Avril Lavigne reviews on DeBaser (albums, live releases, and pop-punk fights)

The Profile

Avril Lavigne is a Canadian singer-songwriter who rose to prominence in the early 2000s with pop-rock/pop-punk releases, including the debut album Let Go and the follow-up Under My Skin.

Born in 1984 in Belleville, Ontario and raised in Napanee, Avril Lavigne debuted with Let Go (2002) and followed with Under My Skin (2004) and The Best Damn Thing (2007). She is widely associated with pop punk, pop rock, and mainstream pop.

Across these reviews, Avril Lavigne is treated as a lightning rod: disposable, manufactured pop to some, and a charismatic rock-pop voice to others. The Best Damn Thing is the main battleground, praised as fun and catchy by fans and trashed as plastic pop by detractors. Under My Skin is described as darker/more adult by supporters, while critics attack its supposed faux-rebel posture. My World is singled out positively as a worthwhile live CD+DVD package. Goodbye to Lullaby gets a measured “better than the previous” reception, with specific track praise.

Notable Quotes

❝ Now the "artist" in question: Avril Lavigne, Canadian from Napanee, who with her little screams has by now mowed down half the world's patience, going from rocker to dark, from dark to flashy, and from flashy to bourgeois.

❝ The thing that pisses me off the most is that the young lady, quite arbitrarily, has declared herself the "punk princess"...Question? What's punk about her attitude? Nothing!

❝ Well, I say that Canadian Avril Lavigne has talent, and that "Under My Skin," her second album after the multimillion triumph of the previous "Let Go," is a work decidedly above the standards for the type of audience it targets.

❝ It’s pop, therefore, that which is so loved/hated by kids all around the world.

❝ Checking the review database, I noticed the absence of this record, which, despite not being a full-length, includesaudio CD and DVD for a comprehensive and certainly interesting total playing time, as it contains songs and covers entirely recorded live during Avril's various tours.