WHEN Avril Lavigne released her second album in 2004, the full-of-life teen pop star announced that she was growing up. Gone were the baggy pants and loose chick image that first earned Lavigne the nickname of "the anti-Britney".
On that year's Under My Skin, punky songs like Sk8er Boi were replaced largely with grammatically correct, mild tempo rock songs about teen worries. The album was released a few months shy of Lavigne's 20th birthday. The black-and-white wild images made it clear that Lavigne was dealing with some serious late-teen issues.
Today, Lavigne, 22, is done with all that.
On April 17, she will release her third album, Best Damn Thing, and the mood is lighter.
"I was just so over writing such serious songs," Lavigne said. "Even though they really weren't that serious, I went through a little dark time when I was 18 and wrote Under My Skin. But I grew out of that.
"Musically, I didn't know where I was going to go on this record. I totally did not even think about it. I had no theme. I was thinking more about the music and the spirit."
The spirit of her latest single Girlfriend is pure high school, complete with shout-outs and hand claps. It has a 1960s girl group meets punk rock feel. The song, in fact, could be a cheerleading practice, were it not for Lavigne's tendency to swear.
All signs point to Lavigne moving towards a lighter, more colorful approach to her music and image for Best Damn Thing.
That may very well be the hope of her label. But if the 22-year-old sounds like a kid again, she said it's only because she realized that having fun is more important than maturing.
"My favorite stuff to play live has always been Sk8er Boi and He Wasn't, the faster songs," Lavigne said. "When I was on tour, I realized I needed to write more of this kind of stuff. Those songs come alive on stage, and I feel like that's the most me."
When Lavigne released her first album in 2002, she was the punk rock face for the teen pop craze. This had been made popular by the likes of Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera.
Lavigne came complete with a recognizable fashion accessory - a T-shirt and a tie. She became a rock 'n' roll star for a youth market that hadn't grown up enough to leave the mall and wasn't yet ready for wild tours.
Her Sk8er Boi hit No 1 on Billboard's top 40 chart in October 2002. The song beat out offerings from such larger-than-life celebrities as Justin Timberlake, and Eve and Nelly. It stood out because it spoke the same language as its 16-year-old audience.
Let Go positioned Lavigne as an artist whom fans could easily come up to and relate to.
She was a little girl from Canada, who cut the grass in people's yards for cash in her first album My World. She opened the album by declaring that she "sometimes gets so weird" that she makes herself feel strange.
"She's kind of girl rapping, but doesn't sound like a rapper," the producer commented on Lavigne's style. "I love that. I like it when white girls rap, and are sassy and have charisma."
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accessory: 服装配饰
charisma]: 个人魅力
clap: 拍手
punky : 朋客的
rap: 说唱
BONUS POINTS
shy of (sth): (数量)不足，还未到(某时间)
She died last Monday. It was only one day shy of her 50th birthday. 她上周一去世。只差一天就过上50岁生日了。
be done with (sth): 已经完成某事或者结束使用某东西
Tom was done with all the homework before the class was even over. 汤姆在下课前就完成了所有的家庭作业。
by AGENCIES Posted on 2007-03-07
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