Fuck You (Lily Allen Song)
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"Fuck You", originally titled "Guess Who Batman (Fuck You Very Much)", is a song by English singer-songwriter
Lily Allen Lily Rose Beatrice Allen (born 2 May 1985) is an English singer, songwriter, and actress. List of awards and nominations received by Lily Allen, Her accolades include a Brit Award, alongside nominations for a Grammy Award and a Laurence Olivi ...
from her second
album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...
, ''
It's Not Me, It's You ''It's Not Me, It's You'' is the second studio album by English singer Lily Allen, released on 4 February 2009 by Regal Recordings and Parlophone. It was produced and co-written by Greg Kurstin, with whom Allen had previously worked on her deb ...
'' (2009), as her third international single. A maximalist
Dance-pop Dance-pop is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit ra ...
track, its lyrics dismiss and ridicule a bigoted antagonist, criticising their
racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...
,
homophobia Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who identify or are perceived as being lesbian, Gay men, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred, or ant ...
, and war-mongering. The song was a hit in mainland Europe, topping the chart in
Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...
for three weeks and reaching number two in
Wallonia Wallonia ( ; ; or ), officially the Walloon Region ( ; ), is one of the three communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, regions of Belgium—along with Flemish Region, Flanders and Brussels. Covering the southern portion of the c ...
and the Netherlands. It became a top-five hit in Finland, Norway, and Switzerland, reached the top 20 in several other European nations, and peaked at number 23 in Australia.


Background and content

The song originally appeared on Allen's
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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 ''Neighbours'' is an Australian television soap opera that has aired since 18 March 1985. It was created by television executive Reg Watson. The Seven Network commissioned the show following the success of Watson's earlier soap '' Sons and ...
''. 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." Despite its reference to
Batman Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...
, according to ''
NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...
'' and ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
'' magazines the song is a protest against
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
. At a concert on 2 April 2009 at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles, Allen stated that the song was about Bush. 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." The ''Urban Review'' states that it was originally inspired by the far-right
British National Party The British National Party (BNP) is a Far-right politics, far-right, British fascism, fascist list of political parties in the United Kingdom, political party in the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in Wigton, Cumbria, and is led by Adam ...
, adding Allen now "feels the track is relevant everywhere now so has removed a particular target." At the 2009 Glastonbury Festival prior to performing the song, Allen made reference to the
elections to the European parliament Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are the second largest democratic elections in the world after India's. Until 2019, 751 ...
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.


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. In the United Kingdom, the song never received an official release. In the Netherlands the song was released as the album's second single and debuted on the
Dutch Top 40 The Dutch Top 40 () is a weekly music chart compiled by ''Stichting Nederlandse Top 40''. It started as a radio program titled "Veronica Top 40", on the offshore radio, offshore station Radio Veronica in 1965. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" ...
on 18 April 2009 at number 23 and has peaked at number three. The song reached number one in Belgium on 6 June 2009. It also peaked at number four in Finland and Norway, number 18 in Sweden, number nine in France, number 23 in Australia and number 16 in Switzerland.


Music video

A music video for the song was posted on the official
Parlophone Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 1923 as the Parloph ...
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 The afro is a hair style created by combing out natural growth of afro-textured hair, or specifically styled with chemical curling products by individuals with naturally curly or straight hair.Garland, Phyl"Is The Afro On Its Way Out?" '' Ebo ...
hairstyle.


Track listing

* French CD single (Slim Case) # "Fuck You" (Explicit) – 3:42 # "The Fear" (The Count (aka Hervé) & Lily Face the Fear Remix) – 4:21 * American CD single (Standard Case / Cardsleeve) # "Fuck You" (Explicit) – 3:42 # "Fuck You" (Ralphi Rosario & Craig J Klub) # "Fuck You" (Ralphi Rosario Dub) # "Fuck You" (Rich Morel's Extended Vocal Mix) # "Fuck You" (Rich Morel's Official Dub Mix) # "Fuck You" (Manhattan Clique Two Fingers Club Mix) # "Fuck You" (Manhattan Clique Dub Mix) # "Fuck You" (Ralphi Rosario & Craig J Mixshow) # "Fuck You" (The Boy's Crisis Remix) # "Fuck You" (Manhattan Clique "Now Watch This" Electropop Radio Edit) # "Fuck You" (Ralphi Rosario & Craig J Radio Mix) # "Fuck You" (Rich Morel's Radio Edit) * UK digital download # "Fuck You" (Explicit) – 3:42 # "Not Fair" (Radio Edit) – 3:03 # "Not Fair" (Style of Eye Remix) – 6:19 # "The Fear" – 3:26 # "The Fear" (The Count (aka Hervé) & Lily Face the Fear Remix) – 4:21 # "Why" – 3:16 # "Everyone's at It" – 3:22 # "Mr Blue Sky" (Acoustic) – 4:18 * French digital download # "Fuck You" (Explicit) – 3:42 # "Why" – 3:16 # "Not Fair" (Style of Eye Remix) – 6:19 # "The Fear" (The Count (aka Hervé) & Lily Face the Fear Remix) – 4:21 # "Not Fair" (radio edit) – 3:03 * American digital download # "Fuck You" (clean radio edit) – 3:41 # "Fag Hag" – 2:55 # "Kabul Shit" – 3:45 # "Womanizer" (acoustic version) – 3:31 *American remix digital download # "Fuck You" (Ralphi Rosario & Craig J Klub) – 7:46 # "Fuck You" (Manhattan Clique Two Fingers Club Mix) – 6:21 # "Fuck You" (Rich Morel's Extended Vocal Mix) – 5:48 # "Fuck You" (Manhattan Clique 'Now Watch This' Electropop Radio) – 3:32 # "Fuck You" (Ralphi Rosario Dub) – 9:48


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Certifications


In popular culture

The song was chosen as the theme song for the TV programme ''
Periodismo para todos ''Periodismo para todos'' () was an Argentine investigative journalism television program. It is hosted by the journalist Jorge Lanata, it aired on Sunday nights in '' eltrece''. It was highly critical during the Cristina Fernández de Kirchner ...
'' () in Argentina. ''Periodismo para todos'' is a controversial Argentine television program that has been labelled as
investigative journalism Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, racial injustice, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend m ...
. 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. 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 () of Tu Dial, an Argentinian web radio station based in Mexico. The song was featured in the pilot of ABC's ''
Suburgatory ''Suburgatory'' is an American television sitcom created by Emily Kapnek that aired on ABC from September 28, 2011, to May 14, 2014. The series originally aired on Wednesday nights at 8:30/7:30 Central following '' The Middle''. The title is a ...
''. The song was performed by The Sockapellas in the 2012 film '' Pitch Perfect'', singing "Eff You" instead. The song is featured in the 2014 film '' Love, Rosie'' and in the 2016 film '' Bridget Jones's Baby''. Finnish actor Antti Holma covered the song in Finnish in 2016, with the title "V-laulu" ("The V Song"). The song is prominently featured in "Chapter 3: Resurrection", the 2018 third episode of the animated web series ''The Vampair'' by Daria Cohen, in which it is presented as being sung by Melissa "Missi" Dumarias to Duke on resurrecting him and kicking him out of his former castle. The song is featured in the 2020 video game '' Watch Dogs: Legion''. The song is performed by the character Janae in the 2021 series, '' One of Us Is Lying'' (adaptation of the bestselling Karen M McManus book). On 25 June 2022, Allen performed the song with Olivia Rodrigo at Glastonbury Festival 2022. They dedicated the song to the five conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices—
Samuel Alito Samuel Anthony Alito Jr. ( ; born April 1, 1950) is an American jurist who serves as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was Samuel Alito Supreme Court ...
,
Clarence Thomas Clarence Thomas (born June 23, 1948) is an American lawyer and jurist who has served since 1991 as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. President George H. W. Bush nominated him to succeed Thurgood Marshall. Afte ...
,
Amy Coney Barrett Amy Vivian Coney Barrett (born January 28, 1972) is an American lawyer and jurist serving since 2020 as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. The fifth wom ...
,
Neil Gorsuch Neil McGill Gorsuch ( ; born August 29, 1967) is an American jurist who serves as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was Neil Gorsuch Supreme Court ...
, and
Brett Kavanaugh Brett Michael Kavanaugh (; born February 12, 1965) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President Donald Trump on July 9, 2018, and has served since Oct ...
—who formed the majority in ''
Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization ''Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization'', 597 U.S. 215 (2022), is a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, United States Supreme Court in which the court held ...
'' to overrule ''
Roe v. Wade ''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States protected the right to have an ...
'' the day before, ending the right to an abortion under the federal constitution.


References

{{Authority control 2008 songs Songs about racism and xenophobia Lily Allen songs LGBTQ-related songs Obscenity controversies in music Songs written by Greg Kurstin Songs written by Lily Allen Songs about George W. Bush Works about George W. Bush Song recordings produced by Greg Kurstin 2009 singles Political songs Parlophone singles de:It's Not Me, It's You#Zum Album