Lily Allen says making ‘West End Girl’ “was an act of desperation”

Lily Allen has admitted that making her new album ‘West End Girl’ “was an act of desperation”.

• READ MORE: Lily Allen – ‘West End Girl’ review: a vicious, vulnerable and victorious comeback

The singer-songwriter released her long-awaited fifth LP last month, just four days after announcing the “vulnerable” surprise project. It follows on from Allen’s 2018 album ‘No Shame’.

‘West End Girl’, which comprises 14 songs, was written and recorded in just 10 days following the breakdown of the star’s marriage to Stranger Things actor David Harbour, after he allegedly cheated on her.

Allen previously insisted that it is “not a cruel album”, saying she is no longer “confused or angry” about the circumstances that inspired the record.

Now, she has admitted that she wasn’t even thinking about it as a “commerical endeavour”.

“At the time I wasn’t really thinking about it as a commerical endeavour, it was just, it was an act of desperation actually,” she told CBS News Special correspondent Anthony Mason in a new interview.

“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.”

The singer previously revealed that ‘West End Girl’ was also inspired by The Streets‘ ‘A Grand Don’t Come For Free’, saying that the latter album is “like a movie”.

She said: “Each song can stand alone and make total sense, but together it’s more like a novel. I’ve always wanted to do that, and it just happened that way on this record.”

Allen went on: “The night before I went into the studio, I wrote 18 track titles – no melodies, no lyrics. Nobody in the studio knew what was going on in my life. I got there, spent about two hours crying my 147 heart out, and then I was like, ‘We’re going to write an album based on some of these feelings’.

“There were markers that I wanted to hit to give it a beginning, middle, and end.”

Allen is set to hit the road for a UK theatre and arena tour of her new record in 2026. You can view the full list of dates here and purchase tickets for her arena dates when they go on sale next Thursday (November 27) at 10am GMT here.

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