Seriously, “Who’s Madeline?”
Lily Allen's “West End Girl,” a cautionary tale for cheating men everywhere.
by Ava Robbins ★ NOVEMBER 17th, 2025
Design by: Sophie Rottenberg
Lily Allen is a British singer songwriter, who, until recently, had taken a long hiatus from releasing anything. On Oct. 24, 2025, though, Allen shocked the world with her album “West End Girl,” a ruthless, ceaseless depiction of her ex-husband, David Harbour’s, betrayal.
Allen and “Stranger Things” star, Harbour, met in 2019 and got married a year later. She moved to New York City and changed her entire lifestyle for him, but after being coerced into opening their relationship, things crumbled for Allen. In the title track, “West End Girl,” she details how her success threatened Harbour, and fans quickly jumped on social media to reanalyze past misogynistic and abusive posts and comments from Harbour. A note he’d left with flowers for Allen before her play, mentioned in the album, read “If you get reviewed well in this play, you will get all kinds of awards and I will be miserable.” I mean, who says that about the woman that’s supposed to be the love of their life?
In the third track, “Sleepwalking,” Allen writes, “Who said romance isn't dead? Been no romance since we wed.” She has a way of capturing the utter disappointment of realizing the man you’re with isn't really the man you thought he was.
When opening the marriage, the couple’s agreement had been that there would be no feelings involved and they could never get involved with someone they knew. After suspicious behavior Allen went through her ex-husband’s phone and found out about his mistress. The relatability of this album is what makes it so captivating. Even if you haven't experienced a betrayal this dramatic, everyone knows what it's like to find out about the other woman on some level.
The tracks “Tennis Court” and "Madeline" discuss the mistress directly but never place the brunt of the blame on her. While she discusses feeling uneasy about reaching out to the mistress, known by the alias Madeline, these tracks portray Allen wanting answers from her former husband. More than anything, Allen feels confused and blindsighted. She asks the hard questions —the ones that fill up your head when you find out there’s someone else. Why her? What does she have that I don’t?
“West End Girl” features 14 heartfelt, unique tracks that include everything from Harbour’s mistress' texts to depictions of real phone calls between the estranged couple. And, it was made in only two weeks, just ahead of Harbour’s press tour for the fifth and final season of “Stranger Things.” That's female rage for you. I can’t help but wonder how he plans to defend himself, and just how quickly it will backfire.
With “West End Girl,” Allen teaches listeners what love and marriage shouldn't look like. It’s not all sad though. Allen now gets to live free from the reins of an insecure and narcissistic man, back in the West End of London.
Edited by: Madison Sherman