General Avril Album Discussion

My updated ranking:

1. Goodbye Lullaby
2. Under My Skin
3. Head Above Water
4. The Best Damn Thing
5. Let Go
6. Avril Lavigne

1. The Best Damn Thing
2. Let Go
3. Goodbye Lullaby
4. Under My Skin
5. Avril Lavigne
6. Head Above Water

Most of the albums change rank from time to time, although this is my current ranking.

So this never really occurred to me until now, but I think all of Avril's albums have certain parallels with each other. Whether or not it was done intentionally, I don't know, but I think it is interesting to think about.

Let Go and Avril Lavigne both contain a wide variety of songs. They coincidentally both contain 13 tracks, which I believe they actually did intentionally with AL to coincide with LG. There is even a song on AL called "17" that references the age she was during LG. The HTNGU video clearly featured her old Complicated-era outfit as a callback to that era. She worked with LA Reid on both albums. The fact that AL is titled after herself was kind of supposed to represent her going back to her roots and that the songs showcase who she is as an artist. She had also been in the music business officially for about 10 years by this point. But there are differences between these albums in the sense that LG was executed far better than AL. Despite the fact they both include a wide variety of different sounds, LG still manages to sound cohesive while AL doesn't. Nothing about the AL album or era really made sense or went the way it was supposed to. I have the feeling AL was meant to represent Avril going back to her roots, but it didn't really turn out that way. It is the general fan consensus that AL is her worst album, while LG was very iconic in her career.

UMS and TBDT are sonically similar. Both contain heavy guitars and drums. They're both very loud and in your face, but in different ways. UMS is a breakup album, while TBDT is bratty and upbeat. Image-wise, she was clearly heavily influenced by Hot Topic emo scene kid type clothing, but obviously UMS was more "gothic" while TBDT more "girly punk/scene." UMS was about a breakup. Even though TBDT contains a lot of breakup songs as well, in real life she was happily married. Both these records represented Avril at the peak of her career. She also got to take more creative control on both these albums.

Finally, GL and HAW are both more stripped down, raw albums about going through difficult situations and coming out on the other side. They are both about strength. But like LG and AL, I think HAW was better executed than GL. HAW is what GL wanted to be, but just slightly missed the mark. HAW has more variety of songs and tells a story the whole way through, while GL is a bit monotonous and some of the songs kind of sound the same or are unimaginative with the lyrics. On HAW I think she tried to step up the lyric/songwriting. On both albums she tried some new things, like writing and producing on her own. With GL she was coming out of a divorce, while HAW she obviously had just gone through Lyme. Making these albums was like a big step for her and she had to allow herself to be vulnerable in telling her story. They are both very focused on vocals, instruments, and songwriting, rather than big productions. They also both coincidentally took the longest of any of her albums to make. She spent about 2.5 years working on GL due to divorce and label issues, while she spent about 3 years writing HAW because of Lyme, new label, and just taking her time to perfect everything.

Now I wonder with what we know so far about AL7, if we are going to get something sort of like TBDT again, but like a mature version. She mentioned she wants to write something fun again and use guitars and drums again. But instead of going for a pop punk sound like TBDT, she's being influenced by country rock. 

LG
UMS
HAW
TBDT



AL









GL

My ranks for tonight:

UMS
TBDT
GL

LG

AL



HAW

What other leftover songs did make it to her future albums? I know some of them. Can you pls mention others or correct me if I mistakenly included here in the list:

Don't Tell Me (From LG to UMS)
Everything Back But You (From UMS to TBDT)
Darlin' (From LG to GL)
Everybody Hurts (from UMS to GL)
Hello Heartache (From GL to AL)


Failed attemps:
Fine (from LG to GL)
Candy (from GL to AL)
Gone (From GL to AL)