Lily Allen denies West End Girl is a 'revenge album' aimed at ex David Harbour
Lily Allen says her latest album, West End Girl, is "not a cruel album".
Lily Allen insists West End Girl is not a "revenge album" about ex-husband David Harbour.
The 40-year-old singer tied the knot with David, 50, in 2020, but their breakup was confirmed in February after four years of marriage.
The recently released 14-track record - which is "a mixture of fact and fiction" - explores themes of cheating, gaslighting, open relationships and sex addiction.
Asked to clarify if it's a "revenge album" after the breakdown of her marriage to the Stranger Things actor while speaking with Interview magazine, she replied: “It isn’t.
“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 fucking brutal. But I don’t think it’s that often that you feel inclined to write about it while you’re in it.”
Lily continued: “That’s what’s fun about this record; it’s viscerally like going through the motions. At the time [of recording it], 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.”
Reviewers have hailed the album "vicious", but Allen is adamant: “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.”
Asked if penning the lyrics helped heal her heartbreak, she responded: “I checked into a treatment centre six weeks afterwards. That got me out of the funk.”
Lily goes to “lots of different types of therapy”, as well as NA (Narcotics Anonymous) and AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) meetings.
She told The Sunday Times Culture Magazine: “I keep myself in good shape."
And the LDN hitmaker appreciates the anonymity she has in the US compared to her native England, where she has to navigate the "tabloid version" of herself.
After revealing she will remain in New York, despite selling her home in the Big Apple with David, she said: “When I walk into a room in this country, I feel I am fighting against a tabloid version of myself — I want to prove I am not that person they read about.
"I don’t feel judged in America the way I do here. It is residual trauma from being followed around by 50 guys with long-lens cameras when I was 21, and then the words that came with the photos the next day.”
Despite her sadness over the end of her marriage to David, Lily believes she will be "OK".
She said: “I’m financially OK. I have a roof over my head and food in the fridge and my kids are doing well and those markers are huge.”
