“Hard Out Here” is the lead single from Lily Allen’s third studio album Sheezus. The song’s lyrics deal with the exploitation of the female figure and misogyny in the music industry.

In a review by The Rolling Stone magazine the song was referred to as a “feminist anthem through and through” and commended it for tackling “tired gender roles and expectations to double standards regarding sex and appearance for men and women”.

The video, which received 2.2 million views within two days of upload, received a large amount of criticism for inappropriate use of black dancers which Lily refused to apologise for and replied with the following:

If I could dance like the ladies can, it would have been my arse on your screens; I actually rehearsed for two weeks trying to perfect my twerk, but failed miserably. If I was a little braver, I would have been wearing a bikini too, but I do not and I have chronic cellulite, which nobody wants to see.

However in 2016 Lily apologised for her failure to recognise cultural appropriation with regards to feminism in an interview with Radio One DJ Annie Mac.

I was guilty of thinking ― assuming ― that there was a one-size-fits-all where feminism is concerned.