The Ultimate Avril Lavigne Rating 2022 - [Results]

Here’s my little ramble on why I think UMS songs/videos/the album as a whole are always so popular..

I’ve been a fan since the Let Go era. LG was great, it was iconic, she was iconic and it’s my favourite album from her and I consider it by far her best.

But UMS just hits me straight in the nostalgia. It’s the kind of music we all wanted (and mostly still want) from her - solid 10/10 pop rock with fairly mature themes. She did upbeat without being bratty (hello Who Knows and Freak Out). The videos were flawless - I’ve just watched them all on YouTube and now I want to go back and watch them again. The single choices were FLAWLESS. The Bonez tour was her best. Her look evolved - every outfit was on point and the black and blonde hair was perfect. She went from being the tomboy with greasy hair (lol) to someone every girl wanted to be and every guy fancied. It was the first era a real fanbase kicked in - everyone loved LG but she was a new artist, UMS was the first time we all got the excitement of the buildup to a new album and followed it from start to finish. She was absolutely everywhere - every magazine, every TV show.

The UMS era was all round special and we’ll never get one like that again. It’s impossible to do these ratings on quality alone, so much more comes into it. Are the songs on UMS 12 of her best ever songs? Probably not. Do they bring something no other era (other than maybe LG) can? Absolutely.

Wonderful post and analysis, Katy!

I actually think the music on UMS is some of her best. The dramatic composition in songs like Together, Forgotten and Take Me Away is something of beauty. The production is super strong all across the board. Even a song like How Does It Feel, which some may consider boring, has some of the most beautifully layered outros of her entire catalog imo (those "ah ah ahs" at the end always get me). The upbeat songs don't feel childish or bratty like you said. And even though the lyrics are simple, they feel real and authentic and I like the fact that she covered a variety of themes.

And you're right, the era itself was amazing. It was the evolution we all wanted to see in her career at the time. It made sense. Plus, she became a much better performer during that time. Her vocals improved drastically from the previous era, she was playing instruments on almost every song and really stepping up her game in every aspect of her career, which was really exciting to watch.

True.Forgotton is an underrated gem and I also love the fact that since 2005,she has played drums on almost every tour(except The BlackStar Tour in 2011) and she brought out Tom Delonge on Tour as well in Brazil to sing 'All The Smalls Things' by Blink 182.She performed 'Forgotten' LIVE in Japan and it was a fantastic performance and then the 'Unwanted' performance in Japan was a killer performance.Avril Lavigne has had great vocals since 2005,but they really started to shine in 2010-present,especially the self titled album Avril Lavigne Tour from 2013 and BlackStar Tour in 2011 was great too.Head Above Water Tour in 2019 and now Bite Me/Love Sux Tour this year in 2022.

I understand, but after a decade of hearing people whine, i just find that album extremely overrated. There's nothing THAT special about it, the lyrics aren't strong, her vocals are nothing special... People just miss this type of sound from her, which is fine, but they look at it with no objectivity. I also don't think Avril would have remained as popular if she continued doing these sort of songs, even if she probably would have been more respected as an artist.