The video is clearly told from the perspective of Lily Allen who narrates the video. This choice is clearly derived from the lyrics, which tell the story of Lilly and her ex-boyfriend and their relationship. The video starts off rather typically with some mid-long shots of Lily sitting down singing. However, the music video begins its own visual story as Lily gets deeper into the lyrics.The theme of the song is that Lily is the powerful one in the relationship between the two and that she calls the shots.This is illustrated by the fact that she pays people to beat her boyfriend up and rob him.
Compared to other music videos we have watched in class based around women, Lily has a very strong female role in this video. You get the feeling that she thinks she is above men, or at least her own ex-boyfriend. This point is particularly clear in the café scene where were the ex-boyfriend is shown in a frantic state, waving his arms about and generally making himself look like a fool. There is a shot reverse shot technique used here and in the next cut we get a mid shot of Lily just looked very bored and with a ‘whatever’ look on her face as she just sits there stirring her tea. Overall the video has a ‘payback’ feel to it with a touch of humour.
The genre of the video is not that clear because the song has elements of many different genres in. That being said, the video definitely has a British feel to it, which is almost a genre in itself. The locations in the video are very British, with the Café being one of the stronger shots in the video and a representation of British culture. Lily’s voice and accent as well is also an example of British representation. Whether the semi working class accent is being put on or is real, the video exaggerates the accent a lot by using a lot of close up shots as she lip syncs to the chorus.
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