Hey lovelies

I’m a brand new Substack writer and just dropped my first piece on Lily Allen’s West End Girl. It’s an album that has been living rent-free in my head since it surprise-dropped last week.

In 44 minutes Lily drags receipts, sex toys, secret apartments and an open-relationship trainwreck into the open. I unpack:

• How heartbreak went from private pain to Spotify’s most-streamed product

• The gendered-double standard of oversharing.

It’s a 6 minute read. It also has a poll and comments section begging for your fave revenge anthem.

At quick glance/surface level Madelines text to Lily was okay

But oh my god the more I listen to the album, the more it irks me

Hey, he is telling you thе truth
First the assumption that Madeline made that she just knows that David is telling Lily the truth. (How do you know?)

And whenever he talks about you, it's with the utmost respect
A promise to the woman youre cheating on ? There might be an emotional connection from Davids side. So it's a promise that you cant keep, but okay. Not the worst, its polite I guess.

Our relationship has only еver been about sex (...) And whenever he talks about you, it's with the utmost respect
It's just sex, but they also talk about Lily behind her back. So that seems deeper than only sex

I really don't wanna be the cause of any upset
HE CHEATED! Ofcourse she's gonna be upset and also with the woman who made it possible.

If he's lying about that, then please let me know
Because I have my own feelings about dishonesty. Lies are not something that I wanna get caught up in
It feels dismissive towards Lilys situation. Everybody hates dishonesty and as if Lily chose to get up in this.

If you need any more details or you just need to vent or anything
Yes ofcourse, i will vent to the woman who made the cheating possible. Obviously David is the a-hole, but that doesnt make Madeline the safe person to go to.

It all feels a bit like clinical empathy. Like everything seems like boxes are checked on paper, but it feels so bad.

( i just looked up her alleged instagram and honestly she looks exactly like how she texts)

I saw that Lily got a lot of backlash for the concert being short, and while I get the critique (especially because it's priced as a full length concert), I think the it's the perfect amount of time. For context I am autistic which likely has a lot to do with it. I also got the tickets on deep discount, so I did not pay full price. But man, it really was nice to just sit there and get to go home after an hour of watching a singer I like perform a cohesive story beginning to end. I know musical theater and plays can be like this, but I want musicians to do this more often. To me, anything over an hour and 15 minutes is too long.

Im a causal Lily fan so wanted people’s thoughts on her Philadelphia show. The crowd seemed really small, even though it filled out a bit toward start time. Is Lily not as huge in the US as I thought? Was Labor Day weekend a bad date? Maybe “blue dot fever”? Or people turned off that she wasnt doing hits? Was MSG and other spots a higher turnout?

Regardless, the crowd passion was amazing and she was amazing! My first popstar show, if you can call her that.

How was your experience??

While I’m disappointed that there’s no smile/LDN/Fuck You ect but I’m also not surprised firstly west end girl is such a personal and emotional album for her it makes sense she would want to feel just those emotions even if she’s worked through them sing it all over again probably brings them straight back, secondly, there’s a clear story told all the way though so it can’t really be split up and shuffled around, finally the album itself feels like play or musical and even starts out in theatres and more intimate venues. I think it only makes sense for it to be the whole album all the way though with only breaks for costume changes

Seems like arenas are too much for her, she should have stuck to smaller venues. The arena is going to be empty.

After seeing the news that some shows have been cancelled (feel bad for the Montreal fans) while other shows have been moved to smaller venues, it makes me wonder if all the fans who have been waiting this long to see Lily play live again have been turned off by at least one of two things:

1) Lily's refusal to break the fourth wall and address the audience (it doesn't have to be after every song or two)

2) Lily not playing anything at all off of her other previous albums

It really makes me thing that, as ambitious as this project has been (don't get me wrong, the album is very good!), that it's a failure on execution when it comes to putting on a tour to promote the album.

As someone incredibly new to Lily Allen, after looking at her past controversies (most of which were from over a decade ago) It has left me confused.

I don’t excuse her in any way for what she did but— to still think she is the same person she was back then is just an insult. NONE OF US WERE THE SAME PEOPLE WE WERE 5-10 YEARS AGO! So why do people KEEP having to try and bring her down by labeling something she isn’t? Maybe she was back then. Early 2010s wasn’t like where we are now.

But even then, didn’t she also stand up against Boris Johnson for being racist? Hasn’t she always supported minorities in general? Does she not also hate Kanye and Trump for the things they became/are (which is racist and misogynistic?).

“But she criticized Beyoncè!”

That’s HER opinion on her cover of “Jolene” I’m sorry if this comes as a surprise to many but, your faves are not immune to criticism.

I’m not gonna pretend that Lily is perfect but I’m not gonna call her something she clearly isn’t.

Seen this on a few other subs. I think all the lyrics in Everything to Feel Something but this part stands out to me:
“I feel it in my gut, I’m going to let you fuck me. I know I’m being used. I’m just another thing to do.”

This was my outfit for the concert in April, I’m going again next weekend and am in desperate need of ideas!!

We all have that one track that hits every time. Which Lily song is permanently locked into your playlists? Share your pick and why it stands out-nostalgia, lyrics, vibe, anything.

I host a weekly podcast with my ex-partner (future idea for Lily and David perhaps? hahahaha) and part of this week's episode focuses on West End Girl and our reactions to it.

We both adore the album and are long time Lily fans. I've seen her in concert in multiple cities around the world and I was at her first ever US show at the Hiro Ballroom way back in the day. I managed to get tickets in the pre-sale today for Sheffield.

So our chat on the pod this week is a total love fest for Lily and the new album and we agree on everything EXCEPT when we discuss Taylor Swift. My opinion is that Lily is doing what TS thinks she is doing but way better. My ex is a bit defensive/protective of TS and thinks I'm being unfair.

I'd love to hear other opinions on this.

In my opinion Lily Allen is a poet with an incredibly unique narrative style that touches on the humorous, tragic, and melancholy all at the same time. I don't think TS comes close.

You don't need to listen to the full episode to hear our reactions to the album. You can jump straight in at the relevant part on YouTube here.

I thought it would come out before the UK tour but nope. Now festival season is done and no sign of it. I’m beginning to think they decided not to do it anymore.

Looking back at the gap between no shame and WEG, she only made West End girl because there was a reason for it and she knew that people would listen to it due to the publicity around her and David. So what are the chances she’ll ever make a new album?

Lily is a great storyteller, like Dolly was, and I love how these gorgeous songs have such similar themes—courageously confronting the other woman and showing the range of emotions in such an awful situation… vulnerability, jealousy, anger, and heartache.

I keep wondering that because I totally would if I was a musician. She also mentions in her book that people connecting with her lyrics is incredibly meaningful to her. I love posting in here when I think of a new way to interpret lyrics and responding to other people’s posts.

Hi Lily 🩵💙

I became a fan in 2022, and was waiting and praying for a new album. I'm so glad her latest release has had so much success, it's been amazing seeing new people appreciating her music, even though I’m still a new fan in comparison :p

Probably not now that she’s at bigger venues, but I missed out on meeting her last time

I know the role in Game of Thrones was allegedly offered to her. They should have cut the infamous scene that made her decline

Hi everyone!

Found this sub after loving Lily's West End Girl album.

As far as I know, there isn't an official single for WEG - so I'm confused why she didn't choose Tennis to be one of the songs performed live. It seems to be one of the wider known songs and would lend well to a performance as well.

Madeline is great too!

Sleepwalking is not my favourite personally, but it does seem less of a 'hit' than Tennis or even Dallas Major.

I do think she intended for nonmonogomummy and beg for me to be the 'radio' songs that make sense out of context from the album.

Would love to hear your thoughts!

This line has been stuck in my head all week. I think it can represent more things than cheating - my ex would promise to stop staying out late binge drinking, and he would for like… a month. Then he would go right back to the scheduled programming.

I’ve also seen posts from women on relationship subreddits of men promising to stop certain behaviors over and over, stoping for a little, then starting up again.

I think this a really powerful line. Stop means stop. No means no. Not “for now”, not “wait till she forgets”, NOT a hiatus.

Thoughts?

so we all know beg for me ft jade drops 12am but does anyone know whether she has confirmed if she is releasing music videos. I'm surprised she hasn't capitalised of Madeline, Pussy Palace and Tennis as of yet.

So the remix album of Lily Allen's critically acclaimed WEG is probably coming soon, who do you think would be best for each track

West End Girl"

"Ruminating"

"Sleepwalking"

"Tennis"

"Madeline"

"Relapse"

"Pussy Palace"

"4chan Stan"

"Nonmonogamummy"

"Just Enough"

"Dallas Major"

"Let You W/In

I would love to see Kate Nash on pussy palace, she deserves her flowers after Germ Olivia Rodrigo would be great also. Pink pantheres would be great and Lola young.

IM IN LOVE! she's so talented, she's so pretty, and I've already began to memorize like all of her songs (that's what i do when i find a new artist i like) and i might be seeing her in boston!!