Lily Allen has admitted she feels ‘overwhelmed and validated’ by the response to her heartbreak album West End Girl.
West End Girl is an ode to her marriage to Stranger Things actor David Harbour, to whom she was married for four years after meeting on dating app Raya, with 14 tracks detailing in brutal honesty the breakdown of their relationship.
Speaking on CBS Mornings, the Brit, 40, touched on how the viral success of the raw album has helped her comprehend her feelings towards the split, which allegedly saw David flout the rules of their open marriage with repeated infidelities.
She said: ‘It’s amazing, I write music for myself to make myself feel better and when something connects with people, it’s affirming , it’s validating – to have people listen to this record and go “Yeah, that’s really messed up, that’s really painful”‘.
In the interview, Lily also made a rare comment about checking herself into an £8,000-a-week treatment centre in the wake of the split after reportedly telling friends at the time that she was close to a nervous breakdown.
Lily Allen has admitted she feels ‘overwhelmed and validated’ by the response to her heartbreak album West End Girl
West End Girl is an ode to her marriage to Stranger Things actor David Harbour, to whom she was married for four years after meeting on dating app Raya , with 14 tracks detailing in brutal honesty the breakdown of their relationship
Speaking on CBS Mornings, the Brit, 40, touched on how the viral success of the raw album has helped her comprehend her feelings towards the split, which allegedly saw David flout the rules of their open marriage with repeated infidelities
West End Girl is her first in seven years and was recorded in just 10 days, in the wake of her devastating split from the Stranger Things actor, 50, in December after Lily discovered his three-year affair and slew of infidelities.
The album has been met with uproarious praise from fans, with many invested in the star’s pain but also her many witty takes on her lowest points.
Speaking CBS’ Anthony Mason, she said of the response to the album: ‘Firstly I’m overwhelmed and massively grateful.’
Having shot to fame via MySpace with her 2006 album Alright, Still, Lily spoke about how the reception to West End Girl has been similar in being totally online.
She said: ‘My first album, my success was born from a website called MySpace and it felt like a moment in time that you couldn’t recreate and I certainly haven’t felt anything like what that felt like until now. It sort of feels quite similar in a way…
‘I guess because it’s happening virally. I haven’t heard the songs in a shop, I haven’t seen somebody sing back the lyrics to me yet and that’s been weird. Great but weird. It’s highly entertaining, very overstimulating.’
When asked what she thinks about what’s being said, she responded: ‘I mean it’s amazing, I write music for myself to make myself feel better and when something connects with people, it’s affirming , it’s validating…
The album has been met with uproarious praise from fans, with many invested in the star’s pain but also her many witty takes on her lowest points
‘The thing then I was experiencing in my life at the time, I wasn’t really getting that validation for whatever reason…
‘So to now have people listen to this record and go “Yeah, that’s really messed up, that’s really painful, I can’t imagine what it would be like to go through something like that”, it’s like ok’.
She then made her comment about her stay in the treatment centre, laughing as she said: ‘Now I know why I had to check myself into a treatment center!’
A whopping 10 months before the release of West End Girl, it was revealed that the split had driven Lily to seek professional help.
The Mail on Sunday revealed that the singer’s mental health deteriorated significantly after she returned from holiday to her marital home in New York in January.
David and Lily are pictured in February last year
A whopping 10 months before the release of West End Girl, it was revealed that the split had driven Lily to seek professional help
It was reported that while she was at their Brooklyn townhouse, Lily, who is mother to Ethel, 13, and Marnie, 12, with ex Sam Cooper, felt ‘triggered’ by the thought of him being elsewhere in the city with another woman.
A source said: ‘It was very painful for Lily to return home. David used to be her saviour and now he’s a trigger for her…
‘Lily settled her kids back into the family home and took them to school for their new term, then flew herself straight to rehab. She went a day earlier than intended as she felt wobbly and desperate to escape.’
She will spend several weeks at the residential retreat in the US where she is said to have taken part in intensive group counselling sessions and one-on-one therapy in which she was reportedly urgeded to ‘unpack’ her emotions.
