For Christmas 2014 I asked for Avril Lavigne’s 5th studio album, “Avril Lavigne”. This was quite an awkward request for me because, although I’ve liked Avril since my late teens, I now feel a little old to still be listening to her records, let alone putting them on my Christmas list. I decided to face facts and admit that I was “a fan” and the album is now mine. So why did I want to write about it?
In another life I was a music reviewer. Nothing major, just a good friend and me making podcasts about new albums. It was a lot of fun and a lot more work than it was probably worth but we created some material that really makes me smile. We would choose a few new LPs each month, listen to them on our own, making our own notes, then come back together to record and discuss our findings. We did this for about 18 months which is not an awfully long time in the grand scheme of things but the habit of analysing each new album I listen to has stayed with me. Avril Lavigne’s 4th (and more creatively titled) album “Goodbye Lullaby” was one of the first albums we reviewed so it’s not surprising that, on listening to album number 5, I felt compelled to form my own little critique. I thought I’d write it up for you here.
I first liked Avril for her lively/angry/poppy/punky tunes so “Goodbye Lullaby” took me by surprise. It showed a much more mature and despondent artist than the one I was used to. I suppose I presumed this was the direction she would take from then on so “Avril Lavigne” surprised me even more. Not only had Avril returned to the more energetic feel of previous years, she’d kind of over done it, not unlike the “fat kid on a tube of Smarties” to which she so eloquently refers in track 8. “Hello Kitty” is probably the “worst” example of her apparent regression. The piece is a caricature of a stereotype that barely warrants the title of “song”. It’s a poor use of a good voice and I imagine that, if I was still making podcasts, I would have slated this track but…I don’t dislike it. It has its place in the world. Admittedly not a very big place and not one I would visit very often but it is there nonetheless.
After the jarring volume of “Hello Kitty”, the second most obvious theme of the album is Avril’s hankering for a simpler, more enjoyable period of her life. Tracks 1, 2 and 4 (“Rock N Roll”, “Here’s To Never Growing Up” and “Bitchin’ Summer”) talk about living for the moment, defying the system and (unsurprisingly) never growing up. There’s a good deal of swearing, drinking, smashing bottles, running from the po-leece, etc, etc. It’s all a bit try-hard and does very little to convince us that Avril is anything but an ill-behaved lout (albeit a very entertaining one). However, the same idealism is portrayed much more sweetly in songs such as “17”. Here she is clearly reminiscing about young love and a care-free youth that is gone forever.
This still doesn’t set the scene of the whole album. There are surprises in various forms. There are a couple of collaborations that overall serve her well. The first is “Let Me Go” with her current husband Chad Kroeger (also of Nickelback). It’s a ballad and not a bad one but I personally find it a little uneventful. More dynamic is “Bad Girl” with Marilyn Manson. It’s an interesting one. I get the feeling that Avril is playing a part, or at least I hope she is. It’s what you might expect from a Lavigne-Manson hybrid but it leaves me a little uncomfortable, which was probably the intention. Again, I don’t dislike it. It’s certainly lively.
Equally enjoyable and disconcerting in equal measure is “Give You What You Like”. The tenderness with which it is sung almost masks the acidity behind lines like “I’ll let you call me yours tonight”. The whole song paints an apparently beautiful yet bleak picture which is only made worse by notions such as “I’ll give you one last chance to hold me if you give me one last cigarette”. The thought of Avril prostituting herself out for tobacco does not sit at all comfortably. Her vulnerability is palpable.
“Hello Heartache” builds on the talent displayed in these tracks but minus the dark undertones. An obvious break-up ballad, it has heartfelt emotion with quirky melodic tones and some really belting notes. Overlooked at first it has become one of my favourite tracks of the album. Great for singing in the car.
Other easily overlooked tracks include “Sippin’ On Sunshine” and “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet”. In a way I think the first of these two tracks is rightfully overlooked. It’s pleasant enough but is the sort of throwaway pop song that I would describe as “vanilla filler”. The second, however, is one that will never win any awards but is a really fun tune. It lifts the whole album providing some much needed cheer and a reminder of how fun Avril can be.
Before I wrap up I just want to chuck in a couple of niggles:
· “Here’s To Never Growing Up” features the line, “Singing Radiohead at the top of our lungs with the boombox blaring as we’re falling in love”. Seriously? Was Radiohead ever the soundtrack to a good time? I think Avril is too young to have used a boombox and in my experience Radiohead was more likely to have induced feelings of depressive loneliness than the smoochy smoochies.
· “17” uses the words “Flicking lighters just to fight the dark”. How melodramatic. Honestly, Avril? Do you really think your tiny canister of gasoline can overcome the rotation of the Earth?
I could probably find plenty more grumbles with the authenticity and tone of her lyrics but I’ll sound like the ultimate party-pooper. Besides, the melodrama is one of the reasons I indulge myself in her music anyway.
Throughout the album I was struck by the realisation that, a lot of the time, she sounds like someone else. There are hints of Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, Hayley Williams, Kelly Clarkson, Courtney Love, Katy Perry. In fact, a lot of the time she sounds like anyone but Avril Lavigne, which is ironic given the album’s title. The record is certainly varied but I worry that it lacks cohesion and, therefore, identity. There are dark songs, there are light songs, there are heartfelt songs and there are trashy songs. Do they gel together? I’m really not sure but I do like them and am glad they are all different. I wonder if that’s what Avril has been getting at all along. Is she showing us that she can be whatever she wants to be? After all, it’s been her motto from the start. Then again, it could just be the over analytical musings of an amateur music reviewer...