Sheezus (Warner Music)

Ha ha, Sheezus. Get it? Like Yeezus, only she’s a woman. LOL.

I think Lily Allen is a genius, and her absence from the music scene for the past five years or so, although understandable—it’s hard to focus on your career when you’re pushing out babies and changing diapers—was tough for fans of whip-smart pop to bear.

Sheezus is a welcome return, then, although your enjoyment of it will hinge on how interested you are in hearing Allen play pop-culture critic.

The British singer has arguably been at her best telling small-scale, personal stories, whether she’s delivering a devastating kiss-off to an ex on “Smile”, offering unasked-for life counselling to her pothead kid brother on “Alfie”, or skewering some right-wing douchebag on “Fuck You”. Allen’s talent lies in dressing her pointed lyrics up in pure-pop trappings, which makes for an appealing juxtaposition.

Allen is more than capable of sincerity, though, and, downbeat though it may be, the tearstained-pillow heartbreak melodrama of “Take My Place” makes it a standout. By the same token, “Somewhere Only We Know” benefits from a light touch in the production department, with its piano and softly shivering strings transforming the Keane hit into a thing of haunting elegance.

Some of the musical choices are just puzzling, however: the West-African-highlife-inspired “Life for Me” actually works, but the accordion-accented “As Long as I Got You” seems unlikely to spark a zydeco revival. That said, a world with a new Lily Allen record in it—even one as uneven as Sheezus—is better than the alternative.