Fans can't believe how long it took 'mad as hell' Lily Allen to write entirety of new album

Despite taking a seven-year hiatus from the music industry, it didn't take Lily Allen long to finish her latest project.

The London-born star, 40, has just dropped her fifth album, West End Girl - and it's laden with lyrics about the demise of her four-year marriage with actor David Harbour.

For those who don't know, reports emerged in December last year claiming that Allen and Stranger Things star Harbour had called time on their marriage.

She explained penning the 14 tracks was a 'way of processing things that she was going through in her private life', and Allen apparently did so at breakneck speed.

After an 'incredibly manic and emotionally traumatic' ten days in the studio, the 'Smile' singer wrote and recorded West End Girl.

Fans seem to think the saying about a woman scorned really rings true in this situation, given that Allen wrote more than a dozen songs in such a short span.

Allen and Harbour, pictured in 2022, reportedly split in December last year (Nina Westervelt/Variety/Penske Media via Getty Images)

Taking to social media to share their thoughts on the timescale for West End Girl, one person said: "Lily Allen writing the album in 10 days...oh she’s mad as hell," while another wrote: "Loved it. Listening again now. It feels really fresh in how much of it is one story, totally makes sense that it was written in only 10 days - and it paid off!"

A third added: "The album is so raw and vulnerable. I really missed this Lily. She writes so well."

Allen revealed the secrets behind her creative process for West End Girl while speaking to Perfect Magazine, saying she has been 'writing pretty consistently throughout the last four years', but didn't think any of her stuff 'was any good'.

"To me, the value in it is meaningless until it feels like it’s something that you want to release into the world," she said of her music. "And I hadn’t gotten to that point until I wrote this collection of songs. It’s easier to write funny things that are rooted in darkness or anger or...terminal hatred.

"I’m not really interested in listening to an album of somebody telling me how happy they are."

The mother-of-two explained she has been 'pretty distracted and not really been able to focus' over the last year, but managed to find some solace in the studio.

The singer said she wrote West End Girl to help 'process things that she was going through in her private life' (Dave Benett/Getty Images)

"I mean, it was hard to make this record," Allen said. "It was incredibly manic, and it was emotionally traumatic. But nothing felt forced. It just sort of fell out of me.

"And I think that’s what happens when you’re writing from a place of truth, and without an agenda. This record was purely for me, and it was a way of processing things that I was going through in my private life."

Asked whether the album was 'the story of a broken marriage and a series of betrayal', Allen confirmed that 'that is an accurate description'.

However, she did explain that her lyrics are half fact, half fiction - so take the tracks with a pinch of salt.

Describing her breakup, Allen kept it simple as she said: "I don’t know what I can say. Two people who were once together are not together. And that’s really sad. It’s hard. It’s hard for me to not have my person, you know?

"And I am quite a codependent person. And I find it difficult to lean on the people who are available to me when I’m missing the comfort and stability of what is not available to me."

LADbible Group has previously contacted Harbour's representatives for comment.