West End Girl review: tea, divorce, and even stranger things”>
Charlie Denis
When Lily Allen announced she was stepping back from her podcast, Miss Me?, in September to “do some new stuff for a bit” it seemed unlikely that a return to music was in the cards. In the seven years since she released No Shame, her critically-revered but poor-selling third album, Allen turned to acting (both on screen and stage), podcasting, and even selling feet pics online, but rarely mentioned a desire to go back to the studio.
During that same period, however, her influence grew significantly, particularly among a younger generation of female artists who most likely heard songs like 2006’s “LDN” on their way to school. Olivia Rodrigo brought Allen on stage at 2022’s Glastonbury and Billie Eilish said she used to cry listening to “Smile.” Pinkpantheress said, “Lily Allen made sounding like yourself feel cool.” For these stars who lean into diaristic writing and relatability over superstar detachment, Allen has become a Godmother figure. Perhaps, it was only a matter of time she would make her way back to the mantle.
It turns out it would be personal upheaval that’d spur Allen back to music. On Monday, Allen announced her fourth album West End Girl mere days before its arrival. In the background, in addition to her work outside of music and her changing status in the pop canon, loomed the end of her high-profile relationship with Stranger Things actor David Harbour. The couple married in 2020 and announced their split earlier this year. On West End Girl, Allen tells her side of the story in brutally frank detail.
Two decades on from her debut album, Allen is still the same girl who wrote a song about a disappointing lover and unabashedly titled it “Not Big.” In an era when pop lyrics are routinely decoded for hidden meanings and easter eggs, Allen makes hers very clear. She sings about a marriage that breaks down when the man cheats and then convinces the wife to open the relationship as long as they stick to the rules. “We had an arrangement, be discreet and don’t be blatant,” she sings on “Madeline.” “There had to be payment, it had to be with strangers.” This fragile agreement is shattered when Allen discovers the other woman. There are songs confronting her and, on “Pussy Palace,” a visit to the husband’s bachelor pad where she discovers “sex toys, butt plugs, lube” and a huge stash of condoms. “You’re so fucking broken” she sighs from the middle of it all. It’s an insult that feels aimed at both him and herself.
Allen told British Vogue that the lyrics are about things she experienced in her relationship “but that’s not to say that it’s all gospel,” a line that feels like it was probably drafted by the legal team at Allen’s major label. Perhaps they assumed that West End Girl would be chewed up for “lore” and spat out again, forgotten in the tap of a Deuxmoi IG story. That would be a shame because there are some great songs on the album. With the help of producer Blue May (Shygirl, Sudan Archives), West End Girl taps into the multicultural spirit of the London it takes its name from with blasts of jungle, drum and bass, and dancehall that keep the momentum going even when a few repeated lyrical themes threaten to drag it under. A sample of Lumidee’s “Never Leave You” bleeds through “Beg For Me” while “Madeline,” one of two songs tethered by Spanish guitars, bears a melodic resemblance to “Smile,” the song that propelled Allen to this point.
On “Dallas Major,” a bubbly funk song about attempting to return to the dating scene, Allen writes with a striking clarity. “It is what it is — you’re a mess, I’m a bitch … all your shit’s yours to fix,” she sings as she metaphorically rips up the wedding photos after crashing out on her first attempt at moving on. It’s this kind of line that suggests West End Girl is designed less as gossip fodder than it is to be a full stop on the conversation. If the rumor mill thrives on a lack of information, well here is every last gory detail. Two decades ago Allen might have made sounding like yourself feel cool. This time around, she’s doing it to remind the world, and maybe even herself, just who she is.
