Avril Lavigne - Goodbye Lullaby, a review

It's fair to say I wasn't exactly enthusiastic about the prospect of a new Avril Lavigne album. There were a fair few cynics, of which I was one, of her new image - which seems to have cast aside her breakthrough girl-next-door-with-a-guitar niche in favour of corporate mainstream sluttitude. But enough of the visuals; the music declined pretty sharply too.

I don't think it's fair to deny that 'Girlfriend' was catchy, but nonetheless she seemed to have expired her best before date. There's then a brief glimmer of hope in the new album's opener 'Black Star', all twinkling pianos and soft delivery to ease you in. But don't be deceived, 'What The Hell' follows and you're probably familiar with it - all brash careless shtick and a rather unrelentingly catchy, if not obvious, pop tune. The lyrics are shockingly bad ('You say that I'm messing with your head, boy, I like messing in your bed') but it's a hell of a hook.

There are shades of guitar-balladry in 'Push' that rivals Taylor Swift's middle-of-the-road, cute abrasion, playing on pop clichés with worryingly easy effect. 'Wish You Were Here' continues with the obvious song titles theme (don't worry, there's more to come; there's even a 'Smile' and an 'I Love You') and could just as easily be passed off as a JoJo single. Aforementioned 'Smile' is...more of the same.



There's at least a change of pace in 'Stop Standing There' and embarrassingly sweet lyrics ("just show me who you are so I can show you who I am"...) that somehow work through dropping the false pretenses. Annoying gimmicky 'lalas' are coupled with nauseating "I like your ___" verses in 'I Love You' that even Twilight fans might roll their eyes at. The guitar chords from Take That's "Patience" are rather audaciously nicked for 'Everybody Hurts', accidentally benefiting from reminding me of a good song.

Taylor Swift is virtually introduced in 'Not Enough' where you'd be forgiven for bursting out with a "WE WERE BOTH YOUNG WHEN I FIRST SAW YOU". Nevertheless it's one of the album's more endearing tracks, less soppy romance and more of the vulnerability that was so enticing about stronger albums 'Let Go' and 'Under My Skin'. Even typing the song title '4 Real' makes my skin crawl, as a single man it's by now quite irritating, and things aren't helped with 'Darlin', which again reminds me of another song with its guitar chords...I just can't remember which. It's not particularly unique anyway.



'Remember When' at least puts away the guitar for a bit and in its place is a lovely piano. Ah. Other instruments. Thank you. It's one of the album's most earnest choruses and is probably the most effective in not boring me to tears. The vocals are noticeably different in 'Goodbye', proving that there was some talent in her to begin with...but she's just out of ideas. And then we end with 'Alice', 5 minutes of shrieking that I just, to be quite honest, don't want to sit through again.

That's the irritating thing. The majority of this album doesn't even have the audacity to be proactively bad - it's just track after track of predictable emo-girl-pop clichés and virtually every tune played across The Hits between 1998 and 2002. As a 'hater' (I even hate the term hater, I guess I must be one...) I can't speak for whether this is a career high or a dive, a bomb or a hot mess, a flop or a smash - it's just there and it does nothing for me.

To be a little more constructive - there's an overwhelming lack of variety here that you could almost file a complaint under false advertising. To come out with a single as brash as 'What The Hell' and then spend 50 minutes whining with a guitar is confusing indeed.

Rating: 2.5/10
Highlights: What The Hell, Not Enough, Remember When, Black Star
Avoid: Alice, 4 Real, I Love You