Review: West End Girl: Lily Allen’s Painfully Honest Portrait of a Marriage Unravelled

Lily Allen has always written like someone with nothing left to lose. But her new album — West End Girl — lands with the force of an emotional autopsy, peeling back the layers of a marriage and its collapse with a clarity that’s both exhilarating and excruciating. It’s an unflinching document of betrayal, grief, and resilience, rumoured to chronicle the end of her relationship with Stranger Things actor David Harbour. Yet despite the heartbreak that drives it, this is Allen’s sharpest pop record in years — biting, funny, and devastating all at once.

The album opens with the title track, West End Girl, a deceptively light introduction that plants the seeds of emotional dissonance to come. “I thought that was quite strange,” she sings after receiving muted support for the news of her London stage role — a moment that, in retrospect, marks the beginning of distance creeping into her domestic life. What follows is an intricate tapestry of self-doubt and confrontation. Ruminating spins sleepless obsession into an infectious groove — “Did you kiss her on the lips, and look into her eyes?” — while Sleepwalking twists the Madonna/whore dichotomy into a weaponised act of defiance.

Throughout, Allen balances vulnerability with razor wit. Madeline stages a surreal text exchange between wife and mistress, complete with a passive-aggressive “Love and Light” sign off from Madeline. Relapse wrestles with the temptation of old coping mechanisms — “I need a drink, I need a Valium” — while Pussy Palace exposes the detritus of betrayal with dark humour and brutal specificity. The details sting, but it’s Allen’s refusal to flinch that makes the record gripping.

Guest spots like Specialist Moss on Nonmonogamummy add a playful levity that only deepens the ache. On the plaintive Beg for Me — she’s not looking for redemption so much as acknowledgment. “Why won’t you beg-beg-beg for me?” she pleads, a line that lands with the weariness of someone who knows the answer.

Recorded in just 16 days, West End Girl is an astonishingly cohesive statement — urgent, confessional, and unguarded. It’s a reminder that Allen’s greatest gift has always been her ability to turn personal chaos into universal catharsis. The gossip on the internet might have sparked the conversation, but the songs — sharp, bruised, and unforgettable — ensure she has the last word.