× After a seven year hiatus, Lily Allen returns with “West End Girl”. It’s an album depicting her up and down marriage with actor David Harbour, and it is brutal, ruthless and heartbreakingly honest.
Recorded and written in only 10 days in Los Angeles, the album opens with its title “West End Girl”, a dreamy musicial theatre inspired track, with Allen setting the scene for the sonic journey ahead. Allen lets us into her world, reminiscing on her move to New York with Harbour and her children, to then head back to London to be in a play. While away, Harbour suggests opening up their marriage, to which Allen reluctantly agrees. From this point on, “West End Girl” charts Allen’s emotions, thoughts and experiences throughout this new stage in her life.
This record is like reading a diary someone left wide open on the bus; half reflection, half declaration. Allen writes with her trademark conversational candour, making those of us who grew up in the early 2000s with her music feel warm with nostalgia. Her humour is still present in her music, but its evolved with time. Even in what feels like Allen’s darkest moments – whether it be the discovery of infidelity or the dissection of non-monogamy gone wrong – she still manages to find flashes of absurdity, a lifeline of humour weaving itself throughout the album.
Across the album’s 14 tracks, she toggles between vulnerability and venom, sometimes within the same line. There’s wit everywhere, but it cuts differently now. Instead of mocking others like we’ve seen in her previous albums such as “It’s Not Me, It’s You”, she’s turning the joke on herself. And its brilliantly human.
What’s refreshing is how defiantly grown-up it all is. There’s no attempt to sound 25 again, or to capitalise on musical trends in order to achieve social media vitality. Allen is not trying to emulate her sound from the early 2000s, but is simply documenting this part of her life in the most truthful way she knows how – through music. Really, this album feels one of the most authentic releases to date, as it doesn’t pander to anyone or anything, it simply is.
And that’s what makes it a perfect album.
(Favourite Tracks: “Madeline”, “Pussy Palace”, “Dallas Major” & “4chan Stan”.)
5/5 stars.
