Lily Allen Pukes in a Hot Dog Suit

On Monday, Lily Allen released her new music video for "Our Time," and it's just another link in a long chain of strange Lily Allen events that have transpired in the past few months. Since she resurfaced after a long hiatus from the music world with "Hard Out Here," she's been stirring the pot constantly and, it seems, intentionally. The music video for "Hard Out Here" was subtly racist, and Allen was called on it. Recently, in an interview with Shortlist, Allen claimed once and for all, categorically, that feminism is over!

A few weeks ago. she announced that her new forthcoming album shall be named Sheezus, for many murky reasons unknown and the music video for "Our Time" seems like Allen's perfectly manicured middle finger to all her critics. It would be empowering if it were anyone else, and in any other context, but it's so frustrating that Allen is so deaf to those who are trying to engage with her on a real level, and her only response is "Feminism is over."

"Our Time" features Allen dressed as multiple personalities cruising around London in a taxicab together. Two versions of Allen get into a hairpulling fistfight, and one of them, dressed as a hotdog, pukes. Two of the Lily's even kiss each other. The lyrics are a lot like Miley Cyrus's "We Can't Stop," nothing super original but trying to be defiant. Allen sings: "We don’t give a damn what people say/ We’ve had enough so turn it up/ Tonight we’re taking over/ And we will wear our drink til we lose our minds/ Wanna lose sense of space and time/ We’re going through, It’s how we do."

I might be eager to close-read this video since Allen inspires a special kind of rage in me, but it seems like the recklessness portrayed in the video and the devil-may-care lyrics are just Allen's way of extracting herself from the conversation that people are trying to have with her about her dubious feminist politics and her racism. It's true that not every female pop star has to attend every argument they are invited to, but for Allen, whose actions are incendiary, it's maddening that she is so flip about the criticism she receives. "Our Time," though not inherently controversial, adds insult to injury to those who are accusing Allen of very real hurts.

Even more frustrating is the fact that if we lived in a vacuum, I would think Allen's video for "Our Time" was pretty fun and even harmless. Regardless of her ills, she somehow still knows how to make a fun pop song. Allen has lost all merit in my eyes; her attitude reeks of an entitlement and she seems to take no responsibility for her actions.

It's true that women should not be needlessly policed, but if we interpret this video as Allen's response to her critics, it's insensitive and silencing.