Lily Allen reveals how The Streets inspired her new album, ‘West End Girl’

Posted On October 29, 2025October 29, 2025

Lily Allen surprised fans around the world by dropping a 14-track album, West End Girl, on October 24th. Now, she has revealed that The Streets were a key influence on the project

Allen’s first release in eight years details, in detail, the breakdown of her marriage with the Stranger Things actor, David Harbour. It begins with Allen reacting to her husband’s request to open up the marriage, and descends into chaos as it recounts infidelity on his part.

Speaking newly with Interview magazine, Allen has revealed where the idea for a chronological narrative came from: The Streets.

She shared, “There’s an album I love called A Grand Don’t Come for Free by the Streets, and it’s like a movie from start to finish. Each song can stand alone and make total sense, but together, it’s more like a novel. I’ve always wanted to do that, and it just happened that way on this record.”

The Streets’ seminal concept record, released in 2004, tells one story across the span of 11 tracks as the protagonist desperately tries to cope with the hardships of his relationship. Simultaneously, he is attempting to track down £1,000, which has gone missing. The Streets recently announced plans to perform their classic album in full for the first time on their 2026 UK tour.

Allen went on to describe what this narrative process looked like for her, sharing, “The night before I went into the studio, I wrote 18 track titles—no melodies, no lyrics. Nobody in the studio knew what was going on in my life.”

As a result, it was an extremely emotional process. She continued, “I got there, spent about two hours crying my 147 heart out, and then I was like, “We’re going to write an album based on some of these feelings.” There were markers that I wanted to hit to give it a beginning, middle, and end.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Allen insisted that the album is not an act of “revenge”. Rather, Allen shared, “At the time, I was really trying to process things and that’s great in terms of the album, but I don’t feel confused or angry now. I don’t need revenge.”

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