Lily Allen‘s anticipated new album is an ode to her marriage to David Harbour with 14 tracks detailing in brutal honesty the breakdown of their relationship.
The singer, 40, has released her first record in seven years following her split from the Stranger Things star, 50, in December after discovering his three-year affair.
Titled West End Girl, the album tells the story of a broken marriage and a series of betrayals with the hitmaker explaining: ‘There are definitely some things that happened in my real life that are reflected on this record.’
Whilst she insists that the 14 songs are part fiction, part fact, Lily weaves in unmistakable details about the past five years of her life in what appears to be a blistering takedown of her ex.
The narrative begins with the title track which takes listeners back to the idyllic early days of the couple’s relationship, when she moved to New York with her daughters to be with the US star.
She recalls the joy when they purchased a family brownstone and finding a school for her kids before her elation when she got a call to say she had landed the lead role in the 2021 West End show 2:22 A Ghost Story, singing ‘that’s when your demeanor started to change’
Lily Allen ‘s anticipated new album is an ode to her marriage to David Harbour with 14 tracks detailing in brutal honesty the breakdown of their relationship (pictured together in December 2023)
Titled West End Girl, the new record tells the story of a broken marriage and a series of betrayals with the hitmaker explaining: ‘There are definitely some things that happened in my real life that are reflected on this record’
The song then cuts to an emotional phone call, with Lily saying: ‘I miss you. OK, well it doesn’t make me feel great…If that’s what you need to do then…I guess. But how would it work? I mean, it makes me really sad but I want you to be happy. I love you.’
On the second track, Ruminating, she sings about her insomnia whilst working in London and her worries about a relationship, singing ‘I can’t shake the image of her naked before repeating ‘you’re mine.’
‘Why can’t you wait for me to come home? This conversation’s too big for a phone call. Ruminating, ruminating, I’ve been up all night. Did you kiss her on the lips, and look into her eyes? Did you have fun? Now that it’s done, baby, won’t you tell me I’m still your number one? ‘Cause you’re my number one.’
On third track Sleepwalking, she claims there has ‘been no romance since we wed. ‘Why aren’t we f***ing, baby?’ Yeah, that’s what you said. But you let me think it was me in my head, and nothing to do with them girls in your bed.’
In Relapse Lily details an agreement about an open relationship as she sings ‘I tried to be your modern wife But the child in me protests.’
Tennis then paints a picture of the singer preparing a welcome home dinner for an unappreciative partner before she spies texts on his phone from a mystery girl.
‘I read your texts, and now I regret it,’ she sings. ‘I can’t get my head round how you’ve been playing tennis. If it was just sex, I wouldn’t be jealous. You won’t play with me, and who’s Madeline?’
‘I got a lot of information that I can’t even process. So I wrote a little email and I told you what I saw. And then you came up to the bedroom and you made it all my fault.’
Whilst she insists that the album is part fiction, part fact, Lily weaves unmistakeable details about the past five years of her life across the tracks in a blistering takedown of her ex
There is another track on the album called Madeline which sees her confess to messaging the other woman as she begs to know ‘is it just sex or is it emotion?’ before reading out the replies.
P***y Palace is one of the most explosive songs on the album as the star describes throwing a partner out of their family home in New York and sending him to his separate West Village apartment.
She turns up at the apartment which ‘she’d assumed was a dojo… but I realised something don’t feel right….So am I looking at a sex addict?’
In the second verse she sings about finding a shoebox of letters ‘from broken hearted women that wished you could have been better’ alongside sex toys as she asks ‘how did I get caught up in your double life?’
On ballad Just Enough she opens with the heartbreaking lyric ‘I think you’re in love with somebody else, felt you pull away and now I’m blaming myself.’
Lily, who previously revealed she had joined Raya to spy on her husband, confesses to using a dating app on the upbeat Dallas Major ‘to look for someone to have fun with while my husband works away.’
The penultimate track Let You W-in sees Lily reveal her motivation for writing new music, singing ‘I can walk out with my dignity if I lay my truth out on the table.’
On Tuesday Lily made a series of candid confessions about her life, as she opened up about her divorce, a recent boob job – and described dating in her 40s as ‘humiliating’.
The Smile hitmaker recently hinted that her ex-husband David, ‘refused to give answers’ when asked about his three-year affair with a younger colleague.
On the second track, Ruminating, she sings about her insomnia as she worries about her relationship, singing ‘I can’t shake the image of her naked’
She has now admitted she was left having to ‘join the dots’ when it came to his affair.
Speaking in an interview with Perfect Magazine, the star confessed her marriage to David didn’t help her self-worth, and added that dating again in her 40s is ‘humiliating’.
She explained: ‘I also think that what was going on in my life was really confusing, because I didn’t actually know what was going on in my life. I wasn’t sure what was real, and what was in my head.
‘So there’s a certain amount of, like, joining dots. When you are not given answers, your brain is full of lots of questions.
‘And if nobody’s willing to answer those questions, then your brain starts to answer them for you. And so I think some of that maybe happened here.’
Lily split from her ‘unfaithful’ ex-husband David last year when she discovered his three-year affair and profile on celebrity dating app, Raya.
The pop star joined the app herself, pretending to be ‘looking for women’ – and allegedly found that David had already set up a dating profile.
Their split led her to check into a £8,000-a-week trauma treatment centre to focus on her mental health.
Lily, who has signed a deal with record label BMG, has admitted she’s ‘nervous’ as it’s her most ‘vulnerable’ collection of songs to date.
The mother of two has revealed that she penned the album in just ten days and said: ‘I’m nervous. The record is vulnerable in a way that my music perhaps hasn’t been before – certainly not over the course of a whole album.’
Last week, Lily extended an olive branch to David after revealing she became suicidal following his three-year affair. She reflected on their relationship, admitting there were still ‘lots of good things about it’ despite the heartbreak.
She told British Vogue: ‘My kids had an amazing experience living in America for five years, and I have a lot of compassion for my ex-husband. I think we all suffer.’
