Lily Allen nearly didn't release West End Girl
Lily Allen was unsure whether to release West End Girl or not because it's so deeply personal and vulnerable.
Lily Allen admitted that making West End Girl was an “act of desperation,” and she nearly chose not to release it at all.
The 40-year-old singer insists the 14-track album is not a “revenge album” aimed at her ex-husband David Harbour, 50, despite speculation running rife that it's about him being unfaithful.
The album is laced with painful moments, which Allen herself has characterised as “autofiction.”
And, the Smile hitmaker admits she didn't know whether she wanted her personal life to be out in the open.
In an extended interview for CBS News Special, she said: “At the time I wasn’t really thinking about it as a commerical endeavour, it was just, it was an act of desperation actually.
“While I was writing it, I wasn’t really sure whether it was going to see the light of day up until relatively close to its release. I was always thinking, ‘Is this something I want to share with the world?’ But not when I was writing it because the writing was very much er, I hate the word, I don’t hate it, but I feel like we hear the words catharsis or therapy in relation to music [quite a lot].
“It’s an odd idea and an odd question that if you consider yourself an artist that you might think, ‘Should I really be sharing what’s going on in my brain as part of my art?’. That’s kind of messed up, that that is where we have got to as human beings.”
Asked about the album in a recent conversation with Interview Magazine, Allen 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**king brutal. But I don’t think it’s that often that you feel inclined to write about it while you’re in it.”
She added: “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.”
