Not Fair


"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 20 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.
The accompanying music video portrayed a western country theme, with Allen dancing next to a microphone while backing singers are dressed as cowgirls, accompanied by cattle and poultry. 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.

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 - 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 and on 11 May 2009 as a CD. Allen performed it live for the first time on Ant & 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. An alternative version only removes the word "head", replacing it with a short chord played on a mouth organ. While performing the song in the BBC Radio Live Lounge and on The Graham Norton Show, she replaced the latter with "I spent ages kneading bread".

Composition

"Not Fair" is a "bluegrass-infused" country song.

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 #5. In New Zealand, the song debuted at number 32 on 18 May 2009, giving Allen her fifth top 40 hit there. It has so far peaked at number 20. 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 Matsoukas 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 2019, it has gained over 75 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 Allen 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 country and western band, including a very bored-looking drummer, 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 and with a real vacuum tube TV camera to keep with the theme of the video, as opposed to being filmed like most other music videos made in the 21st century.

Track listing

UK CD1
  1. "Not Fair" – 3:20
  2. "The Fear" – 4:21
UK CD2
  1. "Not Fair" – 3:03
  2. "The Fear" – 4:21
  3. "Not Fair" – 5:36
  4. "Not Fair" – 6:14
UK Promo
  1. "Not Fair" – 3:20
  2. "The Fear" – 4:21
7" limited edition picture disc
  1. "Not Fair" - 3:03
  2. "Why" - 3:16
Digital download
  1. "Not Fair" – 3:23
  2. "Why" – 3:38
  3. "Not Fair" – 6:19
  4. "The Count and Lily Allen Face the Fear" – 4:22
  5. "Not Fair" – 3:24
  6. "Mr. Blue Sky" – 3:41

    Charts

Chart Peak
position
Australian ARIA Singles Chart3
Austrian Singles Chart6
Belgian Singles Chart 15
Belgian Singles Chart 12
Czech Airplay Chart1
European Hot 10012
Danish Singles Chart34
Dutch Top 404
German Singles Chart12
Irish Singles Chart3
Israeli Singles Chart1
Italian Singles Chart4
New Zealand Singles Chart20
Slovak Airplay Chart1
Swedish Singles Chart26
Swiss Singles Chart6
UK Singles Chart5

Certifications

Year-end charts

Release history