West End Girl
Have you ever felt like the person you love may be harbouring a secret hatred for your success?
Lily Allen explores this theme with cutting honesty in her newly released album ‘West End Girl’. The album details the affair Allen’s then husband David Harbour had with a woman, “Madeline”. Track by track we are taken through the fallout Allen suffered and how she copes with the world shattering revelation that her husband was not only sleeping with, but breaking the hearts of other women.
In a world of pop production all being heartless copies of previous dull songs, Allen has created something completely new. Her style of production has wowed me. In my home the album has been on repeat, but as the record spins so too does my mind.
I couldn’t help but wonder, if every man in Hollywood seems to be cheating, why was I and many others so obsessed with Allen and Harbour’s marriage?
The Happiest Day
To really answer my question we need to look back. What made this relationship so intoxicating?
Allen and Harbour married in 2020 in the middle of a pandemic. Vegas bound with an Elvis impersonator to marry the pair, and an In-N’-Out burger to look forward to, they were married. Two celebrities were having a wedding so COVID safe yet stylish in the sea of out of touch stars going on luxury holidays, whilst the public rotted in their homes grieving loved ones. This cemented the couple as relatable and classy, along with the sarcastic sense of humour they displayed.
“In a wedding officiated by the king himself, the people’s princess wed her devoted, low born, but kind credit card holder in a beautiful ceremony lit by the ashen skies courtesy of a burning state miles away in the midst of a global pandemic,”
– Harbour’s wedding caption
Style would be a key factor in why I believe the relationship was so beloved at first. The overwhelmingly positive reception of their spontaneous wedding 2020 and timeless house tour for Architectural Digest February 2023 surely points to my hypothesis. After the affair the comments on the video are now soiled. However looking back to the initial publishing you can find comments such as…
“They are just such a cool couple and I love their quirky style. I was not expecting how floral some of their interior choices are, but I think they seem to be very attuned and open to each others’ tastes.”
The inside this video is a mixed blend of pastels, dainty details and talk of the family and home. From looking at their perfect little life in their perfect not-so-little Brooklyn townhouse you would never guess David Harbour was cheating on Allen. That their pink bedroom they painstakingly created together would soon become his “Pussy Palace”.
This perfectly imperfect couple were practically the ideal. We do not know everything which goes on behind closed doors in a marriage but from Allen’s songs, “Madeline”,”West end girl”, “Tennis” and “Dallas Major”, we can piece together the narrative. Allen went to perform as the lead in a West end play “2:22 A Ghost Story” and whilst she was working in London Harbour asked for an open marriage. Allen was not pleased stating in the audio excerpt in “West end girl”
“Well, I mean it doesn’t make me feel great. Well- If that’s what you need to do then. I guess.”
Enthusiastic right? In the terms of this open marriage there was to be only a physical exchange and no emotion, however in “Tennis” Allen depicts Harbour drifting away from her only for her to find a message in Harbour’s phone from this mysterious woman, “Madeline”.
Now why is this affair particularly cutting for Lily Allen and the audience viewing her work?
Cheating is already a vile break of trust but what I think makes this betrayal so heartbreaking is embarrassment. In the world of pop-culture right now image is crucial and embarrassment is a death sentence. You can see this in the sentiment of other pop icon Sabrina Carpenter’s hit song “Please, Please, Please” telling her partner that they can break her heart but to please not humiliate her.
We have all agreed to something or other so that a person in your life doesn’t leave. Allen agreed to this open marriage against her own better judgement as it pulled her apart. She did not want to see other people.
This dissection of this marriage written over 10 days by Allen is reflective of the deep fears of young people being ridiculed by their partner under the guise of a “modern” relationship after compromising your boundaries for them and building a magical life together.
In summary, if you’ve ever been cheated on, this is the album for you.
West end Girl 