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West End Girl, an explosive confessional by British pop star Lily Allen, is the album everyone’s talking about, and Kiwi Leroy Clampitt still can’t believe he was a part of it. Mitchell Hageman discovers how the homegrown producer went from Waikato to the world, and what it’s like to create work that breaks the mould.

Cheating, gaslighting, sex addiction – Lily Allen’s new semi-autobiographical album West End Girl pulls no punches after her highly publicised split with Stranger Things actor David Harbour.

But amid the long shadow of fame and acid-tinged lyrics, Leroy Clampitt, a musician from the small Waikato town of Pirongia, was part of writing and producing four of Allen’s songs.

“I grew up listening to Lily, and she’s just one of those people who had the right story to tell at the right time. She got the right crew around her, and it just all worked out,” Clampitt says from his Los Angeles home.

The album is rapidly gaining critical acclaim. The Guardian’s four-star review called it a “gobsmacking autopsy of marital betrayal” and praised its unique blend of synth pop and other traditional music forms.

Rolling Stone said it was a “brutal emotional inventory” that weaved real experiences and fiction into the narrative.

Leroy Clampitt switches between his instrumental and electronic producing.

Clampitt’s producing and songwriting career has included working with Justin Bieber, Madison Beer and Six60.

He was recently nominated for a Silver Scroll for his songwriting efforts alongside Kiwi artist Fazerdaze.

The 33-year-old got the job with Allen through this notable body of work and publishing contacts. He says the project was very “artistically fulfilling” if busy: the album was written and recorded in just 10 days.

“There’s not a lot of thinking, actually. It’s lots of following intuition,” he says of the intensive process.

“[Allen]’s told this story – the story’s been told many times in the last few weeks – but she came into the studio with a list of the songs that basically turned into the album.”

Lily Allen's latest album West End Girl reflects on the undoing of her marriage to David Harbour. Photo / Getty Images

One special moment Clampitt recalls was near the end, working on the song Pussy Palace, which he called “sort of a Hail Mary”.

The lyrics, which spell out the pain caused by sex addiction, talk of finding a “shoebox full of handwritten letters from broken-hearted women wishing you could have been better”.

“I just remember like that night we made it, and it was feeling really good, and it was getting dark. It was winter in LA, and [co-producer] Blue May brought out some lights and a smoke machine but didn’t tell us. He just snuck it into the studio while we were focusing.

Waikato-raised Leroy Clampitt has worked with plenty of big names in music.

“When we started playing it out loud, he had the smoke machine, and the lights went on, and it was just this hilarious thing. We’re all just like dancing, listening to this crazy song about Lily’s very unfortunate situation.”

Clampitt says Allen was particularly open and vulnerable during the process, which included lots of “raw emotion” and storytelling.

“I’m super grateful to Lily. To [be able to] have walked in and, after only five minutes of knowing her and her whole story, to begin crafting art.”

He says the key to making good music is working with good people.

“Work with artists you get along with and that you like the type of music they’re trying to make, because you really don’t make good music when you’re trying to do work in a context that you don’t enjoy listening to.”

Despite the heavy subject matter, he says the listening party with Allen and the team (comprising mainly Australians and Brits) was special, with dancing and even some karaoke.

“I had my little point-and-shoot film camera, and it was just [Allen] and I doing this little photo shoot outside the party with someone’s pickup truck headlights on. I was like, man, it’s so cool that I can just be here and experience all this. It was very special, and I try not to get too numb about how wild it has been.”

Clampitt has come a long way from his days eating two-minute noodles and jamming on guitar with mates in his parents’ garage.

He doesn’t take any of his opportunities for granted.

“I really tried to soak it all in,” he says.

Fans can expect big things from Clampitt in the future, with a visit back to New Zealand soon, a solo art project and a film score in the works.

Mitchell Hageman joined the Herald’s entertainment and lifestyle team in 2024. He previously worked as a multimedia journalist for Hawke’s Bay Today.