• Lily Allen's new album, "West End Girl," is a breakup album of epic proportions. • By telling the story through music, Allen has both narrative control and plausible deniability. • Beyoncé, Ariana Grande, and Taylor Swift have also used breakup albums as savvy PR moves.

Last week, Lily Allen sent the celebrity gossip machine into overdrive when she seemed to reveal the sordid specifics of her and an ex's open relationship: "We had an arrangement. Be discreet and don't be blatant. There had to be payment, it had to be with strangers."

The British singer and actor didn't stop there. She described the pang of epiphany she felt walking into her ex's West Village apartment, finding sheets strewn across the floor and secret sex toys stashed in a Duane Reade bag: "So am I looking at a sex

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