Not Fair

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 is 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 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".

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"Not Fair" is a "bluegrass-infused" country song.{{cite web|url=http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/review/lily-allen-its-not-me-its-you|title=Lily Allen – It's Not Me, It's You Review|last=Cinquemani|first=Sal|date=3 February 2009|quote=...a key component to the inventively bluegrass-infused 'Not Fair',...|access-date=27 February 2014|work=Slant Magazine}}{{Cite web|url=http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/12662-its-not-me-its-you/|title=It's Not Me, It's You Album Review {{!}} Pitchfork|website=Pitchfork|language=en|access-date=13 June 2017}}

"Not Fair" charted two months before the release date at number 200 in the United Kingdom. By 2 May 2009, "Not Fair" had reached the number-10 spot on UK Singles Chart before reaching a peak of number five. In New Zealand, the song debuted at number 32 and peaked at number 20, giving Allen her fifth top-40 hit there. The song has also been a big hit in Australia, where it peaked at number three and spent eight consecutive weeks in the top 10, equalling the success of her previous single "The Fear".

File:Notfairmusicvideo.jpg

The music video for "Not Fair" was directed by Melina Matsoukas and filmed in Los Angeles on 19 February 2009.{{cite web | url=http://www.videostatic.com/vs/2009/02/shot-lily-allen-melina-director.html | title=SHOT: Lily Allen – Melina, director | work=VideoStatic.com | date=27 February 2009 | access-date=19 March 2009 }}{{cite web | url=https://twitter.com/lilyroseallen/status/1227625290 | title=Gettin my hair did. Shooting the next video today x | publisher=Twitter | date=19 February 2009 | access-date=19 March 2009 }} Allen released pictures from the video on her official Twitter account.{{cite web | url=http://twitpic.com/1kwoe | title=Not Fair | work=Twitpic | publisher=Twitter | date=19 February 2009 | access-date=19 March 2009 }} 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 October 2022, it has gained over 100 million views on YouTube.

{{cite web |title=Lily Allen | Not Fair (Official Video) |website = YouTube| date=20 March 2009 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUYaosyR4bE |access-date=23 August 2020}}

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 (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 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 (as can be seen by the "comet trails" at 1:56 when the camera pans away from the studio lights) to keep with the theme of the video, as opposed to being filmed like most other music videos made in the 21st century.{{citation needed|date=April 2011}}

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UK CD1 (Cardsleeve){{Cite web|url=http://lilyallenmusic.com/lily/happenings/1758859/0|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090911064959/http://lilyallenmusic.com/lily/happenings/1758859/0|url-status=dead|title=2009-04-03: 'What's Happening?' – LillyAllenMusic.com|archive-date=11 September 2009|access-date=13 March 2022}}

1. "Not Fair" (explicit) – 3:20
2. "The Fear" (The Count (Hervé) & Lily Face the Fear remix) – 4:21

UK CD2 (Slim Case){{cite web |url=http://auspop.blogspot.com/2009/04/totally-fair-local-lily-single.html |title=Auspop.Net: A Totally Fair Local Lily Single |publisher=Auspop.blogspot.com |date=28 April 2009 |access-date=15 March 2011 |archive-date=5 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005075755/http://auspop.blogspot.com/2009/04/totally-fair-local-lily-single.html |url-status=dead }}

1. "Not Fair" (radio edit) – 3:03
2. "The Fear" (The Count (Hervé) & Lily Face the Fear remix) – 4:21
3. "Not Fair" (Di Angelis & Dobie 'Circus' remix) – 5:36
4. "Not Fair" (Style of Eye remix) – 6:14

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7-inch limited edition picture disc

1. "Not Fair" (radio edit) – 3:03
2. "Why" – 3:16

Digital download{{cite web |url=https://music.apple.com/gb/album/not-fair-ep/726149559 |title=iTunes – Music – Not Fair – EP by Lily Allen |date=8 May 2009 |publisher=iTunes Store}}

1. "Not Fair" – 3:23
2. "Why" – 3:38
3. "Not Fair" (Style of Eye remix) – 6:19
4. "The Count (Hervé) and Lily Allen Face the Fear" – 4:22
5. "Not Fair" (clean radio edit) – 3:24
6. "Mr. Blue Sky" – 3:41

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{{Certification Table Entry|region=Australia|award=Platinum|type=single|certyear=2009|access-date=6 January 2015}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Switzerland|artist=Lily Allen|title=Not Fair|award=Gold|type=single|relyear=2009|certyear=2009|access-date=6 January 2015}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|artist=Lily Allen|title=Not Fair|award=Platinum|type=single|relyear=2009|certyear=2019|access-date=26 July 2019|id=11587-724-1}}

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{{Reflist}}

• {{YouTube|Xfv52SEgCNA|"Lily Allen {{!}} Not Fair (Official Audio)"}}
• {{YouTube|lBh9cMJ8xzo|"Not Fair"}}
• {{YouTube|LN8GHk5s5Dg|"Not Fair"}}

{{Lily Allen}}

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Category:2009 singles

Category:Lily Allen songs

Category:Number-one singles in Israel

Category:Music videos directed by Melina Matsoukas

Category:Songs written by Lily Allen

Category:Song recordings produced by Greg Kurstin