Alright, still? Divorce and desire drive Lily Allen's comeback

The singer’s autofi ctional album West End Girl, has made headlines for its eye-popping details of the demise of a marriage

- Laura Snapes

W hen Lily Allen released her fifth album last month, there were as many headlines breaking down the contents of the record as there were actual reviews of the music.

West End Girl, surprise-announced a few days before its release, appears to concern the 40-year-old British pop star's divorce from the US actor David Harbour, who stars in the Netflix sci-fi series Stranger Things.

In interviews, Allen has been careful to liken the album to a work of autofiction, and to tell British Vogue that it references things she experienced in her marriage "but that's not to say that it's all gospel".

Given its highly detailed, eye-popping allegations about a husband breaking the agreed terms of an open relationship, his emotional manipulation and sex addiction, one would imagine that lawyers heavily advised her to add that caveat. (Harbour has not responded to the album's contents.) In an interview with Katie Grand's Perfect magazine, Allen admitted that the record was likely to further stoke her tempestuous relationship with the media.