Lily Allen reveals HUGE boost in music royalties since the collapse of her marriage to husband David Harbour after the singer was left devastated by affair scandal

Daily Mail​

06-06-2025

Lily Allen has revealed she's been enjoying an unexpected surge in her music royalties recently - despite not having released any new material for years.
The soaring interest in her early Noughties pop hits comes just months after she split from her husband, Stranger Things star David Harbour, and launched an OnlyFans account.
The 40-year-old, whose famous tracks include Smile, The Fear and Not Fair, claims the unexpected revival is due to a new generation of fans streaming her songs online.
'I do find it hard listening to that music,' she admitted. 'I'm not ashamed of it because I think it was good for what it was at the time. And actually I think it does still stand up.'
Speaking on the latest episode of her podcast, Miss Me?, she added: 'It's having an actual resurgence on the internet. I know because my royalty payments are going up. There are young kids that are into my music now.'
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The surprise boost comes despite the fact Lily hasn't released an original single as a lead artist since 2018's Trigger Bang, from her fourth studio album No Shame.
Her commercial breakthrough came nearly two decades ago, with 2006's Alright, Still and 2009's It's Not Me, It's You reaching second and first place in the UK album charts respectively. Currently, she has 10.4 million monthly listeners on Spotify.
Lily, daughter of actor Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen, admitted she's been tracking the new wave of interest through streaming data.
But while her royalties may be rising, she has been outspoken about the limited income musicians often receive from streaming platforms.
In a viral social media post last year, Lily hit back at a post on X claiming she earned over a million dollars from Spotify by revealing she actually makes more money by selling photos of her feet on OnlyFans.
'Imagine being an artist and having nearly 8 million monthly listeners on Spotify but earning more money from having 1,000 people subscribe to pictures of your feet,' she wrote. 'Don't hate the player, hate the game.'
Lily launched her OnlyFans account last summer, shortly before it was reported she'd split from David, whom she had married in 2020.
Speaking this week, she opened up about how emotionally difficult the past year has been - and how music has become her main outlet.
The surprise boost comes despite the fact Lily hasn't released an original single as a lead artist since 2018's Trigger Bang, from her fourth studio album No Shame
'I think about the stuff I've been going through in just the last year. I've had some really, really tough times,' she said. 'And I have had a real reluctance to pick up the phone… I don't have hour-long conversations about the hard things that I'm going through.'
Instead, she channels those emotions into the studio. 'Music is the one place where I can let it all go,' she explained.
'It's almost like therapy. I like to write and record at the same time with somebody else in the room - there's something therapeutic about it.
'My producer or my co-writers become almost like therapists because I'm processing the things that I'm going through in real time.'
She added: 'I can do that in music, but I can't really do it when I'm talking to friends or my parents. It doesn't mean I'm being inauthentic... I just don't feel like I can sum things up properly. But I can do it in a three-and-a-half minute pop song.'
With her two daughters, Ethel, 13, and Marnie, 12 - by her ex-husband Sam Cooper - on the cusp of teenagehood, Lily says she finally feels free to consider new creative opportunities without being tied down by the school run.
'I had set up my life in a way where I was in New York to be a present parent for my kids during the school time,' she said.
'So everything that I had to do work-wise would have to be in the summer holidays or in the winter.
'So it was always: choose the right thing because that's the only thing you're going to get to do for the year. And if that doesn't go well, then it's a f****** disaster.'
'But now they're getting older. Obviously they still need me, but they don't need me so much. I don't need to pick them up from school. I don't need to drop them off at school.
'They do all of that themselves. And they can stomach it if I have to leave and go somewhere for a week and come back. So I'm not so full of fear around it.'
'That shift has left her feeling creatively energised. 'There are endless opportunities. And I am feeling positive about them,' she said.
'I have got musicals in me to write. I have got more albums to put out. I've got more plays to do. Hopefully some parts in TV shows or films. I have got more songs to write for other people, if that's what I decide [to do].'
She'll also be returning to the stage next month in a new production of Hedda Gabler at the Theatre Royal Bath, following her West End debut in 2:22: A Ghost Story.
And with the 20th anniversary of her debut album Alright, Still fast approaching, she's already thinking about how to mark the milestone. 'I would like some very generous offers from venues to play 20-year anniversaries,' she joked.
Not long before their split, Lily turned amateur sleuth after speculating that David had 'cheated' on the same dating app.
She was left in 'agony' when she allegedly discovered the actor had a secret profile on the celebrity dating app Raya, The Mail on Sunday revealed.
The pop star joined the app herself, pretending to be 'looking for women' – and allegedly found that David had already set up a dating profile. He was reportedly listed on the app as being active for at least a month.
Raya is so exclusive that it accepts only around eight per cent of applicants, but it has more than 10,000 members, with 100,000 on the waiting list.
Once users find a new partner, they usually disable their profiles.
A source said: 'Lily was looking for women that were on Raya and cross-referencing them with women David follows on Instagram to try to figure out who he was seeing. She was doing her Wagatha thing.
'Lily only rejoined Raya to try to figure out whether he was seeing someone.
'Lily has never even looked at anyone since she met David. She is devastated. He broke up with Lily a month ago.
'He was meant to be on holiday with her in Kenya over Christmas.'
David's alleged dating profile, exclusively revealed by the Mail on Sunday, read: 'Visiting New York from Atlanta' and 'closet nerd that plays tough guys on your TV'.
It also described him as living in Atlanta, Georgia, 800 miles from the family home in Brooklyn, New York, where the couple moved in 2020, with Lily enrolling her children in local schools.
He bought a house in Atlanta last year to be closer to the Stranger Things set as the show was filming its fifth and final series.
Lily's circle of London friends said she had suspected for some time that her husband was interested in other women.
By the time the couple broke up, she had become convinced that he had a secret girlfriend.