Lily Allen returns February 10 with her sophomore set, It’s Not Me, It’s You.

First single, “The Fear,” was released in December, and I’m not sure if I overlooked it as a result of the usual holiday hubbub, or that I found Allen’s 2007 debut, Alright, Still, pleasant enough but nothing that warranted all of the hype and type she got from the music press. I did enjoy her wink-and-a-smile lyrics (and even her possibly-affected accent), but I’ve got a severe allergy to ska, and the genre had pretty much sneezed all over the album.

But thanks to Logo’s NewNowNext PopLab, I’m ready to give this Brit another go, having seen the clip for “The Fear.” The tabloid magnet’s cutting commentary remains intact — the song is about the shallow depths of celebrity culture — but soundwise Allen is running from retro toward au courant electro-pop in “The Fear” and finishing on a very-U2 note:

If the forthcoming It’s Not Me, It’s You mines a similar vein, Allen may just be February’s (salty) sweetheart.

Purchase “The Fear” (Explicit Version) via iTunes, Amazon MP3.