Lily Allen has insisted West End Girl is “not a cruel album”.
The 40-year-old singer released her first LP since 2018’s No Shame last week, just days after it was released, and the content left fans stunned as it appeared to lay bare the breakdown of her marriage to David Harbour amid speculation he was unfaithful to her, but she doesn’t feel she was being “mean” to the Stranger Things star by laying out her feelings publicly.
She told Interview magazine: “It’s not a cruel album. I don’t feel like I’m being mean. It was just the feelings I was processing at the time.”
Lily is in a different headspace now than she was when she wrote the record and doesn’t feel the need for “revenge”.
She said: “I mean, I wrote this record in 10 days in December and I feel very differently about the whole situation now. We all go through breakups and it’s always f****** brutal. But I don’t think it’s that often that you feel inclined to write about it while you’re in it.
“That’s what’s fun about this record; it’s viscerally like going through the motions. 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. I don’t need revenge.”
But she stressed the record wasn’t entirely autobiographical.
She said: “Some of it is based on truth and some of it is fantasy.”
The Smile hitmaker felt it was important not to be seen as a “victim” in the songs.
She said: “We did go back and tweak things. It was very important to me that I didn’t sound like a victim, so I’d be like, ‘We have to change that line. It just sounds too, “Poor me.” ‘I wanted it to feel brutal and tragic, but also empowering, that there was joy in being able to express it.
“Especially in this day and age when we are so disconnected because of our smartphones. It’s like, “Holy s***, I’m feeling things.” I’m always wanting to feel things, which is why I’m a drug addict and an alcoholic. I’m desperately searching for that thing.
“Heartbreak is also a f****** gift… It’s something that everybody can relate to. That’s why 98 percent of songs are about love or loneliness.”