This review can be read on Cool Try.
If you read this here, then please also go to Cool Try and check out more music-related articles.

Anyway, here’s the review.

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Lily Allen released another album.
Which album is this one? Album number four? I think it’s album number four.
Terrible joke regarding Lily Allen having no shame or something here.

The new album is No Shame.

On No Shame Lily Allen sings in a confessional, heartfelt and open manner. Her lyrics mostly are of events from her viewpoint. She alternates between tender, fragile, hard and tough. Sometimes she sings with more force. Usually Lily Allen uses her voice softly. The standard approach seems to be to sing lyrics of this kind with too much gravity which dampens their impact. Lily Allen gives the words just enough weight to be genuine whilst avoiding going into melodrama. Her approach also prevents (comparatively) more upbeat moments from coming off as forced.

It’s a bit odd that Lily Allen allows occasional vocal processing. The processing feels unnecessary as her voice is strong enough without its need. It’s possibly for stylistic reasons but it doesn’t always work. The processing can be distracting, but this mostly pertains to the auto-tune. Lily Allen’s voice ends up sounding diminished as though it is behind a thick wall. Thankfully the auto-tune is not too dominant and thus remains a minor issue.

The music itself is a mix of different styles kept. The melodies are light enough to lift the mood without the intent becoming obscured. There is enough space to help enunciate feeling without letting it drift away. As the songs are fairly simple, they don’t overplay. However, there is enough in each song to keep things interesting. Whilst there are some different styles, due to coming from the same sound template the songs fit together quite well. This serves to benefit No Shame through a consistent sound creating a smooth flow.

Quite often some pretentious artist will do their best to force their entirety down your throat. Their songs will come from personal experience but they are delivered with grievous amounts of cheese. Oftentimes this leads to the songs feeling cheap and hollow. Lily Allen shows clear understanding of how to make sure her songs effective. The subject matter is serious and frank, but you aren’t being beaten over the head. The tunes are (mostly) light enough to balance weight of the lyrics without diminishing their impact. Throughout the album sound is consistent despite using a few different styles of music. Whilst there are some flaws, No Shame does a good job of tackling common, yet uncomfortable subject matter.