Pop
Lily Allen says she 'disassociates' onstage while performing her infidelity‑themed album West End Girl
Lily Allen zones out and focuses on the technical stuff only when she's playing a version of herself onstage.
Lily Allen says she “disassociates” when she performs her West End Girl live show, explaining that stepping into the world of the album - which chronicles the collapse of her marriage to David Harbour and its themes of infidelity - requires her to detach from herself onstage.
Speaking to Perfect magazine, the Smile singer said she becomes almost a different person during the performance.
She said: “As I said, I think I disassociate.
“I can tap into certain emotions during each song that I feel are necessary for the performance, but I’m more thinking about the technical stuff.”
Allen said the show is tightly structured, leaving her little room to slip into her usual stage persona.
She explained: “Everything’s quite choreographed, and it’s just me on stage, so it’s quite a lot of responsibility. So I’m focused. And concentrated.”
She contrasted the West End Girl experience with her past tours, where she felt freer to play to the crowd.
She said: “When I played gigs on previous tours, I’ve been up on stage being a current version of myself. And there are certain things that one does. And it’s very easy to control the outcome.”
Allen described the familiar rhythm of crowd‑work - the call‑and‑response moments, the nostalgic anecdotes, the predictable reactions - as almost mechanical.
She said: “It feels a little like painting by numbers, for me, the crowd‑work." Listing the usual lines performers rely on, she added: “‘Is everybody having fun tonight?’ And, ‘Wow! You guys are really loud!’… And you know what you’re going to get back from the room.”
She compared that rush to a drug hit: “It feels great. It’s like taking drugs, right? I know what happens if I empty out a bag of cocaine onto this table and make a line and put it up my nose. I know what the outcome is going to be. It feels great! (Laughs) But I don’t do that currently.”
At one point during the show, Allen wears a "revenge dress" printed with receipts from gifts Stranger Things star Harbour allegedly bought for others.
