Album Review: West End Girl | Lily Allen

I't's been more than a month since our last review and around 7 years since Lily Allen's last album No Shame. The parallelism was given for my own benefit so please excuse my absence and follow me as I unfold this wonderful, fresh surprise of an album. Let's get started! In the homonymous opening West End Girl, Lily’s storytelling is on the forefront with her speaking romantically about her new life in NY which quickly became clouded by questionable behaviors from her partner’s side. The instrumental almost smells like colorful flowers blooming in Spring while the artist’s doubt and insecurity offer a contrasting, melancholic tone that sets the mood for a bittersweet experience of an album. There’s an interesting vintage quality going on here given by the location (New York) combined with a jazz vibe that manages to transfer the listener to a classic 50’s film with Lily being the protagonist. I'm so here for it.

On the opposite side there's Ruminating, an electro pop anthem about overanalysis and insecurity, driven by urgent percussion that reflects those emotions more than successfully. This one finds the artist building a tower of thoughts and fantasies that are being multiplied by the minute until it all collapses in this climactic bridge ‘what a fucking line, line, line’. If Ruminating is a rollercoaster of highs and lows then the following Sleepwalking sounds like the end of the ride for us to take a breath. Jazzy and lovey-dovey, Lily juxtaposes her needs and emotions with those of her partner as she goes back to observe both parties trying to make sense of her confusion. The track sounds classic yet modern, subtly blending organic flavors with electronic textures to give something familiar yet intriguing. The experience gets more personal from this point on with Tennis giving specific moments that exposed her partner’s unfaithfulness. The lyrics are brilliant considering how they are poured like poetry despite their unfiltered nature - like notes from a diary. One might say this is what Lily Allen was always about, to which I would reply that it’s more than that – this is actually what ‘mastering one’s craft’ looks like.

Now, the third person of the relationship introduced in Tennis gets her own space in the following Madeline where the artist confronts her in a realistic dialogue over beautiful melodies that resemble a wild west gunfight. I can’t stress enough over Allen’s skill to mix raw lyrics, a phone call, gunshots and theatricality into a 3-minute emotional piece of music that manages to sound pop and addictive despite its complexity. Madeline undeniably makes for one of the most standout moments of the album so far. Moving on to Relapse, a sister to Ruminating in a number of ways but this time more laid-back, maybe to make up for its -hard to touch- themes like breakdowns and addiction. The cool beats and chill performance are sugarcoating the hurtful reality to the point it feels as if we are floating over pink clouds with Allen’s trippy vocals reverberating forever. And as we’re flying inside this pastel-colored sky, we are invited to land on Pussy Palace, a place of transcendental, otherworldly beauty. A short pause for I’m truly struggling to find the words that will best describe this gem.

Let’s begin with Lily’s unapologetically raw description of a room filled with uncomfortable, ugly proof of her husband’s secret affairs. Now, let’s follow this by adding some sparkling, ethereal synths that send you orbiting across the universe as if your brain is under psychedelics. This combo does not make sense to a level it absolutely does. Remember how Rihanna’s Same ol Mistakes feels like? Add a brilliant wordplay for a chorus (I always thought it was a dojo – Talk about a low blow) and there you have it. Pussy Palace is begging to go viral and that was the end of my obsessive episode. Moving forward we have 4chan Stan, one that reminded me of the artist’s earlier work for its playful sadness and again, laid-back attitude while the same goes for the ingenious Nonmonogamummy with its super entertaining beats and addictive melodies. Here we have Allen speaking about moving on -or at least trying to- while struggling to tame her people-pleasing tendencies. What needs to be noted is how Allen seems to be dropping the heavier voice effects of her previous work -  a fact that not only reinforces her storytelling but also communicates the emotional baggage of the album in a deeper, more honest level. The beautifully stripped Just Enough comes as brief as a butterfly’s lifespan and fragile as its thin wings, holding a number of hard truths and private moments that sound absolutely relatable.

The rnb quality of the cunning Dallas Major -a dating anthem for moms- is meant to crawl under your skin and have you move your body to the rhythm. Dallas Major is a tribute to the 90’s-00’s while the opposite applies to the following Beg For Me with its industrial aesthetic that somehow kicked me off the experience for a while, even though it’s a remarkable piece of pop. Therefor it’s the single track I don't mind skipping while listening to West End Girl. Allen gives another glimpse into family issues with Let you W/In through a velvety vocal performance that’s almost like an inner dialogue and weirdly sounds like a lullaby I’d never sing to my children for obvious reasons. The minimalism here acts perfectly, letting the lyrics shine in their own truth. And then we are seamlessly transferred to an ethereal space, the closing Fruityloop that winks at the artist's fanbase with its ‘it’s not me, it’s you’ line as Allen seems to be forgiving the man who hurt her, recognizing he’s only a child looking for his mommy.

To sum up this unexpectedly long review, West End Girl is close to a 10/10 album for its engaging story that unfolds piece by piece, sounds relatable and exhibits its characters in almost cinematic ways - through dialogue and detailed description of behaviours and private moments (almost inviting us to snoop around the artist's life). Sound-wise, it all feels as green and sassy as Allen's debut and sophomore releases while lyric-wise it's brutally real and sarcastic. At the risk of repeating myself, Lily Allen seems to have mastered her own craft - this blend of saucy poetry, light-hearted instrumentals and unapologetic attitude- and West End Girl is proof that the finest art comes from lived experience. Until next time, enjoy life, art and make sure you're taking good care of yourselves!

Listen to West End Girl here:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaH3wjCwmlXH-BfjmyXOxrHNx8EqxsoBj&si=FoJMmpA96LWhb1s1