Lily Allen has dropped her first album in seven years and it is… revealing.<\/p>\n
Raw, powerful and honest is how listeners are describing the tell-all tracks, with West End Girl detailing the end of Allen’s marriage with Stranger Things actor David Harbour.<\/p>\n
An alleged request for an open marriage, cheating claims and accusations of sex addiction all feature.<\/p>\n
We asked Australian artists about turning pain into power, and why break-up songs \u2014 whether it’s romantic or friendship \u2014 resonate so deeply with audiences.<\/p>\n
‘Back then, I didn’t have the words’<\/p>\n
Elska says creating art about her break-up has been healing. (Supplied: Stepha Stock)<\/p>\n
Elska, 41, music artist based in Brisbane\/Meanjin<\/p>\n
Lily has always been unapologetically herself and her words have always been very honest, direct and never sugar-coated.<\/p>\n
As a fellow female pop artist and mother in my 40s, Lily inspires me to claim and stand in my power and give voice to experiences I didn’t have the words for when I was younger.<\/p>\n
I am currently writing a body of music around a break-up I experienced more than 20 years ago.<\/p>\n
Back then I didn’t have the words, wisdom or guts to voice my story, but now as a woman in her 40s, I’m not holding back.<\/p>\n
Whilst this is healing for me, I know that my art will give voice to truths that others will have experienced and may not be able to express.<\/p>\n
Signs a relationship may be over<\/a><\/p>\n If you are feeling indifferent about your relationship, have high conflict, or just don’t really enjoy their company anymore, it is possible the partnership has reached its end.<\/p>\n Relationship \u2014 and even friendship \u2014 break-ups are difficult, and I feel that sharing in a public way opens up conversation and gives people permission to consider what they may or may not accept in a relationship or friendship.<\/p>\n I feel it allows for healthy discourse into boundaries \u2014 even just having a conversation with yourself. Put yourself in their shoes and consider, what would you do?<\/p>\n I love listening to another artist’s point of view or the language they chose to tell the story in their song, to encapsulate their personal experience.<\/p>\n ‘They make the pain more intense so you can get over it’<\/p>\n Sahara Beck, 29, singer-songwriter and Pub Choir musician, based in Brisbane\/Meanjin<\/p>\n Sahara Beck feels grateful when fans tell her she has articulated something they have felt but are unable to put into words. (Supplied: QMusic)<\/p>\n I haven’t had a listen to Lily Allen’s new album yet, because I’ve been touring so much. However, I am constantly hearing good things, and I think I’m going to have to listen.<\/p>\n My favourite break-up song is How Could You Babe, by [Canadian singer-songwriter] Tobias Jesso Jr; it re-breaks my heart with every listen.<\/p>\n I’ve gotten through every break-up with the help of a break-up song. They make the pain more intense so you can get over it more quickly.<\/p>\n I have never intentionally written a break-up song. Every break up song I’ve written has usually been on the day of a break-up or the following day, while I’m still feeling the deep hurt of what has happened.<\/p>\n The first big break-up song I wrote was Crack Bang Bang. I was 18 or 19 and my boyfriend at the time came to my birthday and took 98 per cent of the party somewhere else.<\/p>\n When I asked him to stay, he just said ‘sorry’ and left.<\/p>\n The next morning, I drove to his house and ended things and spent the whole drive home bawling my eyes out.<\/p>\n Then I went to my room and wrote Crack Bang Bang in about 20 minutes, because it was just a way for me to look at all the facts and realise what had happened.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n