Avril Lavigne

When this album was released I was in my "fangirl" phase. I loved everything Avril did then, so of course I also loved AL. I considered it her best album since UMS. But that didn't last long...

Usually, when I buy a new record, I take a lot of time to enjoy it. It can easily happen that I'll listen to that newly purchased album for 4 months straight and hardly anything else during that time. The time I spent listening to AL, however... it wasn't even a month and I was already craving for new music.

By now I can easily say that AL is my least favourite of her albums. I can't find a single song on it that I can call a favourite. There are songs that I like, but even those songs have flaws. E.g. GYWYL would have been much better if there had been some kind of highlight. "Bad Girl" (I know loads of people don't like it, but I like it a lot) suffers from boring fake drums - the worst that can happen to a song that's supposed to be rock. YASNY and "Hello Heartache" suffer from this weird accent Avril uses. It's so annoying; who the fuck told her to sing like that? I really hope she won't ever do it again.

And that's talking about the good songs. The bad songs on AL are just... bad. The production is so awful. Everything sounds so fake and plastic and forced. That rap in "Bitchin' Summer" is the worst thing I've ever heard; Avril's voice sounds like a computer's. The harmonies sound pretty weird too, also kinda computer-ish. And those gang vocals in all the upbeat songs are pretty annoying too. The lyrics... well, I like that they're more creative than on GL, but that doesn't always mean something good. Some of these lyrics sound so un-Avril-ish to me. I could be completely wrong, of course - maybe the lyrics that I think of were actually written by Avril. But my impression is just that too often other people had much more influence in the songwriting than Avril did.

Overall, it just feels as though this album has been created with hardly any passion. Heck, they couldn't even bother to find a decent name for the record. And Avril was/is obviously very unhappy with it too. Her thanks in the booklet seem to stop in midsentence, most of her performances during that era were kinda lazy (even long before she got ill)... That era was just a complete mess, just like the album.

rock n roll is still my jam

I've come to realize I actually love this record. It could've been soo much better (quite easily) but it's still good. I love Rock'N'Roll. Actually I find the instrumental amazing and when the song stops I always wish it would continue just like in the video, it really adds something to the song. GWYWYL is one of my all-time favorite Avril song. Hello Heartache is very very cool with the choir thing, it kind of became a huge thing afterwards (Take me to church). I definitely wanna hear more of that sound.

I think Hello Heartache and Hush Hush aren't as good as people make them out to be. They're just generic, vague break up songs to me. They have nice moments but they aren't that catchy or emotional and I feel like people wouldn't pay attention to them as much if they were on her other albums. I feel a little the same about GYWYL except that has a more interesting subject matter. None of them are enjoyable to listen to often though, at least for me.

I think I'm honestly one of the few people who loves YASNY and it's my favorite from the album. The production, especially on her vocals, could have definitely been better, but I'm willing to look past it because in general I think it's one of her best self-written songs. It could have easily fit in on TBDT.

The songs from AL that I find to be overrated would be like LMG, I love the instrumental and her vocals at the end (that outro part), but I don't like Chad on it and I don't think the lyrics are that good, it's kind of repetitive and it sounds like a Nickelback reject. It's just kind of a blah, nothing special song for me. I also think GYWYL is highly overrated, IMO it's boring. It doesn't go anywhere, like there is no build up in the bridge like most songs have. It just flatlines the whole way through and there is never any climax or anything. The only thing that's special about it is that it's a very different style of song for her and her vocals sound good on it.

I don't care for Bad Girl much. I hate the lyrics and subject matter. The general melody of the song is good, that's about it.

I'm in the minority opinion where I love Bitchin' Summer, YASNY, and SOS. I don't mind them, even if SOS does have some bad production.

HTNGU is probably one of the songs from AL I like the least. It's just so generic and far too autotuned. Horrible production. Worst lyrics ever. This song should never have seen the light of day, let alone been the lead single. I remember feeling so disappointed when I heard it. After awhile you kind of start to like it because it's catchy, but I don't even remember the last time I listened to it. I honestly prefer RNR to HTNGU, if I had to choose between them.

I do like Hello Heartache and Hush Hush. I think Hello Heartache would have made a better lead single, as it sounds more current but is more mature. It has decent lyrics too. I used to not like Hush Hush but the more I listened to it, the more it grew on me. It's a nice ballad and quiet way to close the album. I think as an adult I've found myself liking more "quiet" songs and midtempo songs as opposed to the aggressive, heavy, obnoxious and loud music that was ultra pop that I used to like. I still like that kind of music, but sometimes I just want something quiet and chill. Like if I'm tired in the morning driving to work or something, or tired driving home. It must be the adult in me lol

I really like it now. It's a great mix of happy songs and sad songs.
It really shaped 2013/2014 for me when I look back.
September 2013 - February 2014 there were the sad songs and from March - September 2014 there were the happy songs.