We'd like to thank the Music-Critic.ca for allowing us to feature this review of Avril Lavigne's album 'Under My Skin' on our site.
A couple of years ago, Avril Lavigne exploded from cute little girl trashing the mall into international superstar in a matter of months. Her debut CD, "Let Go", sold in excess of 5 million copies, partly due to her being tagged the "anti- Britney", a term that Lavigne clearly hated from day one. After the whirlwind died down, she faced the monumental task of releasing her sophomore album, which she now has in the form of "Under My Skin". "Under My Skin" is a surprisingly competent follow-up, which will certainly ensure further success for Lavigne, and it is different enough from "Let Go" that it appears that Lavigne has some long term possibilities for her career. One huge detraction from the album is the plethora of co-written songs; only 3 of the 12 songs are written solely by Lavigne and her touring guitarist Evan Taubenfeld. Co-writers on the rest of the album include Butch Walker, former Evanescence collaborator Ben Moody (who provides easily the worst track), and fellow Canadian songstress Chantal Kreviazuk. Kreviazuk clearly is the main collaborator on the album, and the songs that she helps with are way too influenced by her sound, as can be said for all of the co-written songs. Lavigne and Taubenfeld’s three songs are probably the three best on the album. Hopefully somebody will recognize that and turn the reigns over for the next album.
Perhaps the most telling thing about the songs that Lavigne writes herself is that they are the heaviest songs on the album. Lavigne made it very clear in her interviews during the "Let Go" phenomenon that she is not a pop star, she is a rock star. On the opening "Take Me Away", Lavigne does her best Amy Lee impression, with pretty good results. Lavigne also penned the first single "Don’t Tell Me". Nevermind the overly cheesy music video (complete with dubbed-in shattering glass sound), this is a solid song. And the fact that the label chose it to be the first single proves Lavigne’s worth not only as a songwriter, but as a hit-writer as well. However, the contradictions in this song are an encapsulation of Lavigne’s image up to this point. While Lavigne is pushing to be a grown-up songwriter, her music label clearly still wants her to appeal to a very young crowd. In a somewhat comedic moment, Lavigne sings about a guy getting into her pants, and in the very next line the word ‘ass’ is transcribed in the liner notes as ‘a**’. This may not seem like such a big deal, but it comes across as a kind of mixed message.
Unfortunately, while the album shows tons of potential for Lavigne in the future, it is far too dominated by people that aren’t Avril Lavigne. In preparation for this album she dumped writing team the Matrix, likely because she didn’t feel her voice was coming through in the songs. This album suffers the same fate. With that said, "Under My Skin" is a lot closer to the album that Lavigne wanted to make the first time; dark, brooding, and introspective. There aren’t any songs that will be as huge and complicated or catchy as "Sk8er Boi", but "Under My Skin" is far more consistent. Lavigne has ensured herself some career longevity with this effort, and hopefully she’ll realize just how good she is on her next album.
by Nathan Atnikov, Music-Critic.ca