The singer has brought her seven-year music hiatus to an end with a new album, West End Girl
When Lily Allen released her fifth album on Friday morning, there were as many headlines breaking down the contents of the record as there were actual reviews of the music.
West End Girl, surprise-announced on Monday, appears to concern the 40-year-old British pop star’s divorce from the US actor David Harbour, who stars in the Netflix sci-fi series Stranger Things. In interviews, Allen has been careful to liken the album to a work of autofiction, and to tell British Vogue that it references things she experienced in her marriage “but that’s not to say that it’s all gospel”. Given its highly detailed, eye-popping allegations about a husband breaking the agreed terms of an open relationship, his emotional manipulation and sex addiction, one would imagine that lawyers heavily advised her to add that caveat. (Harbour has not responded to the album’s contents.)
In an interview with Katie Grand’s Perfect magazine this week, Allen admitted that the record was likely to further stoke her tempestuous relationship with the media. “I don’t make it easy for myself, do I?” she said. Still, beyond the obvious tabloid catnip contained within the album – including lyrics about discovering “sex toys, butt plugs, lube inside / Hundreds of Trojans” (condoms) on the song Pussy Palace – some newspapers have bordered on sharply personal criticism when covering West End Girl. The headline on the Times’ review stated: “You almost feel sorry for David Harbour.” In a 2/5 review, the Financial Times accused Allen of “a hollow performance”.
