TamyXD
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Post by TamyXD on May 10, 2024 15:06:12 GMT
Okay, now that the tracklist is official, I have to admit I'm a little bit disappointed after all. Not a single new song. Meh. It's nice to see they seem to offer CDs, though. But unless it turns out the booklet has something special to offer (new photos, notes from Avril, etc.), I definitely won't buy this. It's just not worth it. I honestly feel like they approached this with a different target audience in mind. This GH is probably meant for casual listeners, and maybe new fans who are just starting to get into her and don't own any physical copies of her albums yet. But not us long-time fans. Which is sad to think about, because we're probably the main reason why she's still got a career at all. Adding just one new song could have been a nice acknowledgement of that. But alas, as so often, we seem to be getting the bare minimum. I'm not giving up hope for a UMS 20th Anniversary, though. I know chances keep getting smaller and smaller, but I just refuse to believe Avril and her team will completely ignore the album that produced one of her biggest hits to date (MHE) and has been considered a fan-favourite for years!
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TamyXD
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Post by TamyXD on May 9, 2024 22:30:17 GMT
My sister bought P!nk's "Greatest Hits... So Far!!!" on CD back then. IIRC, it had some sort of special design; the whole thing was more like a mini book. I thought this was all really well done, and I say that as someone who's never been more than just a casual P!nk listener. MCR's "May Death Never Stop You" has your standard kind of booklet, but there's a little background story for every song; you know, some details about the writing and/or recording process, stuff like that. Idk if they plan to release Avril's GH album on CD and/or vinyl, but that's definitely something they could still add, if they haven't already: a special design and/or a little bit of background information on each song, when/where they were written, what they mean to her, memories from the studio, etc. Not that I expect any of this, I'm just sharing ideas...
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TamyXD
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Post by TamyXD on May 9, 2024 21:54:06 GMT
Yeah, the lack of at least one new song (again, assuming the tracklist is real) is kind of a missed opportunity. I'm too lazy to check right now, but don't most other artists include at least one new song on their GH album? And sometimes even a few previously unreleased demos and/or b-sides? I've also seen artists add DVDs including all their music videos and/or behind the scenes footage of their music videos. I'm immediately thinking of P!nk's "Greatest Hits...So Far!!!" and My Chemical Romance's "May Death Never Stop You". Of course, DVDs aren't a thing anymore, but there are a lot of other things that could have been done instead. Anyway, I can't say I'm disappointed, though, because I hadn't expected a new song or any bonus material anyway. That's what I mean when I say "I've learned to expect the minimum from Avril". Because, unfortunately, we once again seem to have gotten just that: the bare minimum (compared to so many other artists).
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TamyXD
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Post by TamyXD on May 9, 2024 19:12:43 GMT
Just read that there is a greatest hits coming out on 21st June. No new songs. Here is the tracklist: Sk8er Boi Girlfriend What The Hell Complicated Don't Tell Me I'm A Mess (feat. YUNGBLUD) He Wasn't Losing Grip My Happy Ending Bite Me Nobody's Home I'm With You When You're Gone Bois Lie (feat. mgk) Smile Love It When You Hate Me (feat. blackbear) Rock N Roll Here's To Never Growing Up Keep Holding On Head Above Water I hope this tracklist isn't real. Goodbye Lullaby only have 1 song, where is Wish You Were Here? LIWYHM & Bois Lies are not even the greatest hit song. "Smile" and WTH are both on there. But I agree, WYWH should be on the tracklist, too.
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TamyXD
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Post by TamyXD on May 9, 2024 19:11:36 GMT
While I'm not interesting in a GH album at all, I do think the timing is great, what with the GH tour starting soon. If the tracklist is correct, I'm positively surprised they put "I'm A Mess" on it. And a bit confused as to what "Bois Lie" and LIWYHM are doing on there, but no WYWH or "Hot"? Then again, maybe she / her team want to try and push album sales for LS a bit more? And/or remind people that she still releases new music? (I feel like a lot of the general public still hasn't caught on to that.) As for the album cover (if it's the real one), it's AMAZING! Okay, the frog pose is indeed weird, but I can live with it, lol. I love these nods to all her previous eras you can spot, most notably the cover arts for "Complicated", "Losing Grip" and UMS. The guitar might be from TBDT era? The pink hue is also reminiscent of that era. Her pose is a bit reminiscent of GL imo. I really hope this cover art is real and not fan-made. I've no plans to buy this GH album, but I'm almost a little tempted to change my mind just because the cover art is so cool.
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TamyXD
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Post by TamyXD on May 8, 2024 21:01:13 GMT
I completely disagree. I think her voice suits rock-influenced music very well, much better than the more pop-influenced stuff, or the jazzy/soul stuff she did on HAW (which was still fine, but just not as good imo). She's definitely got some grit/roughness in her voice when she wants to, her use of vocal fry is fantastic (I wish she'd use it more often!), and her chest voice - which she seems to like to use pretty much all of the time - is one of the most powerful female ones in the pop-rock genre imo. The only issue is that she sometimes doesn't sound as passionate as I'm used to from other rock vocalists. But she definitely matches their power imo (at least since sometime around UMS/TBDT era).
I don’t want to derail the thread but I could give numerous examples of how she tried so hard to do rock songs in the past and her voice just wasn’t strong enough (her cover of Fuel for example, which fair enough, wasn’t her choice to do). She can do songs like Losing Grip or Ironic, but there are certain other rock songs she just doesn’t have the voice for. Contrast it with someone like Miley for instance, who rock comes easily to. Her versions of rock songs are just effortless. Avril’s strong suit with her voice is chest, as you mentioned, and she’s got a powerful voice with a nice tone, but her voice has no grit or texture. It’s frankly, for lack of a better word, “too pretty” for rock. Meanwhile when she sang that Shania Twain song or BICO her voice was just effortless on those songs. The same people who comment that she doesn’t sound good singing country or jazz are the same people who say they want her to stick to rock and it’s basically the only genre of music they like. There’s a definite correlation between people who think she sounds good singing rock and people who hate the idea of her going to another genre simply because they don’t like it. I agree, her cover of "Fuel" was awful, but as I mentioned, I think her voice didn't really get strong enough for rock-influenced music until UMS/TBDT era. From that point onwards, I could give plenty of examples of how well her voice suits rock-influenced music.
And yes, I'm one of those people that LOVE rock music. But I don't actually want her to stay in exactly the box that she's currently in. I might like rock music, but I don't actually like pop-punk that much. I wish she'd just ditch most of the pop elements and focus more on rock elements; or go in a completely different direction and make more acoustic-driven music, like "Darlin", "Tomorrow", "Things I'll Never Say", which I think suits her voice as well.
Incidentally, "The same people who comment that she doesn’t sound good singing country or jazz are the same people who say they want her to stick to rock [...]", I could take that exact same statement and turn it around; that the same people that say her voice suits country or jazz best are also the ones that love that type of music and therefore would like to see her make music in that genre.
I guess in the end we'll just have to agree to disagree. 🤷♀️ I also hope this doesn't come across as me not respecting different opinions. I actually find it super interesting how the very same thing can be perceived so differently.
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TamyXD
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Post by TamyXD on May 8, 2024 20:44:27 GMT
As a european, i agree that going full country would be a little bit....uhm, how do i say it? career murderer. I literally don't know any european that listens to country music apart from some christian moms that like this country-christian acoustic style since a lot of old christian songs come from America and they obviously have some country influence but young people?? nah... Even myself, the most country thing i listen to, is a band called NeedToBreathe, which is considered to be country but even they mix genres with rock and pop and more modern sounds. If it's something similar to old Taylor Swift maybe it could work for Avril, but i would rather see her doing more acoustic and indie songs or even going full pop rather than country, sorry :') I'm from Germany and afaik country music isn't popular here at all. Sure, people know Johnny Cash, John Denver, Dolly Parton - these kind of legends. But that's about it. Even Taylor Swift didn't become famous here until after she switched to pop music. Before that, nobody here even knew she existed (unless they watched that "Hannah Montana" movie from 2009, lol). And those country artists that are so popular in the US right now - I don't think they're even in the top 100. Country music just isn't really thing here.
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TamyXD
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Post by TamyXD on May 8, 2024 20:31:57 GMT
I’ll never get why fans want her to stay in a box and never leave pop/rock/punk. That might be what she’s known for but she can do so much more. I’d argue country and jazz music actually suit her voice so much more. She can’t pull off heavy rock songs, her voice doesn’t have any grit or roughness to it. I honestly think some fans just want her to stay there because it’s the only genre of music they like, not because she’s actually good at the genre. She’s fine at it, but when you listen to her sing country or jazz songs her voice is surprisingly well suited for those genres. I think it’d also help her mature lyrically at this point as well and keep her music from sounding stale. She might even widen her audience. I completely disagree. I think her voice suits rock-influenced music very well, much better than the more pop-influenced stuff, or the jazzy/soul stuff she did on HAW (which was still fine, but just not as good imo). She's definitely got some grit/roughness in her voice when she wants to, her use of vocal fry is fantastic (I wish she'd use it more often!), and her chest voice - which she seems to like to use pretty much all of the time - is one of the most powerful female ones in the pop-rock genre imo. The only issue is that she sometimes doesn't sound as passionate as I'm used to from other rock vocalists. But she definitely matches their power imo (at least since sometime around UMS/TBDT era).
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TamyXD
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Post by TamyXD on May 8, 2024 1:51:36 GMT
Glad to see we finally got some exciting news.
Unfortunately for me, I really don't like country, ESPECIALLY country rock. Like @biggerwow said, it sounds like dad rock. Nothing wrong with that per se, but it's just not at all my cup of tea. I think I'd rather have her do just straight-up country music than country rock.
I hope whatever they'll perform at this event will just be her joining Nate for one or a few of his songs, or that they have a collab together where he's the main artist and it's for his album.
If she truly does end up going in more of a country direction in the future, though, I really, really hope it'll be more folk than country. "Darlin" and "Things I'll Never Say" are great songs, I wouldn't mind her putting out more stuff in that vein. Just please no country rock.
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Post by TamyXD on May 1, 2024 18:46:37 GMT
I hadn't expected new merch to drop. Honestly, I almost kinda forgot she has a merch store, lol.
The new pieces are pretty cool. I don't feel the need to buy any of them now, but teen me would have loved to own almost all of these items. I think it's really cool that they offer these "Sk8er Boi" and GF looks (and quite clever marketing, too ).
I actually just browsed the entire merch section, and I'm surprised by how many items there are. There are even some from HAW era, some with Abbey Dawn logos, and some I'd never seen before! The site seems to be pretty slow, though, and the neon colours, while kind of cool-looking, are a sensory nightmare. It's also a shame that all this merch is so damn expensive, and that's without shipping. But that seems to be the case with merch overall, unfortunately.
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TamyXD
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Post by TamyXD on May 1, 2024 18:07:30 GMT
I only listened to the remastered version of LG once or twice, but most of the remasters I didn't like. There were only two or three songs that I actually thought sounded better compared to the 2002 version (though this might also be because I'm so used to the original version). I still wouldn't mind a remastered version of UMS, just out of curiosity. But bonus tracks / previously unreleased songs would be better, of course. Btw, isn't the LG remaster more like a remix? AFAIK, mastering includes only smallest details, like removing some audible breathing. But for the LG anniversary edition, they did much more than that. Tey actually placed a lot of the instruments somewhere else in the mix, e.g. putting some of the percussion in "Mobile" much more in the foreground, making them a lot more audible. Isn't that what mixing is all about? So, isn't the LG anniversary edition a remix?
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Post by TamyXD on Apr 25, 2024 17:56:07 GMT
What I would LOVE to see from Avril is more behind the scenes clips of the actual songwriting and recording process, like she did for "I'm A Mess". I love learning how a song actually comes to life, how it starts out sounding like x and ends up sounding like y, learning about the thought processes of the songwriters, hearing vocals and other instruments being recorded, maybe even noticing things you don't really hear in the end product 'cause it's so low in the mix (like harmonies, backing vocals, a hidden guitar riff).
Green Day have been posting such Making Of videos, too, since their newest album released in January. They've been posting one or two such videos each month. It's a great way to keep fans engaged and interested. I mean, their album "Saviors" has been out for three months now, but every time one of those Making Of videos is released, it gets me excited to go back to the album (or at least that one song).
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Post by TamyXD on Apr 23, 2024 1:41:02 GMT
Yeah, I still feel jaded by years of "s**n" myself. That definitely plays a big part in my expectations always being so low now. The eras of "s**n" were just really hard, especially since I was such a hardcore fan back then and she was the only artist I really loved and actively followed.
I guess that's also why I haven't truly longed for new music in a while tbh. Even prior to LS, I was kind of like "yeah, I'll take new music if I get it, but if I have to wait longer that's also fine." I'm in this state right now, too. Of course it would be nice to get new music, and the timing would be perfect now, or within the next four weeks. But I've been let down far too often in the past, so I don't actually expect anything.
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Post by TamyXD on Apr 23, 2024 1:04:02 GMT
I wouldn't really count "Bite Me" as a surprise-drop. Like I said, MCR released a song without any hints whatsoever prior to its release. No teasing, no nothing. The song was just suddenly there. I'd love to see Avril do that, too, some day. And now would be the perfect opportunity imo.
I also wasn't talking about Taylor at all? There are tons of other artists besides her, that don't do so much that people start feeling burned out, but they still do a lot more than Avril. And I'm not just talking about releasing music. I'm also talking about touring, communication, songwriting... There are a lot of things Avril and her team could improve upon. And I think releasing a new song prior to the start of the tour would be a really good start. I honestly feel that it's what every other artist would do.
However, I didn't actually mean for this conversation to go in the "Avril tends to do the bare minimum" kind of way (though, feel free to discuss, of course!). My intention was actually do maybe bring a bit more life back into this thread, and to maybe talk about potential new music.
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Post by TamyXD on Apr 22, 2024 23:41:00 GMT
Hi everyone! I haven't been online in a bit, but I'm not surprised to see no news. Still, with the beginning of the tour only one month away, I'm starting to wonder (again) if it's possible we might get new music before then? Personally, since it's Avril, I honestly have quite low expectations. I hate to say it, but over all these years, I've learned to expect nothing but the bare minimum from her. Not that she doesn't ever give us more than that, but tbh, most of the time, it feels like the bare minimum is indeed what we get. Anyway, despite my hopes being extremely low, I still think it would be such a missed opportunity! Imo she really ought to do something like what MCR did before they started their reunion tour back in 2022. They released a new song just a few days prior to the start of the tour. It was a complete surprise; afaik, nobody had any clue whatsoever they'd release a song. It was just there all of a sudden. They then proceeded to open every single show of the entire tour with that new song. If Avril could do the same thing - just surprise-drop a new song shortly before the start of the tour and then have that song be part of the setlist for every single show - I feel like that would make perfect sense. It would create a lot more hype around the tour, we fans would obviously be very happy, and it could also serve as a perfect transition to the next "proper" era / AL8 era. Since she's going to perform at a lot of festivals, it would make people aware of the fact that she's not just here as a nostalgia artist, but that she still releases new music, which could then lead to increased streaming numbers on Spotify, Apple Music etc. And, on a personal note, it would make a nice late birthday present (my birthday is in early May). Btw, maybe I'm misremembering, but has Avril never actually surprise-dropped a song? I feel like within the last 10-ish years, almost every popular/well-known artist has done this at least once, except for Avril.
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