Inserting Myself Into Lily Allen's Drama
and every track off West End Girl
Another one of this year’s most unexpected drops has got to be Lily Allen’s latest release - West End Girl. Who knew we were in for so much drama?! Prior to sitting down and listening through to the whole thing, I took the vocals from her track Ruminating to use for my weekly producer challenge.
I was pleasantly surprised to hear something with such hard tune and vocal processing (my fave). The vocal alone was giving hyper pop, glitchy drum and bass, so I knew I had something fun to work with. I can’t remember Lily ever releasing anything this affected in the past, but I was here for it.
Cut to, of course, the bane of my existence with this series, weird timing issues. Idk what was going on when they pieced this track together, but woah, this one was literally off the grid. A challenge to figure out with no track underneath, but I think I was able to get there in the end.
Check out my version and let me know what you think!
Haven’t heard the original yet? Check it out here:
Listen to West End Girl with me:
I loved the direction of Ruminating once I was finally able to listen to the original. It was definitely different than anything I was expecting after making my track, but I loved the mix of lofi keys atop a drum and bass beat. Something about it was almost reminiscent of James Blake in a way. I couldn’t wait to see what the rest of this album sounded like.
This week I went through and made my official track-by-track ranking of West End Girl. I can easily say, none of the other tracks were quite like Ruminating, but there was a lot to enjoy about the rest still. This album feels like a deep dive into Lily’s diary at a moment of full on crash out, fully immersing the listener in every nuance of her experience during this messy divorce. From an Old West stand off in Madeline to 2000s indie rock guitars in Nonmonogamummy, this album was a wild ride.
Take a listen with me and let me know which tracks were your favorites!
Looking for more?
Find all previous episodes in this series here
And make sure to check out my original music wherever you like to stream: https://snd.click/uh8r
If you missed last week full of Demi Lovato - here’s a little sample: