Everyone has to put their foot in their mouth sometimes, even notoriously outspoken artists like English singer-songwriter Lily Allen. On Monday (May 6), the “Smile” singer formally apologized to Elton John for her years-long resentment of him — and she also revealed how it all stemmed from a grave misunderstanding on her part.
The newly-minted EGOT winner and Allen have a storied history together, with John having been her manager years ago. “He would call me like once every couple of weeks to check in and say hi and make sure I was okay,” she reminisced on the “Miss Me?” BBC podcast that she co-hosts with Miquita Oliver. “And there was some times in that period where I wasn’t okay.”
Allen was signed to John’s Rocket Music Entertainment Group when she was recording and promoting 2009’s It’s Not Me, It’s You, which peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard 200, marking her highest-charting LP in the U.S. The two officially parted ways some years later following the release of Sheezus, Allen’s third studio album, in 2014.
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“We parted ways, and I wrote this long letter to say how sad I was about the situation and that there was a big Elton-shaped hole in my life,” she said on the podcast. “Over the next few years as my life began to sort of spiral out of control, I held much resentment for the fact that I’d made myself very vulnerable in this letter and told him all about my sobriety, and I was quite cross with him for a few years.”
After Oliver probed for specifics regarding the source of Allen’s animosity toward John, she explained, “When I moved here to America, I was unpacking and I found the letter. I never sent it! Elton, if you’re listening — which you’re probably not — I love you and I no longer harbor that resentment towards you.”
While John has not publicly acknowledged Allen’s admission, the revelation does mark a relatively lighter news cycle for the controversial “5 O’Clock” singer. Earlier this year, Allen criticized the “quite calculated” campaign behind Beyoncé‘s critically lauded Cowboy Carter album, to which “212” rapper Azealia Banks replied, “You’re going to stop right there and sit this one out.”
Both Banks and Allen have been vocal critics of Queen Bey’s country pivot, which hasn’t deterred the “Texas Hold ‘Em” singer from topping both the country and Americana/folk charts with her star-studded new album.