Lily Allen - West End Girl

[Roughhouse Dandy 12,025]

4 minutes ago, palma said:

She's easy to hate - so is Miley but it didn't stop people from gobbling up the drama around Flowers so idk. Then again as I said before America has never been her strongest market so she has nothing to lose anyway.

Besides a bad wife/mother/person (not saying Lily is any of those per se) can experience bad stuff and write about it. Her past encounters don't take away her agency to speak or invalidate her feelings as long as she can be honest with herself. Amy Winehouse also had challenges with fame and keeping it straight (and had many haters too) but her music is legendary. 

Agree with 100% of this. I guess I'm just curious to see how America reacts since this is literally the first time I've seen America talk about her since I was little and I thought that'd be interesting to talk about here but maybe not lol 

Edited yesterday at 12:45 PM by Roughhouse Dandy

[palma 8,545]

UK Midweeks:

17 P*ssy Palace
18 West End Girl
29 Madeline

Considering OCC only allows 3 top performers to chart, this is absolutely HUGE. No track from her last album charted at all for comparison. All songs bar 2 rose in placements on the UK Spotify today. It's a shame she won't ship physicals for a while, but at least it'll give her some longevity. 

I hope the quality of the album ensures it lasts beyond the initial gossip-fueled interest. I think she may be in for the biggest era of her career since It's Not Me, It's You and Sheezus had 3 UK Top 10s. I'm so f*cking happy for her 

EDIT: Oh and she's an INDEPENDENT artist with only a publishing deal with BMG. Parlophone you are BONES!!1! 

Edited yesterday at 08:15 PM by palma

[Emmanymar 288]

22 minutes ago, palma said:

UK Midweeks:

17 P*ssy Palace
18 West End Girl
29 Madeline

Considering OCC only allows 3 top performers to chart, this is absolutely HUGE. No track from her last album charted at all for comparison. All songs bar 2 rose in placements on the UK Spotify today. It's a shame she won't ship physicals for a while, but at least it'll give her some longevity. 

I hope the quality of the album ensures it lasts beyond the initial gossip-fueled interest. I think she may be in for the biggest era of her career since It's Not Me, It's You and Sheezus had 3 UK Top 10s. I'm so f*cking happy for her 

EDIT: Oh and she's an INDEPENDENT artist with only a publishing deal with BMG. Parlophone you are BONES!!1! 

Omg! I hope this motivates her to make more music! 

[StrawberryBlond 14,962]

21 hours ago, Roughhouse Dandy said:

Or because they found more to appreciate in the music than you have

It's no secret that making personal heartbreak albums is the key to critical acclaim now, critics have gone really soppy these days. I think they've got caught up in the shocking, scandalous situation she's confessing about but not surmising if it actually works put into song. An online dating profile being read out, really?!

[Windowlicker 3,637]

13 hours ago, StrawberryBlond said:

It's no secret that making personal heartbreak albums is the key to critical acclaim now, critics have gone really soppy these days. I think they've got caught up in the shocking, scandalous situation she's confessing about but not surmising if it actually works put into song. An online dating profile being read out, really?!

If that was the case then why didn't her last album, which was also about the breakdown of her last marriage, get the same sort of traction? Lily's plain spoken and ultra specific story telling hasn't changed at all over the course of her career, and it has been hugely impactful for a generation of artists ranging from Charli xcx, Katy Perry, Olivia Rodrigo, Lola Young, PinkPantheress, and even Gaga. She is widely recognized across the industry as one of the best pop acts to come out of the UK. It's fine if her style isn't your thing, but the work and the impact she's made speaks for itself.

Edited 8 hours ago by Windowlicker

[RAMROD 110,922]

27 minutes ago, Windowlicker said:

If that was the case then why didn't her last album, which was also about the breakdown of her last marriage, get the same sort of traction? 

Probably because Sam Cooper ain't a Hollywood star, while David Harbour is. It's a more bonafide marriage than her first one. It certainly garnered more public interest. Especially the release of this album is close to Stranger Things final season release. The show David is in and have breakout role from. Making it seems like Lily got a calculated plan on this for some people.

[Windowlicker 3,637]

44 minutes ago, RAMROD said:

Probably because Sam Cooper ain't a Hollywood star, while David Harbour is. It's a more bonafide marriage than her first one. It certainly garnered more public interest. Especially the release of this album is close to Stranger Things final season release. The show David is in and have breakout role from. Making it seems like Lily got a calculated plan on this for some people.

Well, Lily is a pop star doing what all pop stars do. Nothing wrong with that.

My point is that Lily’s music has always been like this and public focus on her work has ebbed and flowed through the years. But this is easily the most attention a project of her’s has gotten in over a decade. And, yes, part of that is because of its high profile subject, but if the key to critical acclaim and success is just writing personal heartbreak songs, like the original poster suggested, then it shouldn’t matter who it’s about.

Lily is an industry veteran and specifically renowned for her candid writing style. This album being well received isn’t surprising and has nothing to do with critics going “soppy”. It just feels like an attempt by the poster to downplay her work as an artist simply because they aren’t a fan of the music and can’t grasp that other people are.

[palma 8,545]

4 hours ago, Windowlicker said:

Lily's plain spoken and ultra specific story telling hasn't changed at all over the course of her career, and it has been hugely impactful for a generation of artists ranging from Charli xcx, Katy Perry, Olivia Rodrigo, Lola Young, PinkPantheress, and even Gaga. She is widely recognized across the industry as one of the best pop acts to come out of the UK. 

Basically this. Not to mention her earlier work also jump-started some HUGE UK producers including Greg Kurstin and Mark Ronson. While her artistic achievements have been downplayed in part due to British tabloid culture West End Girl is not so much of an outlier considering all her albums, bar a part of Sheezus, are brilliantly written and have a similar storytelling element and mix of genres. People just cheer her because she has been absent from the scene for a long time and this is a triumphant return. And you can't really blame people for connecting to the subject matter and appreciating it when literally everyone goes through a destructive relationship at some point in their lives.

[RickMonster98 7,466]

i don't even care that much about the drama behind it, this album is amazing

literally no skips

[palma 8,545]

West End Girl is the most downloaded album of the week in the UK so far and has risen from #8 to #4 in Midweek predictions  She doesn't have physicals so this is due to overperforming on streaming and digital sales  

On the singles chart new Midweek predictions are:

#17 P*ssy Palace (=)
#18 West End Girl (=)
#23 Madeline (+6)

Her last charted single was more than 10 years ago 

I hope she manages to edge out Taylor at least and end up with a #3 debut 

Edited 13 minutes ago by palma