There have been loads of pop culture moments to remember in 2025, and we’re not done yet. The Toronto Blue Jays heroic World Series run; Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco’s dreamy wedding day; Travis and Taylor’s engagement.
It’s always the moment we haven’t been expecting that hit the biggest though, isn’t it? In the world of music, Taylor Swift’s announcement of her 13th studio album The Life of a Showgirl back in August (just before her engagement news broke) was a huge surprise for fans and seemed poised to be the most buzzed about album of the year. Last week, in a move nobody had on their bingo card, British popstar Lily Allen dropped her first new release in seven years, a scorcher of a tell-all revenge album that features some pretty epic storytelling (read: oversharing) about the demise of her four-year marriage to Stranger Things star David Harbour wrapped up in her signature cool sounds and vibes.
Allen has always approached her music with a take no prisoners philosophy. On her 2006 debut album Alright, Still, she established her conversational lyrical approach, singing about personal experiences and the personalities in her life. One of the biggest hits from that album was the chart topping “Smile,” a scathing post-breakup anthem which has shared she wrote while being hospitalized for clinical depression after being dumped by her first love. So, revenge tracks are something Allen has built her career on, and now she has engineered an entire record out of them and created a cultural conversation.
Of the inspiration behind West End Girl, mother-of-two Allen recently told Harper’s Bazaar: “The truth of the matter was that I could sit in bed and cry, or I could be like, ‘I am going to fucking take care of us and go to work.’” And that she did.
The portrait Allen paints of her marriage is a far cry from the picture of perfection she and Harbour presented back in 2023 with a feature on their stunning Brooklyn brownstone in Architectural Digest (which just went up for sale with a listing price of $8 million USD). When asked if everything on this album is purely autobiographical, Allen told British Vogue: “There are things that are on the record that I experienced within my marriage, but that’s not to say that it’s all gospel. It is inspired by what went on in the relationship.”
West End Girl features 14 songs and the tale of toxic love starts with the title track in which Allen talks about her move to New York City after a quickie Las Vegas wedding, a trip back to the UK after landing a theatre role, and a life-changing phone call from her husband requesting an open marriage. From there Allen tackles the spectacular spiral of the relationship coming undone through the album’s intentional track list. The gaslighting (“Sleepwalking”); the cheating (“Tennis); the revelation and confrontation of a mistress (“Madeline); the mental health and addiction struggles (“Relapse”); the inevitable separation and pondering if the soon to be ex-husband is a sex addict (“Pussy Palace”).
The lyrics are searing, brutally honesty and funny—you feel as though you are crashing several therapy sessions. The beats are dreamy, jazzy, tinged with autotune, and entirely addictive. That’s the particular magic of this record. Breakup albums are certainly not a new concept. Alanis Morrisette, Adele, Taylor Swift have all done them, but this one hits different. Allen doesn’t hide her truths. We know exactly who wronged her, and this is what makes this album such an authentic, enjoyable and of-the times listening experience.
In the name of clever self-promotion, Allen chose the most brilliant Halloween costume this year dressing up as beloved children’s book character Madeline—a nod to the song on the album and a massive, zero-effs given burn. She went there, and it was utterly brilliant. West End Girl now on repeat until further notice.
@lilyallen Who IS Madeline though, actually? #westendgirl #halloween ♬ Magnet – Cardi B
