The pop music landscape is currently a loud reminder that love does not always last. And that the heartbreak that follows a split, while painful, can render great art — or at least art that will get the internet talking if you give the people enough juicy details. And this year is shaping up to be a banner year for the tell-all breakup album.

Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires released dueling albums about the dissolution of their marriage; Haim went full-on messy with a summer breakup album; and a 50-year-old song by Fleetwood Mac honestly will not leave the news cycle.

Currently at the front of the group sits British singer Lily Allen, who just released a scorched-earth, confessional album seemingly about her divorce from Stranger Things actor David Harbour. The album, West End Girl, breaks new ground for Allen — and for the art of the breakup record — with its candid, detail-filled account of the heartbreak and betrayal that led to the end of her marriage.

“She’s not sparing a single detail other than the person’s name, which is never on the record,” said Coleman Spilde, senior staff culture writer and critic at Salon. “This is a breakup album that’s also coming at a time where we have this very Taylor Swiftian sort of alternative romance songwriting that is very metaphorical. And Lily is kind of yanking us back to the style of songwriting that is incredibly candid.”

The internet has lost its collective mind over the album, a reaction that signifies how our parasocial age is changing the breakup album’s purpose. Today, Explained co-host Noel King sat down with Spilde to break it all down. Below is an excerpt of their conversation, edited for length and clarity. There’s much more in the full episode, so listen to Today, Explained wherever you get podcasts, including Apple Podcasts,

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