Lily Allen: moderation week task

Lily Allen’s ‘Hard Out Here’ (For a bitch)

Hard Out Here is a single recently released by Lily Allen, a lyrical genius in terms of realism and making a point.

The video deals with the topic of Value, as it takes us on a journey through Lily’s’ pop comeback and she has to alter her appearance to be good enough for today’s media before appearing on the set of the music video, where then she has to learn to ‘twerk’ to be able to fit into the culture she’s spent so long away from. By showing this as part of the video, it gives the viewers an understanding of what today’s society value in their pop-culture. This point is also proven by when her manager states “How can somebody let themselves get like this? It’s terrifying” whilst in an operating room where Lily is having liposuction, showing that modern music is supported by attractive women and amazing slim figures, proving that this is what the people of today value in women and the music industry.

The video and lyrics also deal with the representation of women and how they are objectified. By Lily saying “I don’t need to shake my ass for you cause’ ive got a brain”, she is suggesting that women don’t need to be eye-candy in order to attract people to the music industry and that it is stupid for anyone to think that it is necessary, as most people do nowadays. Also by saying “You should probably lose some weight / because we can’t see your bones”, she projects a sarcastic message that states how many of the expectations for women today are based around being size 0 and having the ‘perfect skinny figure’.

She also raises the issue of power between genders. She says this through the lines “If I told you 'bout my sex life, you'd call me a slut/ When boys be talking about their bitches, no one's making a fuss/ There's a glass ceiling to break, uh-huh, there's money to make/ And now it's time to speed it up 'cause I can't move at this pace”. This verse signifies that there is a problem within gender equality and implies that women have less power, the function of the verse to inform us of this. She later goes on to say “Inequality promises that it's here to stay/ always trust the injustice 'cause it's not going away”, highlighting the point further.  Another lyric from the song is “You’ll find me in the studio and not in the kitchen”, which shows that she is not conforming to the myth and male dominant ideology that women are the lesser gender and belong as ‘housewives’. This is a controversial topic and as the lyrics are voiced over a sarcastic video, they can be blocked from their audience as the video may act as a barrier to the preferred reading.

The modelling theory suggests that young people aspire to be culturally similar to other individuals, and through the media celebrities are portrayed to be flawless, so this is how young people wish to be. Lily’s’ message to the young primary audience through this video is that you do not have to be a size 0 or be rich to amount to something in life. The code in which she communicates this message to her audience is in a sarcastic video, purposely to attract more attention to the matter, more debate and more speculation. She outlines the fact that the song is sarcasm to not cause any confusion and misleading interpretations by adding the line “If you can’t detect the sarcasm you’ve misunderstood.”

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0CazRHB0so&feature=kp
Lyrics: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/lilyallen/hardouthere.html