Since crash-landing into the indie blogosphere two decades ago, Lily Allen ’s greatest strength has been her voice — an airy soprano that can communicate disdain with a sighed lyric or an audible eye-roll. It’s helped her stand out even as she’s shape-shifted through genres — and as she’s dealt with press scrutiny, label woes, artist-on-artist tiffs, and strife in her personal life.

Stress on the homefront is the focal point of West End Girl , Allen’s first record since 2018’s Mercury Prize-nominated No Shame . It’s also her first release since she married and got separated from Stranger Things star David Harbour — a perhaps-germane fact given that the record’s whole narrative arc follows its main character’s journey from wedded bliss to the opposite.

It opens with the title trac

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