Album Details

• Artist: Avril Lavigne
• Album: Let Go
• Label: Arista
• Year of Release: 2002
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: charlesmartel on 2013-01-22

Come on, it is nowhere near the same league of horror as Britney, Justin, Westlife, Busted and the rest of the talentless, annoying, false outfits that are around today, let alone any of the utter dross which crawls out from under stones every year and parades in inadequacies on television for freakshows like X-Factor. Avril Lavigne writes her own music, and she plays it (Britney take note) with a band which she had formed when she was Avril Nobody. I'd rather listen to this than manufactured boy bands, stupid bimbette girl bands, foul-mouthed rappers or soul-less soul any day.

I cannot fathom why Avril Lavigne is so hated. (Perhaps someone reading this can send me a message and let me know why, without resorting to expressions like "it's shit" or "she sucks"). Perhaps it is because she aims her music squarely at the most gullible and the most fickle of all music buyers, pubescent teenagers. Well, if this leads them into something which is more substantial that the usual mainstream radio fodder, isn't that a good thing?

Then again, it maybe overkill on the radio. That I can sympathise with. It may also be the marketing. Avril Lavigne is marketed as punk, but when you consider who it is primarily aimed at, that term loses its true meaning. OK it is not punk, in the classic sense of what punk is. OK, it is aimed at teenagers, but teenagers have feelings, concerns and anxieties, and some of the tracks on this album will reach out to teenagers in that way. And if music is capable of establishing an emotional connection with the listener then what is wrong with that?

It is not a perfect album by any means. It has its highs and its lows. I will agree with anyone who says that "Sk8er Boi" is pretty awful. It is pre-pubescent pop and not very good. It is also as irritating as using txt spk in d titl 2 say wot dey wnt. But that was a single which no doubt some creature in her record company would be good to release to establish her street cred. By the time she got round to the second single off the album, "Complications", Lavigne had grown up somewhat in musical terms. By the time of the third single, "I'm with You", she had grown up a lot.

Many of the tracks deal with issues of frustration and insecurity, which is pretty much what you would expect from a teenager appealing to a largely teenage audience. Yet when you actually sit down and listen to the songs, some of the themes are timeless. And the further she moves away from the childishness of her earliest single, she actually has something to say and says it pretty well. "Losing Grip" is a good, harder number, while "Mobile" and above all "I'm with You" are pretty good numbers expressing that frustration and insecurity which she feels and conveys to her target audience. In short, this is not a bad example of pop-rock. Lavigne writes (or collaborates with others in writing) her stuff, which sets her apart from the false plastic rubbish that her contemporaries churn out, so go on, put aside those prejudices and give this a listen with an open mind. You may be surprised.

User Reviews and Comments

on 2011-04-27 CharlesMartel Said:

She gets a bad rap and after her third album she deserves it. But on her first two she performed her style of music, self-penned material. Better than many "mnanufactured" outfits.
Rating: 7/10