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lily allen has opened up about making her explosive new album west end girlSaying that he wrote it after 10 days of feeling “sad” about his life.
The 40-year-old British singer and actor made her first record in seven years following the end of her marriage in 2024. stranger things star david harbor50.
She described the album, released on friday (24 October), “is a mix of fact and fiction that I hope serves as a reminder of how foolish and yet how vulnerable we humans can be”.
The album covers a wide range of topics, including cheating, gaslighting, open relationships, and sex addiction.
In a five star review, IndependentHannah Ivens wrote: “This isn’t just confessional pop, it’s oblivion; an emotional post-mortem conducted in public, a multimillion-dollar account of the breakdown of a thoroughly modern marriage.”
Now, speaking in a new interview times magazineAllen said: “I was really depressed. I felt like I had no good songs left. My writing was really bad and something had happened in my life, everything was over, for me to be able to say, ‘Oh, here she is.'”
She added, “Traditionally in my life, when traumatic things happen, I take time to step away. I certainly don’t think I could have got up on stage a few days after losing a child.” [Allen suffered a stillbirth in 2010]But it’s probably more a physical thing. And there are levels of insult – right?”
The singer, who rose to fame at the age of 21 with irreverent noughties hit singles “Smile” and “LDN”, admits her new album will make a splash. “This will upset a lot of people,” she said.
But she doesn’t seem too worried about the reaction. “Time will tell,” he said. “I’m a 40-year-old mother of two teenagers – it’s no big deal.” Allen has two daughters, Ethel Marie Cooper and Marnie Rose Cooper, with her former husband, builder Sam Cooper. She wouldn’t care whether Harbor or her kids heard it or not. West End Girl.
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Of her decision to make the record, she said: “Nobody knew what was going on in my life. So I went into the studio, cried for two hours and then said, ‘Let’s make some music.'”
In the same interview, Allen explained how, despite everything, she has enjoyed living in New York – where she moved to live with Harbour, who is American – because of the anonymity it gives her.
“When I walk into a room in this country [the UK],” she said, ”I feel like I’m fighting against a tabloid version of myself – I want to prove that I’m not the person they read about.
“I don’t feel judged in America the way I do here. There’s this residual trauma from being chased by 50 people with cameras with long lenses when I was 21 and then having words come up with pictures the next day.”
Allen married Harbor in 2019 after meeting on Raya, an exclusive dating app popular among celebrities and other high-profile figures.
She revealed earlier this month that she had entered a treatment facility following their separation last year as she struggled with intense feelings of depression and nearly relapsed after six years of sobriety.
the singer told British Vogue That she “wanted to die” but is now “feeling fine” after finding a sponsor and going to daily meetings in addition to medication, therapy and antidepressants.
During his Brit Award-winning and Grammy-nominated career, Allen has released five albums: ok, still (2006), it’s not me it’s you (2009), Sheezus (2014), no shame (2018) andwest end girl (2025).
In recent years she has turned to acting, starring in plays 2:22: A Ghost Story, The Pillowman And Hedda.