Lily Allen: "Dolly Parton is a bitch.. Adele's a bitch. Rihanna's an inspiring bitch"

Lily Allen has referred to a host of fellow female singers and well known figures as "bitches".

Discussing her new song, 'Hard Out Here' - the lyrical refrain of which is "it's hard out here for a bitch" - in The Observer, Allen makes an attempt at reclaiming the word, commenting: "Dolly Parton is a bitch. Adele's a bitch. Angela Merkel is a bitch… Rihanna's an inspiring bitch, my mum, Miley's a bitch, rising. She's my hero." She added: "Kate Middleton is NOT a bitch."

In the piece Allen discusses her place in the music industry, explaining that she is known for speaking out. She said: "I've always been called 'mouthy', when, in fact, I'm just talking. In the music industry, women have always been controlled by male execs, told to do the Kate Moss thing. Keep your mouth shut, or people will laugh at you."

Speaking about the current pop climate, she states that there are far more female artists in the charts as opposed to when she released her debut album, 'Alright, Still', in 2006. "When I first started, in terms of girls it was just me and Amy [Winehouse]. Now, 'reentering the marketplace', it's all girls." She goes on to say that it upsets her that many contemporary female pop artists don't write their own songs. "Nobody says anything real today. Most of those girls have their songs written by other people. It annoys me, because 'eh oh eh oh ahh' is not a chorus – that's not a point where I feel 'we're connecting', you know? I need a narrative," she says.

She adds that the content of her new music is different from her previous releases and older songs which were "directed at significant others". Allen states: "I want to sing about different things now... Now I couldn't be happier, so its opened me up to write about more general stuff. There are a couple of songs to Sam [Cooper, husband], including one sexy one, about coming to terms with becoming sexual again after just being a baby-making vessel. But mainly they're funnier and happier – less lethargic, less teenage."

Lily Allen recently defended 'Hard Out Here' and its video, saying she has received countless messages of praise. The video, which was posted online on November 12 shows Allen dancing with a group of black dancers in a spoof of hip-hop music video tropes. This part of the video has been picked up on by some critics, who claim that using black dancers to gyrate explicitly around a white singer, albeit ironically, is not acceptable.

Speaking to NME at the Red Bull Revolutions In Sound event at the London Eye last week, she said: "There's been a lot of praise [for 'Hard Out Here']. Millions. Laura Mvula, Ellie Goulding and Kate Nash were all in touch. Loads more. Laura Mvula said she both laughed and cried with happiness when she saw it." She acknowledged that there had also been plenty of critics, "But we're not going to talk about them."

Allen refused to give any more details about her third album, saying it would be announced in due course. When asked if she was looking forward to being so busy in the New Year, with a presumed 2014 album release and tour dates, she joked: "You never know, I might rush-release it before Christmas."