Avril Lavigne
Let Go

Reviewing an album like this could be a dilemma. First of all, seeing a bit of the positions taken by listeners, I can distinguish them into two types, noting that they are mainly teenagers: on one side, those among them who love pop and mainstream music who praise the album, and on the other side, the punks and rockers who never miss an opportunity to attack it, to say it sucks, and that Lavigne is nothing but a little slut (oh, I forgot about the metalheads... well, they probably just ignore it altogether...). Well, between the two bells, I can only remember that the reviewer's duty is to evaluate albums objectively. But is this blessed "Let Go" a bad or a good album? First of all, I must remind you that the "punk princess" in question (as she calls herself) sings music that has very little to do with rock and punk. Actually, nothing at all. It’s pop, therefore, that which is so loved/hated by kids all around the world.

However, I must admit that, for being a purely commercial album by a girl who sings pop, it isn’t "half bad." And most importantly, it is less predictable than what we might expect from a singer of this kind. "Losing Grip" is (somewhat) pleasantly listenable, "Mobile" and "Naked" can even bring Morisette to mind, and "Unwanted" is a pop/rock ballad that I wouldn't hesitate to call "cute." However, this is not enough to raise an album that has nothing special above average. In short, ignoring the fact that Lavigne thinks she’s Sid Vicious (!) and that her videos are ridiculous, she has produced a pop album that can be listened to without issues and is not, in any case, to be discarded artistically (demonstrating that not all characters constructed at the table, like her in fact, are destined to always and only produce rubbish). However, if you hope to find the promised anti-Lolita, you’re out of luck: "Let Go" is nothing more than a very simple pop album like so many others which, unfortunately, is destined to get lost in the depths of its mediocrity. What I want to emphasize, therefore, is that it is not worth insisting if her music is good or bad because those who love this genre can find people who do exactly what she does and are enormously more talented. Moral of the story: a half-assed effort, good only in some parts but too few to make the album interesting to pop-fans who wish to break away from the MTV stereotypes for once. Nothing more than what an Alanis Morissette or a Lene Marlin could already do (and even better...).

P.S. For the usual "expert" users of debaser, this review may seem superfluous and indeed it is, even according to me, but I felt like writing it to open the eyes of those who still see Miss Avril as a myth (her t-shirts have been seen even at Dimmu Borgir concerts, my God!!!) without understanding that all this attention related to her person is more useless than anything else, given that this is a character destined to disappear very soon, without a legendary "Under My Skin" coming to save her. So I do not fight against her nor praise her: for me, she deserves to disappear because she is formally useless, and I am sure it will happen.