In 1991, it was that Bryan Adams Robin Hood song. In 1997, it was Celine Dion's Titanic song. And in 2002, the song -- that song which radio stations clutch onto for dear life and seemingly keep in rotation for airplay every fifteen minutes -- is "Complicated" by Avril Lavigne. It's been pumped into my eardrums so much, I could probably perform it from memory. But how's the rest of the album?
Let Go is Lavigne's debut effort, which I suppose is a given since she is but a scant seventeen years old. With a pouty expression, mascara-fied eyes and relatively long hair, I suppose we're meant to regard her as a young Alanis Morissette or something. It's a fair comparison, I suppose, but Lavigne's music is a little less angst-ridden and a little more upbeat. Oh sure, there are the necessary woe-is-me subject matter that permeates every album from a female solo artist from the past ten years, but underneath there is a creative voice waiting to mature, and this effort intimates favourably for her future endeavours.
The album opens with a wailer, or perhaps a whiner, called "Losing Grip". It's got intensity but not enough catchiness for a pop anti-princess. Of course, the hits "Complicated" and "Sk8er Boy" follow in succession. If you're completely numb to the former, the latter may prove a pleasant surprise, with lyrics that are quirky enough to qualify as tolerable. Other tracks of note include "Nobody's Fool", "Anything But Ordinary", and "Mobile", but all the songs could (and probably will) pass as potential hit singles down the road.
Lavigne is from the small town of Napanee, Ontario, which has a population of 5,000. I have included this piece of information because every bio or article seems obliged to mention this completely irrelevant factoid. At least she knows how to play the guitar (by herself!) and is an aspiring lyricist. With Britney and Christina appearing to have run their course as chart dominatrixes, perhaps Lavigne's emergence was inevitable. The executives at her record label must be foaming at the mouth with this current changing of the guard, and, for the most part, I have no notable objections.
