Lily Allen has declared women ‘don’t need to be defined by their boyfriends’ after being asked about a viral article detailing ‘embarrassing boyfriends’.
Last month comment sections and group chats all over the world were flooded with discussions after a Vogue article boldly questioned: ‘Is Having A Boyfriend Embarrassing Now?’
In the piece, writer Chante Joseph investigated why there seemed to be a trend of women seemingly ‘hiding’ their partners online – concluding that it was now ‘now fundamentally uncool to be a boyfriend-girl’ and that those who flooded their friend’s feeds with photos showing off their relationship now came across as ‘quite culturally loser-ish’.
She also said that being single was now not a ‘cautionary tale’, and was instead ‘becoming a desirable and coveted status, another nail in the coffin of a centuries-old heterosexual fairytale that never really benefitted women to begin with’.
The article sparked intense ‘chaos’, with group chats popping off about whether posting about a male partner online was now quite cringe.
Now, Vogue has asked several famous women what they think about the piece – including Lily, whose recent album West End Girl detailed her incredibly messy break-up with Stranger Things actor David Harbour, 50.
When questioned about ‘boyfriends being embarrassing now’, Lily weighed in.
‘What do I have to say about boyfriends being embarassing?’ she laughed before sharing her thoughts.
‘Yea, maybe,’ she said, seemingly unsure. However, she then added: ‘I kind of rate it when girls don’t have pictures of their boyfriends on their Instagrams, it makes me curious. It’s cool. We don’t need to be defined by them. They can just be background.’
Her sentiments were echoed by American model Paloma Elsesser, who said: ‘Confirmed! Boyfriends are very embarassing.’
However Vogue posed the same questions to other famous faces, who pushed back against the idea boyfriends were out of fashion.
‘I don’t think love is embarassing. Sorry Vogue. Love is pretty great,’ Bridgerton star Simone Ashley said.
Meanwhile Lila Moss added: ‘I have a boyfriend, and he is not embarassing, so I don’t think it’s embarassing. But if they are embarassing, then maybe.’
The women had all been questioned while attending Marco Capaldo’s fashion show in London, which also saw Lily made her runway debut.
Lily’s comments about embracing singledom come after her buzzy break-up album dropped to critical acclaim.
After a seven-year hiatus, the singer dropped her latest album on October 24.
In it, she accused her ex – whom she married in 2020 and split from last year – of cheating and gaslighting, as well as cheating with a woman she dubbed ‘Madeline’.
Although it was said to be ‘inspired’ by personal experiences in her life and was autofictional – it detailed payments for sex, cheating, lies, vasectomies and sex addiction.
In its review of the album, Metro wrote it ‘deserves to be played front to back, then repeated, then devoured once more, but it’s not one you’re likely to go back to once the juicy drama has been picked clean’.
‘West End Girl is a welcome return from Lily Allen who brings a unique sound and unflinching honesty to her music. While it’s not got any instant or obvious hits, this is so personal you’ll be thinking about it for a week after.’
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