Lily Allen Releases Breakup Album 'West End Girl'

Lily Allen released West End Girl on Oct. 24; the 14-track album was written and recorded in about 10 days in December 2024 and is widely read as an autofictional account of the breakdown of her marriage to David Harbour, addressing alleged infidelity, disputes over open-relationship boundaries, and Allen’s struggles with alcohol and prescription drugs. Allen has said the record mixes fact and fiction, that a figure named “Madeline” is fictional, and that it was not meant as revenge—she says she now feels differently, “doesn’t need revenge,” and intended to avoid a victim narrative while making the material feel brutal, tragic and also empowering. The album’s frank lyrics have provoked intense media and critical reaction, strong reviews, millions of streams and chart attention, and prompted social-media sleuthing and tabloid coverage. Harbour has not publicly responded, though reports that he was later seen with their children and fans’ resurfacing of an Architectural Digest joke have led some to suggest the former couple’s relationship may now be in a different, possibly more settled place. Allen has acknowledged the split left her spiraling and nearly cost her sobriety while she processed the breakup on the record.