Lily Allen’s Ascent from Playful Melodies to Deep Emotional Digs
West End Girl, contrary to Lily Allen’s older albums, conveys what it’s like to broadcast your relationship in the spotlight, even if that “perfect” image of two star-crossed celebrities in love is a farce. Allen and Harbour’s relationship came on quickly, and, according to tracks like “Ruminating” and “Let You W/In,” they lost their spark not too long after they tied the knot.
Looking back at Allen’s impressive discography, it’d be an injustice to the singer-songwriter to claim her music lacked emotional depth before West End Girl’s reign. Allen did not shy away from the uncomfortable aspects of love and life in her pop-reggae fusion bops, but she also made the thought of heartbreak a little more palatable through upbeat melodies and playful lyrics. Her most popular track, “Smile,” is about the song’s narrator finding out about their partner’s infidelity. Instead of going to cry in a corner, the narrator chooses to repeatedly taunt the ex-partner, musing about how happy they are to see their partner in agony later on. Mature? Next question. Healing? Definitely.
@iamratboy_ on X via bri.lilyallen.t on IG
So, what gives about West End Girl? Was David Harbour’s inexcusable betrayal enough pain to finally uncover the sheer trauma so many women face romantically day in and day out? Perhaps Allen was sick of diluting her raw feelings into something palatable and opted for full transparency, not only for her own sake, but also for other women who might be going through the same thing. We won’t know for sure, but whatever the reason may be, Allen plucked a heartstring in all of us.
‘It’s So Confusing Sometimes’ to be Charli xcx and Lorde
Charli xcx has lived in the spotlight since 2008 and popularized herself with features on legendary songs like “I Love It” and soundtrack-worthy bops like “Boom Clap.” Before her groundbreaking album, BRAT, xcx was finding her sound, swimming against the current in an ocean of repetitive pop music and soulless records reserved for Z-100 and Kidz Bop. She landed in a hyperpop genre and befriended producer A.G. Cook, and the rest was history.
xcx has never shied away from her image as the party girl of popular music. She penned tracks dedicated to her obsession with her own music, white powder substances, and odes to others wanting to be her. xcx created a brand reserved only for someone who had solid ground to stand on and an undying devotion to oneself. But we’re all only human, right? There have to be instances where the way that we feel cannot be covered up by smokescreened clubs and self-obsession. BRAT does exactly that, with tracks like “Sympathy is a knife featuring ariana grande” and most notably, in a remix with Lorde, who xcx had shared a well-known longtime feud.
“Girl, so confusing version with lorde” is a remixed track on xcx’s deluxe BRAT album, and the two female artists confront the longstanding feud that the public, the industry, and even themselves in order to make headlines. In the raw and vulnerable track, xcx ruminates, “Can’t see if you wanna see me falling over and failing,” to which Lorde responds, “I was trapped in the hatred / And your life seemed so awesome / I never thought for a second / My voice was in your head.” The two artists, who have made headlines as the poetic party girls that they are, surpassed their previous images and put out tracks that speak to the vulnerability of being not only a person in the industry, but a woman in the world. Lorde even muses that xcx’s album influenced her to come to terms with the stuff that’s hard to say out loud on her most recent album, Virgin.
Lorde has always written about coming-of-age themes in previous albums, including Pure Heroine and Melodrama. But even still, fans of the pop star describe Virgin as “harrowing.” In the song “David,” Lorde writes, “If I had virginity, I would’ve given that too,” followed by a haunting cry, “I don’t belong to anyone.” Lorde evolves from a lost teen with a dream to a wandering adult, struggling to navigate her existence in a world that’s set up to confuse and confront her. In many ways, female artists are navigating the motions of life in a way that’s similar to their fanbases, and by default, they create art that shows they’ve truly grown up with their fans too. Party girls have feelings too, and that might be the clearest similarity between them and their fanbases.
Kesha Says Goodbye to Her “TiK ToK” Days
The original club rat party girl, Kesha, blessed our ears and our cellphones’ ringtones nearly two decades ago with her hit single, “TiK ToK.” Kesha represented a new sound and gung-ho personality that the industry hadn’t seen so widely embraced by mainstream media. Most of us stumbled upon Kesha’s discography at a fun time in our lives, and didn’t think twice about her onstage persona as a messy party girl with little inhibition. The “We R Who We R” singer even admits that this persona that popularized her to the top of the charts was exactly that: A persona.
The singer’s experience in the industry wasn’t all feather hair extensions and glitter eyeshadow, though. She suffered under the control of producer Dr. Luke and endured a lengthy legal battle with the music mogul. A heinous introduction to the industry and enduring maltreatment from professionals who should be there to protect her likely influenced Kesha’s musical 180 from wild songs like “Take It Off” to raw, deep tracks like “Praying.” Kesha’s newest album, Period, embodies a self-sufficient, unapologetic human who is healing through self-expression and introspection. Self-proclaimed party girl musicians are often held to a different, more emotionless standard in the industry, and breaking away from that image is difficult. So, for artists like Lily Allen, Charli xcx, Lorde, and Kesha, among many others, to rip off the band-aid and expose their wounds for what they are seems like a win for women in the industry and, frankly, women everywhere. It truly is, so confusing sometimes, to be a girl.
Thumbnail courtesy lordestars, nievesgonnzalez, and kesha on IG
