Fuck You (Lily Allen song)

"Fuck You"
Single by Lily Allen
from the album It's Not Me, It's You
Released 10 July 2009 (2009-07-10)
Format
Genre Dance-pop
Length 3:43
Label Regal
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s) Greg Kurstin
Lily Allen singles chronology
"Not Fair"
(2009)		 "Fuck You"
(2009)		 "22"
(2009)

"Not Fair"
(2009)		 "Fuck You"
(2009)		 "22"
(2009)
Audio sample
  • file
  • help
Music video
"Fuck You" on YouTube

"Fuck You" is a song by English singer Lily Allen from her second album It's Not Me, It's You (2009). It is her third international single.[1] The song became a quasi-gay anthem because of the song's lyrical message.[2] The song was featured in the pilot of ABC's Suburgatory.[3]

Song

The song originally appeared on Allen's Myspace page in 2008 alongside the songs "I Could Say" and "I Don't Know" (later released as "The Fear") under the title "Guess Who Batman". The song samples the piano of the theme to the Australian television show Neighbours. The song was written by Allen and Greg Kurstin. Allen wrote: "We are the youth, we can make coolness for our future, it's up to us. Go green and hate hate."[4]

Despite its titular reference to the Caped Crusader, according to NME and Rolling Stone magazines the song is a George W. Bush protest.[5][6] At a concert of 2 April 2009 at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles, Allen stated that the song was about Bush.[5] At a concert in São Paulo, Brazil, Allen stated, "It was originally written about this fucking arsehole who used to be the President of the United States of America. His name is George W. Bush."[7]

The Urban Review states that it was originally inspired by the far-right British National Party, adding Allen now "feels the track is relevant everywhere now so has removed a particular target."[8] At the 2009 Glastonbury Festival prior to performing the song, Allen made reference to the elections to the European parliament that had commenced three weeks earlier in which the British National Party gained their first ever representative seats, citing this as a reason to sing the song.[8]

Chart performance

The song made its chart debut at number 37 on the Canadian Top 100 on 28 February 2009 despite not being released as an actual single. The song also entered the US Billboard Hot 100 at number 68 on the same week, being her third song on entry.[9]

In the UK the song made its debut on the UK Singles Chart at number 154 on the strength of digital downloads due to the video having a lot of airplay on UK music channels despite not being released as an official single there.[10]

In the Netherlands the song was released as the album's second single and debuted on the Dutch Top 40 on 18 April 2009 at number 23 and has peaked at number three.[9] The song reached number one in Belgium on 6 June 2009.[9] It also peaked at number four in Finland and Norway,[9] number 18 in Sweden,[9] number nine in France, number 23 in Australia[9] and number 16 in Switzerland.

Music video

A music video for the song was posted on the official Parlophone YouTube page on 15 June 2009. EMI hired the French production company Frenzy Paris, who in turn hired the art collective AB/CD/CD and the post-production company "Firm". The video is shot from Allen's point of view (she can be seen using a polaroid she takes of herself). She is seen to be making the journey from her hotel room to a television studio. Throughout the video, Allen warps the shape and size of her surroundings using her hands and her own perspective; for example, by moving her hands apart she stretches the Eiffel Tower and enlarges a man's afro hairstyle.[11]

The song was chosen as the theme song for the TV programme Periodismo para todos (Spanish: Journalism for Everyone) in Argentina. Periodismo para todos is a controversial Argentine television program that has been labelled as investigative journalism.[12] The song was chosen because it had been used in a telenovela of the state-owned TV Pública, in a satirical Spanish lyrics version. The opening of the show features photos of the audience making the "fuck you" sign.[13] The song has a medium rotation on radio stations like La 100, from Buenos Aires (owned by Grupo Clarín, which also belongs Canal 13 who broadcast Periodismo para todos weekly). However, it was the second most popular song of 2012 in the chart show TUS 25 (Spanish: Your 25) of Tu Dial,[14] an argentinian web radio station based in Mexico.

The song was performed by The Sockapellas in the 2012 film Pitch Perfect, singing "Eff You" instead.

The song is featured in the 2016 film Bridget Jones's Baby.

Track listing

Charts

Preceded by
"Fairytale" by Alexander Rybak		 Belgian (Flanders) singles chart number-one single
6 June 2009 – 27 June 2009 		Succeeded by
"Boom Boom Pow" by "The Black Eyed Peas"
Preceded by
"Did You See Me Coming?" by Pet Shop Boys		 US Hot Dance Club Songs number-one single
28 November 2009 		Succeeded by
"S.O.S. (Let the Music Play)" by Jordin Sparks

References

  1. ↑ "— • Lily Allen • Whats Happening? • –". Lilyallenmusic.com. 5 May 2010. Archived from the original on 31 May 2010. Retrieved 18 May 2010.
  2. ↑ Song: Fuck You by Lily Allen and Stevie Bee Bishop – Anti-Hate Collab Music Video « Gays Without Borders
  3. ↑ "Music Lounge – Suburgatory". ABC.com. 15 January 2013. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
  4. ↑ Leah Collins (23 June 2008). "Lily Allen 'Makes Coolness for our Future' – whatever that means – with New Track". Dose.ca. Archived from the original on 12 May 2009. Retrieved 10 December 2008.
  5. 1 2 "Lily Allen gets political in LA: Singer speaks out against President George W Bush". NME. 3 April 2009.
  6. ↑ Rolling Stone Album Review. Jody Rosen. 4 February 2009.
  7. ↑ Lily Allen – Fuck You (Live at Brazil – São Paulo) on YouTube
  8. 1 2 "Lily Allen – Guess Who Batman (Fuck You Very Much)". Urban Review. 26 June 2008. Retrieved 18 May 2010.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 "Fuck You Chart positions". acharts.us. Retrieved 31 May 2009.
  10. ↑ "Fuck You UK Chart position". zobbel.de. Retrieved 25 June 2009.
  11. ↑ Pop Payback:The British star’s caustic clip, made by French filmmakers, goes viral Wall Street Journal 2 July 2009
  12. ↑ Schmidt, Esteban (7 May 2012). "Lanata y Periodismo para todos: el último chiste del periodista clown". Rolling Stone (in Spanish). Retrieved 25 July 2013.
  13. ↑ El "¡Fuck You!" de Lanata (in Spanish)
  14. ↑ http://tudial.net/tus25
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 Steffen Hung. "Lily Allen – Fuck You". lescharts.com. Retrieved 18 May 2010.
  16. ↑ http://www.ifpicr.cz/hitparada/index.php?a=titul&hitparada=2&titul=146284&sec=5d4ad6088a5d4d5371943fe557440667
  17. ↑ "Chartverfolgung – Allen,Lily – Fuck You". Musicline.de. Retrieved 18 May 2010.
  18. ↑ "Media Forest: Airplay chart". mediaforest.biz. Archived from the original on 16 July 2015.
  19. ↑ http://www.ifpicr.cz/hitparadask/index.php?a=titul&hitparada=18&titul=145812&sec=00c176414a3a2f112bc1db635a703eaf
  20. 1 2 Steffen Hung. "Schweizer Hitparade – Singles Top 75 16.05.2010". hitparade.ch. Retrieved 18 May 2010.
  21. ↑ Zywietz, Tobias. "Chart Log UK: 1994–2010: A – Azzido Da Bass". Zobbel. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  22. ↑ "Chart Highlights: Country, Rock, Rap Songs & More". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 16 November 2009. Retrieved 16 November 2009.
  23. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 10 September 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-23.
  24. ↑ http://www.ultratop.be/nl/annual.asp?year=2009
  25. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 31 January 2010. Retrieved 2010-03-04.
  26. ↑ http://www.top40.nl/pdf/top100/top100-2009.pdf
  27. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 26 September 2013. Retrieved 2013-08-07.
  28. ↑ "FIMI – Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana – Ricerche e dati di mercato". Fimi.it. 19 January 2010. Archived from the original on 23 January 2010. Retrieved 18 December 2010.
  29. ↑ "2009 Year End Swiss Singles Chart". Swiss Music Charts. 2009. Archived from the original on 2 October 2011. Retrieved 16 July 2010.
  30. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 2010-10-09.
  31. ↑ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2009 Singles". Aria.com.au. 31 December 2009. Archived from the original on 26 April 2009. Retrieved 18 May 2010.
  32. ↑ "Ultratop Belgian Charts". ultratop.be. Archived from the original on 6 April 2009. Retrieved 18 May 2010.
  33. ↑ "Kulta- ja platinalevyt". IFPI. Retrieved 21 September 2010.
  34. ↑ "Les Disques d'Or 2009" (PDF) (in French). Disqueenfrance. Retrieved 26 January 2010.
  35. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 September 2010. Retrieved 2010-11-16.
  36. ↑ The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community Archived 13 February 2010 at the Wayback Machine.
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