Avril Lavigne
The Best Damn Thing

THE REVIEW

"All I wanted was for you to know, that in everything I do, I put my heart and soul, I can barely breathe, I need to feel you here with me"

This is what the song "When You're Gone" by Avril Lavigne says, the most beautiful and intelligent track from her latest album, and I, being her fan since her debut, admit it: she has quite let fame go to her head. But on the other hand, she did well, she has matured, got married to a somewhat strange guy, bought a house in Los Angeles for 9.5 million dollars, in short, a true star. Let's hope these distractions don't turn into madness, as has often happened.

Moving on to the album: it starts with the big single "Girlfriend" which, all in all, isn't bad: rhythmic, cheerful, and catchy, what ingredients for greater success? Then it moves on to "I Can Do Better". "I’ll drink as much Limoncello as I can" says Avril, and she’s right: life is beautiful, drink it up, because you’re young. Leaving aside the spirits, there is "Runaway": beautiful lyrics, talking about the desire to have fun, to let go, without overdoing it. "The Best Damn Thing", meaning "the damn best thing" refers to Avril, "I'm the best damn thing that your eyes have ever seen". "When You’re Gone" talks about her relationship with her husband, the guy from Sum 41: in my opinion, the most impactful track on the album. The following tracks are all rock, going from "Everything But You" to "Contagious", from "Hot" to "One Of Those Girls". Exception is "Innocence", a ballad similar to "When You're Gone": here too, beautiful lyrics and music, the song talks about wanting to capture a moment that's perfect for us, notable is the arrangement of this song, composed primarily of a string orchestra that makes it particularly melancholic. The CD closes with "Keep Holding On", the soundtrack of the film "Eragon": the last of the three ballads on the CD, intense and moving.

What else to say? Avril reappears on the music scene with another great album, and she nails it, despite having done much better in the past, who knows if she will manage to write masterpieces like "Nobody's Home" or "Slipped Away" again! All in all, however, it’s a very listenable album, not at all boring, but above all fun and cheerful like Avril.