Let Go by Avril Lavigne

After writing that Eminem song, I should probably do this just to prove I'm still sane.

My parents tell me that I was writing my name by the age of 2. I sometimes wonder if that's not a sign that I was meant to be a writer. It's kind of the same thing with Avril Lavigne; her singing talent emerged all the way back when she was 2! And now at the age of 17, she's poised to dethrone Eminem from his #1 spot on our local radio station's Top Nine at Nine. Wish I could.

Sex is not the only thing we're doing at increasingly younger ages now, is it? Avril is 17 and rockin' with the rest of them and the best of them. Just check out her picture on the cover. Her standing pose with the slanted legs brings to mind those little doll images you see all over the internet. (I dare you to try to search for a place to make those without using the word "doll".) She is rugged, but independent. Vulnerable, but tough. And her music is... anything but ordinary.

Got to admit, this stuff had to grow on me. There were moments on that first listen when it sounded like she was singing an entirely different song than what the band was playing. Not since Natalie Imbruglia's Left of the Middle had I found myself so intimidated.

"I'm With You" started out like that, and is now my favorite song of the entire set. When this song gets in your head, it doesn't go away. Avril's voice is startling. That a 17-year old girl can sing like this is proof in itself that beauty knows no boundary. Once you warm up to this song, it'll be your friend for life. It's a damn cold night, trying to figure out this life; Won't you take me by the hand, take me somewhere now; I don't know who you are but I'm with you. So maybe she's meeting a cyber-boyfriend? Whatever it is, she sings the living hell out of that last minute and it sounds fandamntabulous!

On a side note, I'm not a grammar cop or anything, but one of the handwritten lyrics for this song in the liner says And knowone likes to be alone. Maybe she did it on purpose, I don't know. There is also a point in the thank you notes where she says this CD would not of been made. But I'll just shut up.

My instinct tells me that "Complicated", the song responsible for all this hulabaloo in the first place, would work so much better if they had sped it up a little bit. But on second thought, the thing that makes it sound so fresh and original is that they kept it as slow as they did.

Just so you don't get confused, if you work at a grocery store or somewhere that plays Muzak, the "Complicated" country sounding song that they play on there is NOT Avril Lavigne, it just happens to have the same title. They almost had me that time, those fartknockers. They're ALWAYS doing that. (They still haven't gotten over "I Hope You Dance" for crying out loud, I've heard that the last 13 days straight now and I only work a 7-hour shift!)

Now what was I saying? I was saying that if they had even tried speeding that single up, Avril would have been lumped into the Spears set right away. This song keeps its melody on the back burner, but it actually is catchy. While the music in, say, Michelle Branch's "All You Wanted" surrounds you and literally pushes itself onto you, here in "Complicated" the melody is more toyed around with as it is played. Although I am partial toward the former, "Complicated" is one of those songs that helps me to see that the latter works too. It's a song about fakers, and it works. Lemme tell you, if you think "Complicated" rocks, that isn't even the half of it.

The rocking guitars of Let Go completely fill every last orifice of your speakers on a song such as "Mobile". It is an extravagant pop/rock song, leaving itself enough leeway to work as an acoustic song too. It is closer to Branch with its "thick" wall of melody in the chorus, so it's an instant favorite for me. The chorus is easily relatable. Everything's changin' when I turn around, all out of my control, I'm a mobile; Everything's changing everywhere I go, out of my control, I'm a mobile. I'm starting to REALLY REALLY like this song!!! Dayum!

I guess I should backtrack and share my thoughts on "Sk8er Boi", huh? Well this one sure surprised me. One word: skapunk. Now that I think about it, this is a lot more punk than ska. The words tell a story about this guy who gets stood up by his girl, only to wind up on MTV and there she is in the audience, begging for his return. But now he's got a new girlfriend, and guess who it is!

Well I can't hear this song without seeing the guy on "Clueless" in my head. And I almost never use the word "boy" or any of its variations to refer to a guy 15 or older, so... basically all this song says to me is that she's not single. So phooey. But the "Yeah, yeah, yeah" that she does in the background over the last chorus is really cute; pretty much she does it the same way that the rappers go "Yo, yo, yo", saying the word 1/4 of a beat before the drum hits (even though technically, the last rap song that actually had real drums AND was over 120 beats a minute was "You Can't Touch This"...)

"Unwanted" boasts all the bubbly verse and rockin' chorusness of Natalie Imbruglia's "Big Mistake". The attitude of assertively brushing off an old boyfriend is prevalent here, but Avril pulls it off without even coming close to screaming. She spits the words out with more conviction than you'll ever hear out of ...well, a lot of other girls. Reminds me of Pink in a way. Pink has a tendency to sing her words in that conversational way (Don't Let Me Get Me), as though any second you would expect her to suddenly break out and just start talking all of a sudden. Avril is much the same way, except for the moments when she gets really p!ssed off.

On a song such as "Tomorrow", Avril slows down enough to show that she's got some MacLachlan in her too. Although this is not exactly one of my favorites (it is to Let Go what "Bulletproof" is to The Bends), it is a nice cut from the action and overall a relaxing tune.

Tracks 8 through 10 are a trio of pop tunes that diverge slightly from the rock formula (if you can call it a formula) that dictated the first half. "Anything But Ordinary" is an obvious candidate for a future single. Sometimes I get so weird, I freak myself out; I laugh myself to sleep, it's my lullaby; sometimes I drive so fast just to feel the danger, I want to scream, it makes me feel alive. The song rides on a great beat and a surprisingly plain but playful melody. I can't say I've heard any other song that sounds quite like it.

"Things I'll Never Say" shows that Avril can even go so far as to pull off quick and sudden falsetto notes and trick almost anyone into thinking she was Dolores O'Riordan of the Cranberries. I'm just glad she's not saying what it sounds like she's saying at the beginning. It's actually just da dada dada, but sometimes it sounds like Doctor, doctor. Thankfully she doesn't resort to such a cliche. Basically, aside from being another great catchy pop tune, it is a song about all the things she'll never say to the guy she loves. You know, marry me today and things like that. If you're reading, Avril, don't throw it all away too soon!

"My World" completes the trio, telling all about Avril's life growing up, beating up the boys and making money by mowing lawns. This is the first song that actually sounds vaguely familiar. The deluge of words leading into my world reminds me of this country song called "Frantic". Not that anyone besides me will ever hear both songs (I only know about "Frantic" cos I hear it at the movies). This song has a rockier feel than the first two but still has kind of a pop structure to it. At any rate, by the time you get to this song, the poppy thing is starting to get repetitive.

That is why Avril has to take a stab at rap on "Nobody's Fool". Again, the melody is mostly a pop tune played in a more rock manner, with the exception of the two rap verses. She's basically saying hey, nobody can change me so don't even try. As far as her rapping... well, it sounds a little different since she's not lowering the pitch of her voice between the beginning and end of every single word. Sounds more like she's just reading it off a sheet of paper. They should have sped this song up quite a bit, because it really drags along. And her high notes at the end of the song sound nothing like the ones she hits on "I'm With You". So it may be because she was tired on this one, or it might be that she was processed on the other song.

Before I wind up having to pay the rent for two reviews' space here, I'll just say that besides what I mention here, there are two nice and slow post-breakup songs and a "facing the day" type that closes things out. "Losing Grip" which is actually the first track, seriously has to grow on you. And it is very loud. "Too Much To Ask" is an emotional and well-produced piece of rock that insinuates all guys are the same. Don't hate Avril 'cause she has balls! "Naked" might grab your attention with the opening lines, I wake up in the morning, put on my face, the one that's gonna get me through another day; Doesn't really matter how I feel inside. Then of course, she meets that one guy and it all instinctively comes out. It's a deceptively melancholy song that actually celebrates the release that comes with being around someone with whom you feel you can share anything.

If this album were a lottery ticket, it wouldn't quite match all six numbers, but it definitely would not lose, nor would it be a $2.00 winner. It's worth the $9.99 I got it for at Best Buy. I would've paid $19.99 for it. With all the different styles, it spreads itself a little thin, but the rock songs are definitely on the thicker side, and as a rock CD, Let Go shows some serious promise and owes its success to much more than beginner's luck. Just wait till she's 21.

Great Music To Play While: (Depends on which song!)

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http://www.flamepillar.com/Epinions.html

Have a fabulous day, my friends...