Brief recap: Last weekend, Lily gave rare comments about her split from David — which took place earlier this year — in an interview to British Vogue. In the profile, it was also revealed that Lily had new music in the works that hinted toward rumors of infidelity on David’s part.
Shortly after that interview began making the rounds, Lily’s first album in seven years, West End Girl, was announced — as well as the fact that it would be arriving this past Friday, Oct. 24. As it happens, the album gestures toward several bombshell allegations regarding what went wrong with their marriage. You can read all about them right here.
One of the songs on the album, “Madeline,” seemingly gestures toward the nature of open relationships. “We had an arrangement / Be discreet and don’t be blatant / There had to be payment / It had to be with strangers,” she sings.
Given the song bears a woman’s name as the title, one of many questions that have emerged in the wake of West End Girls is who, exactly, “Madeline” may be referring to. Now, Lily’s given (something of) an answer.
In an interview with the Times, after Lily was asked who Madeline exactly is, she responded, “a fictional character.” When she was asked if the character in question is a composite of sorts when it comes to experiences with other people, Lily replied, “Yes.”
“I just feel we are living in really interesting times — in terms of how we define intimacy and monogamy, people being disposable or not,” she went on to say. “The way we are being intimate with each other is changing as humans … Lots of young women are not finding the idea of marriage or even a long-term relationship that attractive anymore.”
Lily also said she doesn’t think that these evolving notions are “necessarily bad.” “Lots of people from my parents’ generation stayed together for ever and were miserable,” she added. “You didn’t have endless choice so you may have worked at something harder. But now you don’t have to.”
You can read the entire interview here.
