Not Fair
Encyclopedia
"Not Fair" is a song by British recording artist Lily Allen
from her second studio album, It's Not Me, It's You. Written by Allen and produced by Greg Kurstin
, the song was released as the second single from the album on 19 February 2009 by Regal Recordings
. The song incorporates country music
as the lyrics depict sexual frustration. Contemporary critics did not positively receive the song and its theme, some calling it a "pseudo country track" and considering it a strange musical composition. The single peaked in the top twenty of the charts of some European countries and Australia, while scoring Allen's second consecutive top-five hit on both the UK Singles Chart
and the Dutch Top 40
(since in the latter "Fuck You
" was a commercial success before "Not Fair").
The accompanying music video portrayed a western country theme, with Allen dancing next to a microphone, while back-up singers are dressed as cowgirls, accompanied by cattle and farm birds. The video was shot the same day of the release of the single. It was performed live on different occasions, including Allen's 2009 concert tour
.
It was named at number 8 in the Triple J Hottest 100, 2009
.
The single was officially released on January and climbed the charts, still being in the top 10 in June. The single was released as a digital download on 21 March 2009 (iTunes) and was on 11 May 2009 as a CD. Allen performed it live for the first time on Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway
on 21 March 2009.
The censored version of the song, which is often used on the radio, blanks out the words "wet patch" and "I spent ages giving head
" on the second verse, replacing them with a burst of the background instruments. While performing the song on The Graham Norton Show
on 14 May 2009, she replaced the latter with "I spent ages kneading bread".
, the song debuted at number thirty-two on 18 May 2009, giving Allen her fifth top forty hit there. It has so far peaked at number twenty. The song has also been a big hit in Australia, where it peaked at number three and has so far spent eight consecutive weeks in the top 10, equalling the success of her previous single "The Fear".
and filmed in Los Angeles
on 19 February 2009. Allen released pictures from the video on her official Twitter
account. A 17-second teaser of the video was released on YouTube
on 17 March, before T4
premiered the entire video on Saturday, 21 March. As of September 2011, it has garnered nearly 20 million views on YouTube
The music video shows Allen performing the song on the Porter Wagoner Show, starting off with a snippet from the Porter Wagoner
show from the 1970s to present Lily Allen (dubbed
) by saying, "Now it's time for the purty little lady to come forth with a real purty song. And it's called "Not Fair". Let's make her welcome, Miss Lily Allen!"
Allen is revealed to be singing alongside a bored-looking country and western band, including mullet
-wearing guitarists
and backing singers/dancers. Allen performs the song into a microphone
and can be seen dancing around the stage, dressed in a white jumpsuit
and sporting a blunt fringe with long hair. The video was recorded on videotape
to keep with the theme of the video, as opposed to being filmed like most other music videos made in the 21st century.
UK CD2
7" Limited Edition Picture Disc
Digital Download
Lily Allen
Lily Rose Beatrice Cooper , better known as Lily Allen, is an English recording artist and fashion designer. She is the daughter of actor and musician Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen. In her teenage years, her musical tastes evolved from glam rock to alternative...
from her second studio album, It's Not Me, It's You. Written by Allen and produced by Greg Kurstin
Greg Kurstin
Gregory Allen "Greg" Kurstin is an award-winning American songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. In 2009 Kurstin received a Grammy Award nomination for Producer of the Year. That same year he won three Ivor Novello awards for his work with Lily Allen, including Songwriters of the Year for "The Fear"...
, the song was released as the second single from the album on 19 February 2009 by Regal Recordings
Regal Recordings
Regal Recordings is a British record label functioning as an imprint of Parlophone.-Background:Regal Records was a British record label founded in 1914 as a subsidiary of the UK branch of Columbia Records known as Columbia Graphophone Company...
. The song incorporates country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
as the lyrics depict sexual frustration. Contemporary critics did not positively receive the song and its theme, some calling it a "pseudo country track" and considering it a strange musical composition. The single peaked in the top twenty of the charts of some European countries and Australia, while scoring Allen's second consecutive top-five hit on both the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
and the Dutch Top 40
Dutch Top 40
The Dutch Top 40 is a weekly music chart, which started as the "Veronica Top 40", because the offshore radio station Radio Veronica was the first to introduce it. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" until 1974, when the station was forced to stop broadcasting...
(since in the latter "Fuck You
Fuck You (Lily Allen song)
"Fuck You" is a song by English singer Lily Allen from her second album It's Not Me, It's You...
" was a commercial success before "Not Fair").
The accompanying music video portrayed a western country theme, with Allen dancing next to a microphone, while back-up singers are dressed as cowgirls, accompanied by cattle and farm birds. The video was shot the same day of the release of the single. It was performed live on different occasions, including Allen's 2009 concert tour
Lily Allen concert tour (2009)
The It's Not Me, It's You World Tour is the second concert tour by English singer-songwriter Lily Allen in support her second studio album, It's Not Me, It's You...
.
It was named at number 8 in the Triple J Hottest 100, 2009
Triple J Hottest 100, 2009
The 2009 Triple J Hottest 100 was announced on Australia Day 26 January 2010. It is the seventeenth countdown of the most popular songs of the year, as chosen by the listeners of Australian radio station Triple J....
.
Background
In the song, Allen describes her relationship with a boyfriend to which she describes him as "the perfect guy" yet is frustrated at his sexual laziness. She furthermore describes the situation as "Not Fair" because while he plays the perfect boyfriend in every other way, he's selfish when it comes to their sex life ("all you do is take") - thus the song gives the impression that all his niceness and concern may have been just a face to get what he wants from his girlfriend without any genuine concern with her satisfaction and happiness.The single was officially released on January and climbed the charts, still being in the top 10 in June. The single was released as a digital download on 21 March 2009 (iTunes) and was on 11 May 2009 as a CD. Allen performed it live for the first time on Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway
Saturday Night Takeaway
Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, is a variety show created by LWT and shown in the UK on Saturday evenings on ITV, presented and executively produced by Ant & Dec. It is broadcast live from The London Studios on the South Bank...
on 21 March 2009.
The censored version of the song, which is often used on the radio, blanks out the words "wet patch" and "I spent ages giving head
Fellatio
Fellatio is an act of oral stimulation of a male's penis by a sexual partner. It involves the stimulation of the penis by the use of the mouth, tongue, or throat. The person who performs fellatio can be referred to as the giving partner, and the other person is the receiving partner...
" on the second verse, replacing them with a burst of the background instruments. While performing the song on The Graham Norton Show
The Graham Norton Show
The Graham Norton Show is a British comedy chat show that is broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom. It was originally shown on BBC Two from February 2007 to May 2009 until it moved to BBC One from October 2009...
on 14 May 2009, she replaced the latter with "I spent ages kneading bread".
Commercial performance
"Not Fair" charted two months before the release date at number 200 in the UK. By 2 May, "Not Fair" reached the #10 spot on the official chart before reaching a final peak of #4, taking it two places higher than "LDN". In Ireland, "Not Fair" reached #3, her highest charting single in the country to date, and her second consecutive top five hit there also. In New ZealandNew Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, the song debuted at number thirty-two on 18 May 2009, giving Allen her fifth top forty hit there. It has so far peaked at number twenty. The song has also been a big hit in Australia, where it peaked at number three and has so far spent eight consecutive weeks in the top 10, equalling the success of her previous single "The Fear".
Music video
The music video for "Not Fair" was directed by Melina MatsoukasMelina Matsoukas
Melina Matsoukas is an American music video director.-Life and career:Matsoukas is of Greek, Jewish, Jamaican and Cuban descent. Both her name and surname are Greek: Μελίνα Ματσούκα. She is a graduate of the American Film Institute and New York University...
and filmed in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
on 19 February 2009. Allen released pictures from the video on her official Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
account. A 17-second teaser of the video was released on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
on 17 March, before T4
T4 (Channel 4)
T4 is a scheduling slot on Channel 4 from about 09:00 until 14:00 on Saturdays and 17:00 on Sundays. It also airs on weekdays in the school holidays. The slot has a separate station identification on screen graphic from Channel 4 and E4. The logo of T4 is noticeably the top right segment of the...
premiered the entire video on Saturday, 21 March. As of September 2011, it has garnered nearly 20 million views on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
The music video shows Allen performing the song on the Porter Wagoner Show, starting off with a snippet from the Porter Wagoner
Porter Wagoner
Porter Wayne Wagoner was a popular American country music singer known for his flashy Nudie and Manuel suits and blond pompadour. He introduced the young Dolly Parton near the beginning of her career on his long-running television show, and they were a well-known duet throughout the late 1960s and...
show from the 1970s to present Lily Allen (dubbed
Dubbing (music)
In sound recording, dubbing is the transfer or copying of previously recorded audio material from one medium to another of the same or a different type. It may be done with a machine designed for this purpose, or by connecting two different machines: one to play back and one to record the signal...
) by saying, "Now it's time for the purty little lady to come forth with a real purty song. And it's called "Not Fair". Let's make her welcome, Miss Lily Allen!"
Allen is revealed to be singing alongside a bored-looking country and western band, including mullet
Mullet (haircut)
The mullet is a hairstyle that is short at the front and sides, and long in the back. . The mullet began to appear in popular media in the 1960s and 1970s but did not become generally well-known until the early 1980s...
-wearing guitarists
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
and backing singers/dancers. Allen performs the song into a microphone
Microphone
A microphone is an acoustic-to-electric transducer or sensor that converts sound into an electrical signal. In 1877, Emile Berliner invented the first microphone used as a telephone voice transmitter...
and can be seen dancing around the stage, dressed in a white jumpsuit
Jumpsuit
Jumpsuit originally referred to the utilitarian one-piece garments used by parachuters/skydivers, but has come to be used as a common term for any one-piece garment with sleeves and legs.-Use:...
and sporting a blunt fringe with long hair. The video was recorded on videotape
Videotape
A videotape is a recording of images and sounds on to magnetic tape as opposed to film stock or random access digital media. Videotapes are also used for storing scientific or medical data, such as the data produced by an electrocardiogram...
to keep with the theme of the video, as opposed to being filmed like most other music videos made in the 21st century.
Tracklisting
UK CD1- "Not Fair" (Explicit) - 3:20
- "The Fear" (The Count (Hervé) & Lily Face The Fear Remix) - 4:21
UK CD2
- "Not Fair" (Radio Edit) - 3:03
- "The Fear" (The Count (Hervé) & Lily Face The Fear Remix) - 4:21
- "Not Fair" (Di Angelis & Dobie 'Circus' Remix) - 5:36
- "Not Fair" (Style Of Eye Remix) - 6:14
7" Limited Edition Picture Disc
- "Not Fair" (Radio Edit) - 3:03
- "Why" - 3:16
Digital Download
- "Not Fair" (Explicit Version) - 3:20
- "The Fear" (The Count (Hervé) & Lily Face The Fear Remix) - 4:21
- "Not Fair" (Radio Edit) - 3:03
- "Why" - 3:16
- "Not Fair" (Style Of Eye Remix) - 6:14
- "Mr. Blue Sky" (Acoustic) - 4:24
Release history
| Region | Date | Format |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... Australia Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area... |
20 March 2009 | Digital download Music download A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment... |
| Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate... |
||
| 8 May 2009 | CD single CD single A CD single is a music single in the form of a standard size Compact Disc, not to be confused with the 3-inch CD single, which uses a smaller form factor. The format was introduced in the mid-1980s, but did not gain its place in the market until the early 1990s... |
|
| Australia Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area... |
||
| 9 May 2009 | ||
| United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... |
11 May 2009 | CD single CD single A CD single is a music single in the form of a standard size Compact Disc, not to be confused with the 3-inch CD single, which uses a smaller form factor. The format was introduced in the mid-1980s, but did not gain its place in the market until the early 1990s... |
| United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... |
June 2009 | Digital Digital A digital system is a data technology that uses discrete values. By contrast, non-digital systems use a continuous range of values to represent information... |
Charts
| Chart (2009) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian ARIA Singles Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
3 |
| Austrian Singles Chart Ö3 Austria Top 40 Ö3 Austria Top 40 is the name of the official Austrian singles chart, as well as the radio show which presents it, aired Fridays on Hitradio Ö3. The show presents the Austrian singles, ringtones and downloads chart. It premiered on 26 November 1968 as Disc Parade and was presented by Ernst Grissemann... |
6 |
| Belgian Singles Chart Ultratop 50 Ultratop 50 singles, often just Ultratop 50, is the weekly chart of fifty best-selling singles in Flanders, Belgium, and is produced and published by the Ultratop organization. The chart has existed since March 31, 1995... (Flanders) |
15 |
| Belgian Singles Chart Ultratop 40 Ultratop 40 singles, often just Ultratop 40, is the weekly chart of best-selling singles in Wallonia and Brussels Capital Region, the french-speaking parts of Belgium. Its equivalent covering the Flanders region is Ultratop 50. Both charts are produced and published by the Ultratop organization... (Wallonia) |
12 |
| Czech Airplay Chart | 1 |
| European Hot 100 | 12 |
| Danish Singles Chart | 34 |
| Dutch Top 40 Dutch Top 40 The Dutch Top 40 is a weekly music chart, which started as the "Veronica Top 40", because the offshore radio station Radio Veronica was the first to introduce it. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" until 1974, when the station was forced to stop broadcasting... |
4 |
| German Singles Chart | 12 |
| Irish Singles Chart Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured... |
3 |
| Italian Singles Chart | 4 |
| New Zealand Singles Chart | 20 |
| Slovak Airplay Chart | 1 |
| Swedish Singles Chart Sverigetopplistan Sverigetopplistan, earlier known as Topplistan and Hitlistan and other names, is since October 2007 the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from Swedish Recording Industry Association .... |
26 |
| Swiss Singles Chart | 6 |
| UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
4 |
Sales and certifications
| Country | Certification | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Australia Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956... |
Platinum | 70,000+ |
| Switzerland IFPI The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry is the organisation that represents the interests of the recording industry worldwide. It is a not-for-profit members' organisation registered in Switzerland... |
Gold | 15,000 |
| UK British Phonographic Industry The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade association.-Structure:Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four "major" record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies... |
Silver | 302,376 |
Year-End Charts
| Chart (2009) | Position |
|---|---|
| Australian Singles Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
20 |
| German Singles Chart IFPI The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry is the organisation that represents the interests of the recording industry worldwide. It is a not-for-profit members' organisation registered in Switzerland... |
34 |
| Italian Singles Chart | 29 |
| Swiss Singles Chart | 22 |
| UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
32 |