Lily Allen has made her long-awaited return to music with the release of her new studio album West End Girl, and it’s littered with seeming references to her tumultuous relationship with Stranger Things star and former husband David Harbour.
ICYMI, the aughties pop star dropped the project earlier today, some seven years after its predecessor, No Shame, was released back in 2018.
West End Girl arrives amid a flurry of ongoing headlines for Allen in the wake of her divorce from Harbour after a four-year marriage. The hullaballoo spawned claims of cheating on Harbour’s part, while Allen admitted just this month that the divorce jeopardised her sobriety.
Much of the drama from that time period is reflected on the album, with fans quickly deducing that three tracks — “Ruminating”, “Sleepwalking” and “Tennis” — allude most directly to Harbour’s affair.
On “Ruminating” Allen asks if “you kiss[ed] her on the lips and look[ed] into her eyes”, while “Sleepwalking” sees her mention “them girls in your bed”.
Later, on “Tennis”, Allen recalls spying a lover’s text messages and finding the phone number of another woman. “I read your texts, and now I regret it… If it was just sex, I wouldn’t be jealous. You won’t play with me, and who’s Madeline?” she sings.
The mystery Madeline pops up again on the track of the same name, as Allen confesses to messaging the other woman: “Is it just sex or is it emotion?”.
If you recall, digital romance played a key role in Allen’s divorce, since she reportedly discovered Harbour was having an affair after sleuthing with a fake account on the celebrity dating app Raya.
While portions of the album deal in infidelity — including when she sings about a partner being “in love with someone else” on “Just Enough” — the album also lays bare the emotional highs and lows she has endured on an individual level.
On “Relapse”, she details her efforts to avoid drugs and alcohol amid her relationship struggles, while “Let You W/In” reflects on her decision to return to music after a years-long hiatus.
Judging by the early reviews of West End Girl, Allen did well to distill the tumult of the last few years into a well-praised album, with NME awarding it four stars and The Independent saying Allen’s “suffering puts her in the starring role” in a five-star review.
Like any album, how hard West End Girl hits will depend on the listener, so whack on some headphones and decide for yourself whether Allen’s divorce tea is worth a sip.
If we’re lucky, we might even get a “Fuck You” reprise, perhaps with “David” in parenthesis.
Lead images: Getty Images
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