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Lily Allen · S8 E5
Speaking Out
#MeToo, truth, and the loneliest kind of bravery
October 5, 2017. The New York Times publishes its investigation into Harvey Weinstein, and within weeks every industry in the world is asking the same question: who knew?
"Not Big" by Lily Allen (2006). A full decade before #MeToo, Lily was already doing what the movement would eventually demand: looking a powerful person in the eye and telling them they're not as impressive as they think. The song is a pop takedown, funny and vicious, and in 2018 it sounds like a prototype for an entire cultural reckoning.
The Moment
When My Thoughts Exactly arrives in September 2018, the world has already been cracked open by the Weinstein investigation. Women across every industry are telling their stories for the first time, and the response, for once, is not silence but belief. Lily Allen's memoir lands in the middle of this wave and immediately becomes part of it.
Not Big, Lily Allen (2006)
'Not Big' is built on a jaunty, almost cartoonish beat that makes the insults land harder because you're smiling while you hear them. Listen for how Lily delivers the sharpest lines with a casual, almost bored vocal tone, as if the person she's addressing isn't even worth raising her voice for. The production borrows from ska and reggae, giving the whole track a party atmosphere while the lyrics systematically dismantle someone's ego. It's the blueprint for every Lily Allen song that uses sweetness as a weapon.
“I read the Weinstein story and I thought, that's it. That's the thing that changes everything. And I knew that if I was going to write my book honestly, this was the moment to do it.”
— Lily Allen, Channel 4 News interview (2018)
TAP TO REVEAL: How did #MeToo change the way My Thoughts Exactly was received?
Not Just Her
Lily Allen is not the only musician speaking out during this period. Kesha's lawsuit against Dr. Luke, Taylor Swift's courtroom testimony against a DJ who groped her, and dozens of anonymous accounts from women across the music industry create a collective picture of systemic abuse. My Thoughts Exactly is one voice in a chorus that can no longer be ignored.
#MeToo and Music
Take What You Take, Lily Allen
'Take What You Take' is an Alright, Still track about someone who takes whatever they want without asking. In 2006, it's a pop song about a selfish person. In the context of #MeToo, those lyrics carry a completely different weight. The entitlement Lily described at twenty-one is the same entitlement the movement is dismantling at a global scale.
Take What You Take, Lily Allen (2006)
These lyrics were written by a twenty-one-year-old about everyday selfishness. Read them now, after five episodes about stalking, assault, and institutional failure, and the words sound like they were written about something much bigger.
Who originally coined the phrase 'Me Too' in 2006, over a decade before it became a global hashtag?
My Thoughts Exactly divides the British press down the middle. Some call it the bravest celebrity memoir in years, others call Lily Allen an attention-seeker who can't be trusted.
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