Lily Allen says new album isn’t cruel or about revenge; understand

Released last Friday, the 24th, the fifth studio album by Lily Allen gave something to talk about. After seven years without new music, West End Girl is an explicit mockery of the end of the relationship with David Harboractor Stranger Things with whom Allen got married in 2020 — written and recorded in just 10 days after separating, in December 2024.

Rumors of the split emerged in early 2025, and later Allen revealed that he checked himself into a treatment center to deal with the “emotional turmoil” of the breakup.

Despite appearing more vulnerable than ever, the singer created 14 tracks that channel her suffering in the face of infidelity, divorce and loneliness with lots of humor and sarcasm. The artist commented, in a recent interview with the magazine Interviewwhich West End Girl “it’s not a cruel album” and it doesn’t aim for revenge. “I don’t feel like I’m being bad. It was just the feelings I was processing at the time,” she says.

The disc reveals how Lily He faces, on top of a crisis in his romantic relationship, an existential crisis. At 40 years old (and almost 20 years into her career), she delves into topics such as the maturation of adulthood and the frustration of expectations in this process. It’s almost like an intimate conversation with the listener: the lyrics are sharp, but the melancholy of Allen is the background for all the songs.

Second Allenthe album is a mix of fact and fiction: the song “Madalaine”, for example, discusses the betrayal of Harbor; Madeleine, however, is not the name of a real woman who was involved with the actor, but a fictional character who symbolizes the “construction of others”, as she said in an interview with The Sunday Times. “It’s about the complexities of relationships and how we all face them. It’s a story,” he said.

One of the artist’s concerns in the process of developing the songs was not to put herself in the position of a victim, but to take control of the narrative of her life. “I always said, ‘We have to change that line. It sounds very ‘poor me’.” I wanted it to sound brutal and tragic, but also empowering, for there to be joy in being able to express that.”

THE Interview, Allen said she is in a more positive state of mind than when she created the record, and has made peace with the circumstances that inspired her.

“We all go through breakups and it’s always brutal as hell. But I don’t think you often feel inclined to write about it while you’re going through it,” she says. “That’s what’s fun about this record; it’s viscerally like going through everything. At the time, I was really trying to process things and that’s great in terms of the album, but I don’t feel confused or angry now,” she adds.

• David Harbor

• lily allen

• West End Girl