Tennis Lyrics
[Verse 1]
Daddy's home for the first time in weeks
Got the dinner on the table, tell the kids it’s time to eat
And I made my baby's favourite, but he didn't seem to care
I just tell myself he’s jet lagged and I'm glad to have him here
[Pre-Chorus]
Then you showed me a photo on Instagram
It was how you grabbed your phone back right out of my hands
[Chorus]
So I read your text, and now I regret it
I can't get my head 'round how you've been playing tennis
If it was just s*x, I wouldn't be jealous
You won't play with me
And who's Madeline?
[Verse 2]
I need to be alone, so I took myself to bed
I got a lot of information, now I can’t even process
So I wrote a little email and I told you what I saw
Then you came up to the bedroom and you made it all my fault
[Pre-Chorus]
But you moved the goalposts, you’ve broken the rules
I tried to accommodate but you took me for a fool
[Chorus]
So I read your text, and now I regret it
I can't get my head ’round how you've been playing tennis
If it was just s*x, I wouldn't be jealous
You won't play with me
And who the f*ck is Madeline?
[Outro]
Da, da-da, da-da-da, who’s Madeline? (Who's Madeline?)
Da, da-da, da-da-da, who's Madeline? (Who's Madeline?)
Da, da-da, da-da-da, who's Madeline? (Who's Madeline?)
Da, da-da, da-da-da, who's Madeline? (No, but who is Madeline, actually?)
_______________ End ________________
Lily Allen latest songs
2. Ruminating
3. Sleepwalking
Tennis Song Meaning (Lily Allen)
Lily Allen has always operated at the intersection of pop hooks and emotional candour. Rising to prominence with 2006’s Alright, Still, she quickly became known for her wry observations, cockney-accented vocals and a willingness to unpack messy emotional territory.
Now, with the album "West End Girl" (released October 24, 2025 via BMG UK), Allen returns after a seven-year studio hiatus. "Tennis" is one of the central tracks in that collection — a song that cuts to the heart of suspicion, emotional rupture and the after-effects of intimate betrayal.
The real-life background
While Allen blends fact and fiction across "West End Girl", the context is grounded in a deeply personal place. In interviews she describes this record as inspired by what went on in the relationship — though not necessarily every detail gospel-true.
Much of the album’s emotional fuel comes from the unraveling of her marriage and the broader themes of infidelity, abandonment and identity that followed.
Within that framework, "Tennis" emerges as a sharp moment of confrontation: the discovery of a text, the realisation that something’s off, the stunned voice of someone who thought they were playing by different rules. Reports say the “Madeline” referenced in this and the album’s follow-on song is a fictionalised composite of real-life people—but the emotional truth stands.
Dissecting the lyrics and emotional message
From the opening lines of "Tennis", Allen places the listener inside the unsettling moment of realisation. The metaphor “how you’ve been playing tennis” functions as a double-entendre — it signifies a partner’s ping-ponging between players, but also the back-and-forth of messaging, cover-ups, evasions.
The lyric “If it was just s*x, I wouldn’t be jealous” speaks to the raw, blistering truth: jealousy isn’t just about s*x per se, it’s about emotional investment, expectation, trust. The protagonist believed in something more; she thought she mattered. And then she sees the text, and the scoreboard doesn’t add up.
Allen’s voice is calm, but the words are anything but. There’s dread, there’s anger, there’s a sense of being kept in the dark. “You won’t play with me and who’s Madeline?” hits like a direct question thrown across a dinner table: “Who is this? Why do I not know this? Why did you let me believe…”
What the song represents isn’t just suspicion—it’s the moment the protagonist’s internal reality shatters. The album context tells us that this moment happens inside a broader collapse of intimacy: not just the affair-type betrayal, but the emotional vacuum that existed long before the explicit act. "Tennis" maps that inner meltdown: the disbelief, the wounded pride, the feeling of having stayed when you should perhaps have left.
Sonically, the combination of R&B and pop textures gives the disclosure a wider resonance—not just a break-up ballad, but a commentary on modern relationships: the hidden texts, the silence in shared homes, the emotional labour done when no one sees.
For the audience, the song becomes a mirror: Have you ever stayed in a situation past your instinct? Did you find yourself doubting your version of events, because someone else got to draft the narrative? Allen gives voice to that messy space where trust has been broken—not always by grand gesture, sometimes by omission, by absence, by metaphorical ping-pong rather than one decisive smash.
What the song means for Allen and the broader audience
For Allen, "Tennis" marks a moment of reclaiming voice. Having historically danced in and out of confessional mode, here she goes deeper: she allows herself to be wounded, angry, disbelieving—and to put that into art. The track sits within an album she described as vulnerable in a way she’s never attempted before.
For listeners, the song offers more than catharsis—it offers recognition. Many people don’t walk away from betrayal cleanly. Many people have the text-message ping, see the name pop up, feel the shift in tone, and wonder what they ignored. Tennis lacks easy closure. It doesn’t say “everything’s fine now” or “I have forgiven you”; instead, it says, “I saw. I felt. I speak now.”
In the broader pop-culture context, Allen’s approach here reaffirms the power of mature pop to speak about adult pain without cliché. She honours the genre’s immediacy (hooks, melody) while also delivering nuance, ambiguity, and the messiness of real life.
In the end, "Tennis" is less about the literal sport and more about the scoreboard of a relationship: who’s keeping score, who’s serving, who’s left watching the ball go past. It stands as one of the keystone tracks of West End Girl — a moment where Allen declares that no amount of silence or dissembling will hide what she now sees.
___________ ___________ ___________
FAQ Section
Who sung the song "Tennis" by Lily Allen?
The song "Tennis" was sung by Lily Allen.
Who wrote the song "Tennis" by Lily Allen?
Lily Allen, Blue May, Kito & Chloe Angelides.
Who produced the song "Tennis" by Lily Allen?
Kito & Blue May.
Music Video
Song Details
Artist: Lily Allen
Album: West End Girl
Genre: R&B, Pop
Language: English
Released: October 24, 2025
Social Plugin