We’ve always known that singer Lily Allen was never afraid of saying what was on her mind, but her latest outburst, in response to a Twitter fan calling her music ‘rubbish’ might be her most shocking yet. Shocking because, well the singer agreed. When a fan took to the micro blogging site to call her latest musical offerings ‘docile pop rubbish’, Lily responded with ‘what you’ve heard so far yes. All I can do is do my best, the labels and the radio stations won’t play the better stuff.’ So is Lily and her disappointed fan right, are her new singles just ‘rubbish’?

Lily Allen at the Brit AwardsLily Allen is back, but for better or worse?

Lily Allen decided to take a break from the music industry back in 2009, by that stage she’d released two albums, 2006’s multi platinum ‘Alright Still’ and 2009’s ‘Its' Not Me, It's You’, so her musical hiatus came as a bit of a shock to fans. During her down time Lily became a mother to two children and married husband Sam Cooper in 2011. She also used her time off from music to open a clothing store with her sister and launch her own record label. Then in 2012 Lily found herself back in the studio, recording what was to become her first album in five years, the soon to be released ‘Sheezus’.

Since coming back to the charts Lily has also found herself back in the headlines. First for the video for her comeback single, ‘Hard Out Here’. Specifically it was the video that got attention as Lily lampooned other pop stars by twerking and pretending to have liposuction. Was it feminist or was it just as expletive? The broadsheets debated, however the single itself received critical praise and entered the UK top 10. Rolling Stone called it ‘a feminist anthem through and through,’ adding ‘‘Hard Out Here’ tackles everything from tired gender roles and expectations to double standards regarding sex and appearance for men and women.’ The Guardian also seemed happy to have Allen back saying, ‘created specifically to drum up controversy, engage a debate and represent the now, ‘Hard Out Here’ is exactly what we wanted from a Lily Allen comeback'.

Lily AllenAfter taking a break from the music industry in 2009, Lily focused on marriage and motherhood

Of course ‘Hard out Here’ wasn't Lily’s only single release of 2013. She also covered Keane’s ‘Somewhere Only We Know’ for the John Lewis Christmas campaign. The cover brought Lily back to the top of the singles chart in Britain, but few could dub it her best or most artistic work to date. Indeed the saccharine tune and advert to match didn’t find much love from the critics, with The Telegraph labelling it ‘wrong song, wrong sound, wrong singer.’

Next page: Is Lily Allen's 'Air Balloon' rubbish?