The art of the breakup album

Today, Explained

Vox

Daily News, Politics, News

4.4 • 9.5K Ratings

🗓️ 7 November 2025

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Lily Allen's West End Girl is a scorched-earth tell-all about the end of her celebrity marriage. It's the breakup album for our parasocial age. This episode was produced by Peter Balonon-Rosen, edited by Miranda Kennedy, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by Patrick Boyd, and hosted by Noel King. The singer Lily Allen dressed as "Madeline," the name she gives to the "other woman" character on her new breakup album. Photo by Rachpoot/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images. Listen to Today, Explained ad-free by becoming a Vox Member: vox.com/members. New Vox members get $20 off their membership right now. Transcript at ⁠vox.com/today-explained-podcast.⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	It was already a big year for breakup records.
0:03.1	Jason Isbell, Amanda Shire's Fleetwood Mac RIP so many, many times, but Silver Springs was born again again this year.
0:09.9	And then last month, Lily Allen's West End girl landed like a 10-ton bomb on top of her ex.
0:15.5	We had an arrangement.
0:19.0	Be the street and dumby blatant.
0:21.6	There had to be payment.
0:25.6	It had to be the strangers.
0:31.6	But you're not a stranger, Madeline.
0:35.6	And we all had so many, many thoughts.
0:38.8	Scandalized by this album that Lily Allen put out.
0:41.6	I checked out the album, and I do have something to say.
0:45.1	My jaw is on the floor.
0:46.6	Like, I would watch the album as a movie.
0:49.7	Breakup albums have been around for half a century, but for better or worse, they are evolving in a
0:54.4	parisocial age. That's coming up on Today Explained.
1:00.7	Today, Today Explained.
1:05.9	Coleman Spildy, senior culture writer Salon.com, Tell us, who is Lily Allen and what did she do?
1:13.2	That is a very interesting and complicated question. Lily Allen is a British musician and a
1:20.1	tabloid fixture, and now she is back with her new album West End Girl, which is taking her
1:27.3	sort of confessional songwriting to the next level
1:30.3	by revealing every sort of detail about the dissolution of her marriage to David Harbour,
1:35.7	the actor from Stranger Things, and Marvel Fame.
	...

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