Due to perform in Singapore on Feb 15, and no doubt promote her latest eponymous album, Avril Lavigne will be back on our sunny island after almost 3 years rocking the Singapore Indoor Stadium hard with her new album Avril Lavigne.

Most recording artistes start their careers with an eponymous album to introduce themselves to the world. Canadian pop rock princess Avril Lavigne has waited for her recent fifth studio release to do so. Why she’d need any introduction after garnering 8 Grammy nominations and having pushed 35 million copies of her albums since her Let Go debut in 2002 is beyond UrbanWire.

This follow-up to her 2011 Goodbye Lullaby, and the earworm “What The Hell”, comes with an image makeover on the new album cover.

But don’t be fooled by the 29-year-old singer sporting a mature hairdo, complete with her new love for exaggerated “panda” smoky eye makeup, reminiscent of an emo Adele. Despite the somber facial expression, her album stays true to the fun and rebellious character that fans love her for.

That’s also why the undisputed hit of the album is “Here’s To Never Growing Up”, a number all about celebrating youth and the rebel in all of us during our teenage years. The music video based on a high school reunion sees our favorite Canadian singer blossom from her 2002 debut “Complicated” look that kick started the (then) 17-year-old’s road to stardom into the spunky young lady she is now, attracting a whopping 50 million views on YouTube along the way.

Its popularity no doubt is driven by punk fans worldwide who coveted her look then, and still marvel at her ageless face (Avril, tell us your secret to staying young), which brings back fond memories for those who grew up in the 90s and admired her work.

Despite having tied the knot only  in July, these songwriting lovebirds already have a collaborative effort under their belt with hubby Chad Kroeger helping out with song-writing and/or production on 8 of the 13 tracks, while lending his Nickelback frontman vocals in “Let Me Go”. This power ballad duet might be mistaken for a song of heartbreak, but transitions into a love song that relates their tale.

With lyrics that go from “I’m breaking free from these memories/Gotta let it go” to “I’ve broken free from these memories… And 2 goodbyes led to this new life/ Don’t let me go”, it doesn’t take a Sherlock Holmes to figure that this song refers to the 2 previous men in Lavigne’s life, divorced husband Deryck Whibley and subsequent boyfriend Brody Jenner.

Hubby dearest wasn’t the only man featured in this album though, goth heavy metal singer Marilyn Manson makes an appearance in “Bad Girl”. Naturally, this number featured Manson’s signature dark vocals and had Lavigne screaming like a heavy metal singer in the chorus.  Despite Manson’s controversial music style (you either love him or hate him), he fitted surprisingly well in the song. Besides, it’s obvious that both singers had a great time working on this collaboration at the end of the song when Manson’s teasing of “bad bad baaad girl” had Lavigne chuckling.

As for her first single, “Rock N Roll” was just as uplifting and catchy as its name suggests. Too bad the comic-inspired music video doesn’t mesh quite as well. We’re still trying to figure out how a gas mask villain, a drunk dog, a group of knife-wielding lobsters, complete with rocket segways, lesbian make out scenes and a stripping villain (who turns out to be a bear shark) work together in this bizarre 5-min-long video. I mean, seriously?

While there’re gems in her fifth record, “Hello Kitty” hurtled down the path to the land of “No, you didn’t go there.” Let’s just say that the blonde  sounded like a snooty rich teenager who lives in a pink, Hello Kitty-themed mansion. Despite its innocuous title drawn from the sweet Japanese cartoon, the song’s anything but innocent. Filled with suggestive lyrics ( “Keep it just between you and me/Let’s play truth or dare now/We can roll around in our underwear how/Every silly Kitty should be”), the dubstep that accompanied the Sanrio character inspired song was as different as night and day. In fact, this number’s so awkward that we reckon, it’d make even Skrillex’s side shaved hair stand. This is 1 number that  won’t make it to the clubs, thankfully.

On the bright side, it looks like Lavigne’s jumping onto the bandwagon of writing age-related songs , “17” was in essence Lavigne’s version of Taylor Swift’s “15” and “22”. The song talks about the teenage years, being rebellious and being in love with lyrics like “He would tell me I was beautiful/Sneaking in the neighbor’s swimming pool/Yeah, he taught me how to break the rules/17”. Just like Swift’s numbers, this is 1 song that fans (most of hers would’ve blossomed out of their teenage years by now) can easily relate to.

Despite the misses in this album, Avril Lavigne has stayed true to her music over the years. If you’re looking to celebrate your youth, rock out, have pillow fights and a good time, this is a compilation of anthems for you.

Here’s to never growing up.

 

Album Details:
Artiste: Avril Lavigne
Album: Avril Lavigne
Rating: 4/5
Language: English
Genre: Pop Rock
Record Label: Sony Music Entertainment
Release Date: Nov 1, 2013

 

Tracklist:

1. Rock N Roll

2. Here’s To Never Growing Up

3. 17

4. Bitchin’ Summer

5. Let Me Go feat. Chad Kroeger

6. Give You What You Like

7. Bad Girl feat. Marilyn Manson

8. Hello Kitty

9. You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet

10. Sippin’ On Sunshine

11. Hello Heartache

12. Falling Fast

13. Hush Hush