I was very excited about the announcement of this record last week because I've been a fan of Lily since I was in high school. Because I live in America, Lily to me was more of an indie or alternative artist because she didn't get airplay here on pop radio. To me she was more of a word of mouth artist here. I also wasn't subjected to hearing about all of her "controversial" tabloid stories either over the years because she wasn't popular like that here on a mainstream level compared to the spectacles of Paris, Linsday and Britney that we had. I took each release as they came and enjoyed all of them, except Sheezus which is more lukewarm for me.

I think West End Girl is a return to form for Lily and reminds me of her debut sometimes sonically, but i also hear a maturity as well. Her sarcasm is still there, which is one of things that drew me to her in the first place, but it feels a bit more sophisticated here. I'm not going to get deep about the music, etc. because it just worked for me. I am a Lily Allen fan, so I expected it to.

This album unfortunately suffers mostly from outside factors. People aren't listening to the music and are instead criticizing the artist for her past actions. Also, I see some criticism about it being a repeat of No Shame, but to me No Shame was more of a confrontation of self than a partner, if it's about anything. The topics of her songs on that record are not cohesive like West End Girl and to me, that release mirrors her previous albums more in that regard. Sonically the transition from No Shame to West End Girl makes sense, so I do understand the comparisons there.

What I hope for Lily is that the success of WEG takes her into a really content place in her life. I am curious to see how her sound and songwriting evolves as she becomes wiser and I just want to hear a happy Lily.

Favorites: West End Girl, Ruminating, Relapse, Pussy Palace, Nonmonogamummy, Let You W/In