fuck You", "22" and "Who'd Have Known". The track "Back to the Start" was released as a limited-edition seven-inch vinyl for Record Store Day. Allen performed on a variety of television programs to promote the album, including Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The Ellen DeGeneres Show. She also embarked on her second concert tour, the It's Not Me, It's You World Tour, which visited Europe, North America, Asia, Oceania and South America.
Background
Allen became well known through her Myspace account, on which she started posting demo songs in 2005. The increase of popularity led to a contract with Regal Recordings. Her debut single, "Smile", was released in 2006 and topped the UK Singles Chart for two weeks. Allen's debut studio album, Alright, Still (2006), was released shortly after. The album was commercially successful, earning a triple platinum certification by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) and a gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The album was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album at the 50th Grammy Awards. The follow-up singles "LDN", "Littlest Things" and "Alfie" performed moderately on the charts, with "LDN" peaking at number six on the UK Singles Chart.
After the release of Alright, Still, Allen's parent record company, EMI, was taken over by Terra Firma. She also changed her management company from Empire Artist Management to Twenty-First Artists, although her core team remained in place. At the urging of her record company, Allen tried unsuccessfully to create the album with several writers and producers. Allen eventually returned to Greg Kurstin, who had written three songs for Alright, Still.
Recording
In April 2008, Allen announced that she would be moving in a "new direction" for her then-upcoming record. That same month, she posted two demo tracks on her Myspace page and planned to release a mixtape to give her fans an idea of what the new direction was. A year later, she described the album's sound in the April 2009 issue of Teen Vogue, saying it was "quite fun" and had "loads of different types of music—country, jazz, and electronic." She continued on to say, "I wanted to do something danceable, to make the gigs more interesting for me and the people watching." Allen released a statement saying, "We decided to try and make bigger sounding, more ethereal songs, real songs [...] I wanted to work with one person from start to finish to make it one body of work. I wanted it to feel like it had some sort of integrity. I think I've grown up a bit as a person and I hope it reflects that."
Allen recorded most of the album at Eagle Rock Studios in Los Angeles with producer Greg Kurstin of the band The Bird and the Bee. Of the songwriting process, she said, "Greg builds the chords up and I just sing along and make up the words and then once you've got the bare song, we decide which way we're gonna go with the production." Allen co-wrote the songs for the album with Kurstin, who played piano on it. This is a change from her earlier work in which she wrote lyrics for finished tracks. In May 2008, Allen told The Sunday Mirror that the album was nearly finished. Allen said of the album: "I've worked so hard. My next album is nearly finished. I'm on a two-week break and then I'm starting a massive promotional tour." In August 2008, Allen blamed the delay in the album's release on her record company EMI. On 15 September, it was announced via her Myspace blog that the album will be released on 9 February 2009.