Songfacts®:

• Lily Allen told the Observer Music Monthly December 2008 that this sarcastic indictment of celebrity culture was inspired by "one of those days when you just shout at the telly, 'This is wrong!'" She added that her fear is "of the world becoming this horrible sterile place. Being scared that there's never going to be anything real any more that isn't sponsored."
• Allen told MTV News that when it came to shoot the song's music video at an English country estate called Wrest Park, she had just one thing on her mind. She said, laughing: "I wanted to do a dance routine, even though I'm not really doing a dance routine. Other people are doing it, but I'm part of it. I think people are quite used to girls in this industry really being able to move in front of the camera, but I'm just rubbish at that kind of thing."
  
  Allen added: "I find it quite nerve-racking performing, actually. Because when you write songs, you don't really think about performing in a video. I think it's quite fun. Lots of color and dancing, and it's about doing something that's in keeping with the song, actually."
• "The Fear," like all the other tracks on the It's Not Me, It's You album, was co-written and produced by Greg Kurstin, who produced three songs on her 2007 debut Alright, Still ("Everything's Just Wonderful", "Not Big" and "Alfie"). Kurstin has also produced for the likes of Kylie Minogue, Donna Summer and Natasha Bedingfield.
  
  Allen explained to The Sun January 30, 2009 why she decided to just work with Kurstin this time: "Last time I was desperately trying to get a record deal and was writing singles and working with different people. For this album I had a lot more artistic freedom to just relax. Even though people say the second album is the one with the most pressure, I didn't feel it. Last time I was just after a deal whereas this time I had one. Greg is a genius musician and I found it easy to write my lyrics over the top. I am glad that I have found a person who understands me musically - where I am coming from. Neither of us take it too seriously, we just have fun. And I get quite scared of working with people I have never worked with before."
• This song won the Best Track of the Year at the Virgin Media Music Awards 2010, in which three million music fans voted.
• Allen and her co-writer Greg Kurstin won a couple of Ivor Novello Awards for this hit single: Best Song Musically and Lyrically and Most Performed Work. "This song is so much about feeling so lost," said Allen. "It has made me feel quite found all of a sudden." The pair additionally won the Songwriters of the Year award at the 2010 ceremony.