Lily pokes at all the gender trappings we're so familiar with in both her lyrics and the video, an over the top gold and glamour dance shoot that begins with her liposuction. The lyrics "It's hard out here (for a bitch)" are a nod to "It's hard out here for a pimp". Clearly a send-up, a tongue-in-cheek sarcastic show of the apparent sexism in the video - so of course it had to be taken down a notch by feminists. Some argue that Lily Allen shouldn't attack other women, spoken with a straight face while they attack Lily Allen. Salon declared that the ad is a failed satire, and racist in "Why Lily Allen's "Hard out here" isn't a feminist anthem". TIME tries to explain why people are angry about it, while The Root comes straight out with the headline: Singer attacks sexism with racist and sexist video. Oy, vey. Irony is dead. Not happy, Lilly Allen fired back at the critics, meanwhile I'm wondering how come Beyoncé gets to be labelled feminist while dancing in sexy gear, when Lily Allen is a traitor to all women for doing the same thing.
Director -- Christopher Sweeney
Producer -- Amalia Rosen-Rawlings
Production Co. -- Good Egg