Lily Allen, "Everything's Just Wonderful" (2006)

It's probably too early -- or perhaps I haven't kept up enough, despite her status as the internet's new music phenomenon, with all the press and debates -- to tell if Lily Allen's persona is close to who she is, or a put-on or even a parody (cockney? Mockney? Or mocking mockney?). And perhaps it's not all that interesting a question or dichotomy, except that it affects, to some extent, the point of "Everything's Just Wonderful."

The most energetic and snazziest thing on her forthcoming album Alright, Still -- with its rolling breakbeat and funky drummeresque rhythms, the track strikes me as not a million miles away from the Aguilera's "Ain't No Other Man" -- "Everything's Just Wonderful" sees Lily detail the wonky state of the world today. "Everything, everything, everyone, is goin' mental/It seems to me, we're spiralling out of control." She is up against "bureaucrats, who won't give [her] a mortage," body fascists in the media, who make her feel guilty for eating spaghetti bolognese, and imply that if she would only "buy those jeans [she] could look like Kate Moss." (Compare Skye Edwards, who on the song "What's Wrong With Me" has a few similar problems.)

But she doesn't see much she can do, though. "Oh well, I guess I mustn't grumble/I suppose it's just the way the cookie crumbles/Oh yes, I'm fine, everything's just wonderful/I'm having the time of my life." Are such lines, and the overall sentiment of the song, a realistic portrayal of how difficult it is to fight against the system? Or a satire of the way some people, such as the narrator who inhabits the song, fall prey way too easily to apathy, resignation, and acceptance, when they should be more proactive about breaking out of a rut? Not easy to tell, but I guess that's one thing that keeps us listening.