Under My Skin

I think it's because a lot of her fans are partial to rock music and that's the closest thing she's made to a rock album. I think that fans are also more partial to her music that is dark or serious. While nobody ever mentions this, I personally think a lot of people's attachment to this album is more to do with the memories they have listening to it in their childhoods. That's a large reason why I love LG.

My happy ending and Don't Tell Me are great.

All those things would apply to me, no doubt. In general, I'm a pop-rock guy, but leaning more to the rock side of it. I also prefer more dark/serious music, not only with Avril, but in general. And of course, since it's my favourite album ever and have some good memories around it, I'm very attached to it; not in my childhood since I was already in my 20s when it was released, but still. 

Pros:
- The production on this album is very solid. Really good mixture of instruments. It all sounds very cohesive
- Probably one of her best albums vocally
- Avril was more involved with the writing and production aspects of the album than Let Go
- She wrote all of the lyrics to 4 songs on her own
- I like the dark vibe of the album and the dark album artwork
- Good album for when you're feeling angry


Cons:
- A little bit too "same-y" for me
- I find a lot of the lyrics to be uncreative and unoriginal
- It's not an album I find myself wanting to listen to in its entirety often, it's too much of a downer and kind of negative album for me to want to listen to the whole thing a lot



Overall I like the album more than I used to. I still think it's kind of overrated by fans, but it's a good, solid album. It's probably my third favorite. I think it's very well produced, but the songwriting generally leaves a lot to be desired IMO. I like her self-written songs though. If it had more upbeat songs to balance it out like Take It, IAGWIW, etc. I would probably like this album a bit more. 4/5

You couldn't say it any better!! And IAGWIW I also dislike. Don't know what it is about that songs tho but to me after Slipped Away the album is finished
Great album!

UMS is either my favourite or second favourite album of Avril's (it keeps changing).

The production of this album is simply fantastic. The instruments sound great, as does Avril's voice most of the time. Her voice isn't perfect... for example, the deep notes in the verses of "Fall To Pieces" seem to have caused her some difficulty. But I can ignore that. Perfection is imperfection.

I also really like the dark vibe of this album because I just generally prefer dark and serious music.

But I wouldn't really say I like UMS because it's so rock. I do like rock, yes, but I definitely prefer the kind of rock that's aggressive and that you can headbang to. UMS isn't really that for me. It's more some kind of "almost rock".

Anyway, the only negative thing about UMS are the lyrics. They're rather weak most of the time. But I can ignore that too because despite the weak lyrics there's such emotion there. E.g. "Slipped Away" is quite poorly written (I hate to say this because I know this song must mean very much to Avril). But Avril still manages to sing it with so much emotion that I can totally forgive those weak lyrics.

So, yeah, UMS is a great record; I can totally understand why it's a fan-favourite. I wouldn't like her to make an UMS 2.0, though. Firstly because I think 2.0's are always a mistake. Secondly because I think some mix of LG and GL style fits Avril better. And thirdly, I need at least one favourite artist who doesn't make aggressive music but rather something more calm and relaxing.