West End Girl is the fifth studio album by English singer Lily Allen, released on 24 October 2025 on BMG. It marked her first project in seven years and first album following her departure from Parlophone.[2] Largely written and co-produced by herself, West End Girl was recorded in Los Angeles over ten days in December 2024, with contributions from Seb Chew, Kito, and Blue May.[3] A blend of fiction and non-fiction, the lyrics reflect on the undoing of Allen's marriage to actor David Harbour, and how she processed his alleged acts of infidelity and her emotional response.[4][5]
Upon its release, West End Girl received acclaim from music critics, many of whom describing it as lyrically honest and praising its narrative. Commercially, the album peaked at number two on the UK Albums Chart and reached the national rankings of 18 other territories, including top 10 positions in Australia, Ireland and New Zealand. West End Girl spawned the single "Madeline". Other charting singles including "Pussy Palace", peaked within the top 10 on the UK singles chart becoming Allen's first top 10 since 2014.[6]
Background
Following the release of No Shame (2018) Allen met and married the actor David Harbour and moved to Brooklyn. Allen ventured away from music into other endeavours including stage acting, starring on the West End in 2:22 A Ghost Story (2021) and screen acting in Dreamland (2023).[5] Allen also launched the popular podcast Miss Me with Miquita Oliver.[5] In April 2019, Allen stated on Beats 1 radio that she was working on her next record which would be a concept album.[7] Allen later said in March 2020 that her new album only features "odd mentions" of her past addictions, stating: "This album I've been doing, I've been writing for just over a year, but I feel like I've moved on mentally so far from that time."[8]
Following a significant hiatus, Allen began writing consistently again in 2020, but suffering writer's block, felt dissatisfied with what she created.[5] In 2022 Allen recruited producer Blue May. The collaboration was described as a "complete failure" by the latter. During the two-month period in New York, the pair reportedly "barely wrote one song." May noted that Allen was often absent from the studio.[9] Allen said of the five weeks in a music studio she had booked, that it felt "contrived" and that the music was not ready to be released.[10] In early 2024, she said she had recorded around 50 songs for her next music project, which she was still working on.[11]
West End Girl was created over the course of 10 days in Los Angeles.[9] In 2024, Allen contacted May once more, and travelled to Los Angeles to record.[9] May enlisted the help of Kito[9] and put together a team of different people – writers, producers, players – that would come and go from the studio.[5] Within the first few hours, on the first day of the 10 studio days at May's home in Los Angeles, Allen presented 18 song titles and a vision for a chronological album. The first song to be written that day was "Just Enough", followed by "Tennis".[9] May and Allen also enlisted Welsh songwriter Violet Skies, who joined them in the studio for four days and co-wrote six of the albums songs: "Madeline", "Sleepwalking", "Let You W/in", "Dallas Major", "Relapse" and "Beg for Me".[12] "Madeline" and "Relapse" were written on the same day, the latter being completed during an evening studio sessions. Skies described the process as playing "tennis" with Allen, in which they would back and forth on potential lyrics or Allen would write streams of thought that the two would organise.[13]
Composition
West End Girl was noted for its narrative arc and song cycle format.[1][14][15] Allen stated that the lyrics draw on real experiences from her marriage, but that the album "could be considered autofiction" and that she used "artistic licence".[4][5][16] For instance, she described Madeline, who appears in two songs, as a fictional character who is a construct of others.[16]
The title track "West End Girl" opens the album and features "dreamy, musical theatre-inspired" production.[17] It tells the story of Allen moving to New York following her wedding and flying back to the UK after getting a role in a London play. At the end of the song, she receives a phone call with only her side of the conversation audible, reluctantly agreeing to her husband's request for an open marriage.[14] "Ruminating" is built over "trebly synths" and heavily auto-tuned vocals,[1] with lyrics about overthinking.[15] The 1950s music-inspired "Sleepwalking" discusses feeling trapped and gaslit in a relationship.[14][15]
In "Tennis", Allen attempts to have a normal meal with her family until she finds a text on her husband's phone from a woman named Madeline and repeatedly demands to know who she is.[14] It is followed by "Madeline", a song with flamenco and spaghetti Western influences.[18] Earning comparisons to Dolly Parton's "Jolene", it finds Allen confronting her husband's mistress, who responds with platitudes in a Valley girl accent.[14][18] "Relapse" draws on two-step garage.[1] It details Allen's struggle with maintaining her sobriety amidst her marriage difficulties over an "arrhythmic beat".[14] "Pussy Palace" sees her throwing her husband out of the marital home and sending him away to his separate apartment, which she assumed was a dojo. When she goes there to leave something for him, she instead discovers numerous items such as sex toys and hundreds of condoms that lead her to question whether he is a sex addict.[18][19]
In "4chan Stan", Allen mocks her husband with references to the imageboard website 4chan over "wistful" production.[1][5] "Nonmonogamummy", a dancehall-infused collaboration with Specialist Moss, discusses dating as a woman in her late thirties and people pleasing.[1][17] The ballad "Just Enough", with "lush strings" inspired by old Hollywood, finds Allen wondering whether her husband fathered a child with another woman.[17][18] In the soul-pop "Dallas Major",[20] she assumes the name on a dating app but dislikes the experience.[1] "Beg for Me" uses a slowed down sample of Lumidee's song "Never Leave You (Uh Oooh, Uh Oooh)".[20] Its lyrics detail what Allen wants in a relationship.[17] "Let You W/In" discusses the end of her marriage with a "no-nonsense" attitude.[17][20] In the closing track "Fruityloop", Allen makes tentative peace with the events described on West End Girl with a reference to her second album It's Not Me, It's You (2009).[5]
Release and promotion
On 20 October 2025, Allen announced that her fifth studio album, West End Girl, would be released four days later.[21]West End Girl was released for streaming on 24 October 2025, on BMG, Allen's first album in seven years[2] and her first release outside Parlophone, her old label. It is scheduled to be released on CD and LP in January 2026. The album cover and illustrations were created by Spanish artist Nieves González.[22][23] On 30 October 2025, Allen announced a 2026 theatre tour, in which she will perform the album in its entirety.[24] "Madeline" was serviced as the album's first single to British radio a week after its release.[25]
According to the review aggregator Metacritic, West End Girl received "universal acclaim" based on a weighted average score of 84 out of 100 from eighteen critic scores.[27] The review aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it a weighted average score of 7.8 out of 10 from eighteen critic scores.[26]
In a five-star review for The Independent, Hannah Ewens said West End Girl was "a brutal, tell-all masterpiece", naming it as her best work since It's Not Me, It's You. Ewens said that the "intense story-driven format lets her sound sharper, smarter, and more clear-eyed than before". Ewens contrasted the album to other divorce albums like Beyoncé's Lemonade and Adele's 30, arguing that its fast turnaround allowed Allen to seize control of her narrative and hold little back.[18] Ali Shutler of NME hailed the album as "a vicious, vulnerable and victorious comeback". Shutler said that "there's a lot of grief and misery across West End Girl, but it never sounds depressing", attributing it to Allen's long-held "knack for making devastation sound exciting".[17]
Writing in The Guardian, Alexis Petridis noted the album's "boldness, and the quality of its songwriting" as well as "the striking prettiness of its tunes", calling West End Girl "a divorce album like no other" which "would be a great pop album regardless of the subject matter".[1] However, Petridis added that "there are moments when you find yourself wondering if airing this much dirty laundry can possibly be a good idea, impeccably written and laced with mordant wit though the lyrics are".[1]
Commercial performance
In the United Kingdom, West End Girl debuted at number four on the UK Albums Chart on downloads alone with physical copies not available until January 2026. It was her highest-charting album in eleven years. It was the most streamed digital-only release by a British artist in 2025 in its opening week and was also the country's most-downloaded album that week, debuting at number one on the Official Albums Downloads Chart.[32] The album climbed to number two on the UK charts the following week, remaining the most streamed album of the week.[33]
Upon the album's release, three of its tracks, "Pussy Palace", "West End Girl", and "Madeline", charted within the top twenty of the UK singles chart,[34] with "Pussy Palace" subsequently becoming Allen's first top 10 since "Air Balloon" (2014).[35]
Impact
Following its release, West End Girl and its personal content generated significant discussion online.[36] The online conversation led some social media users to criticise Harbour, and call for a boycott of his show Stranger Things.[36] Internet users analysed the former couple's content, including their Architectural Digest home tour, notes Allen had received from Harbour, and investigated Allen's past statements about infidelity inspiring her earlier album, No Shame.[36] Streams of the album doubled in its first week of release, and discoveries of Allen on Spotify reached 100,000 a day, which The Hollywood Reporter noted was due to the online interest.[37] Coleman Spilde, from Salon.com, suggested the online interest was due to the album's direct style contrasting with current trends. Spilde stated: “This is a breakup album that’s also coming at a time where we have this very Taylor Swiftian sort of alternative romance songwriting that is very metaphorical. And Lily is kind of yanking us back to the style of songwriting that is incredibly candid.”[36]
↑ Solomon-Brady, Harvey (20 October 2025). "Lily Allen: West End Girl". Why Now. UK. Retrieved 26 October 2025. The cover art and illustrations come from Spanish artist Nieves González.
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