The title of Avril Lavigne’s new CD, “The Best Damn Thing,” is exemplary of the CD’s general mood. Lavigne has a new attitude and listeners can definitely hear her new found self-confidence in the tracks. What does this confidence do for Lavigne’s music? If you were expecting something bigger and better, you will be severely disappointed.
Instead, we’re stuck with a Fergie/Gwen Stefani wannabe whose attempt at hip hop dancing, which can be seen in the music video “Girlfriend,” is pitiful. The only move she can pull off is clapping her hands.
“Girlfriend,” the first single off “The Best Damn Thing,” has already won the hearts of pop music lovers. Nonetheless, the song has no substance.
A little piece of work called “Hot” imitates the Tony Basil “Hey Mickey” routine. However, instead of being a jealous lover, “Hot” makes Lavigne sound like a prostitute.
The lyrics go, “You make me so hot/you make me want to drop/you’re so ridiculous/I can barely stop.” OK. I know you love your Sum 41 husband, but please, keep that talk inside the bedroom.
The title track “The Best Damn Thing,” is a let down where endless amounts of “yeahs” and “hey, hey, hey” must be tolerated to eventually arrive at the actual music. On this track, the most intelligent of the lyrics include Lavigne explaining that she hates it when her man doesn’t understand about that “certain time of the month.”
Watch out for the track “I Don’t Have to Try,” during which Avril repeatedly tells a boy that she’s the one that “wears the pants.” Lavigne even tries to do screamo in this song, which is needless to say embarrassing.
In some tracks, “I Don’t Have to Try,” you can readily hear a Sum-41 influence, which doesn’t work too well for Lavigne.
Lavigne does find some opportunity to return to her real sound in ballads such as “Runaway” and “When You’re Gone.” Fans who grew up on “Let Go,” her first album, will surely appreciate these tracks. One of the only quality tracks on the album is “Keep Holding On,” which was made for the movie “Eragon.”
After listening to the whole album Lavigne must have used a time machine to go back before her first album “Let Go.” This is the only reasonable explanation for her bratty teenager sound. Maybe Lavigne was hit too hard with the rejection of her 2004 album “Under My Skin” which was an endless amount of songs all about depression and anger. Now that Lavigne is married, shouldn’t she be reaching a more mature sound than vice versa?
Hopefully, Lavigne will eventually settle down, stop being unsuccessfully experimental, and return to her acoustic Canadian self. Still, her serious fans will still listen to her after this one.
One would expect Lavigne to go on a big U.S. tour to promote “The Best Damn Thing,” but instead Lavigne will do a world tour all summer.
So, what can I say but “Hey hey, you you, I don’t like your album.”
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