[demonrail666]

Originally Posted by Dr. Eugene Felikson

Yeah, her hooks are great and I kinda get what you mean now (although Alanis has great hooks too). Even a somewhat boring track like 'Too Much to Ask' is absolutely SAVED by the chorus. But even the magic in that hook is in those Alanis-esque high-notes. She's always been a HUGE Morisette fan. Not sure if you were aware of that or not, but it's neat you made the comparison between the two.

That's how I feel about 'Smile': an ok song saved by a stellar chorus, while What the Hell just pounds you from start to finish. I didn't know she was a big Alanis fan, but it obviously makes total sense, especially now, when she's trying to carve out a more mature identity, away from her Sk8r Boi origins. I was really worried when she released 'Alice' because it almost looked like she was trying to turn into Tori Amos.

I definitely prefer the serious/angrier/lustful/pained side of Avril than her bubblegum-punk alter-ego. So I guess I disagree with you there. But to each his own, and I love it all - honestly.

Likewise. I prefer her bubblegum/power pop stuff, but that's largely because I'm a fan of that type of music anyway. Her true strength though, may simply be that she's not a one trick pony: capable of throwaway stuff like 'He Wan't' and at the same time stuff like 'Nobody's Home', which somehow manages to deal with an earnest topic without sounding pompous (a la U2).

I'd also like to note the brilliance 'Naked' off of Let Go. The chorus contains the line "I'm naked around you, and it feels so right," Out of context, obviously a sexual reference, but within the song it refers to her feeling emotionally transparent. Nothing too high concept, but there's no denying that it's clever.

Then there's the line "I wanna see you go down on one knee", which sounds sooo much like "I wanna see you go down on me" that I can't believe it's not intentional.

Another thing worth noting to naysayers is that she was only 17 when recording Let Go, which might put our appreciation in a more legible perspective.

She does have an uncanny knack of writing lyrics that on the surface appear banal but which simultaneously seem perfectly in keeping with her age. Something like 'Anything but Ordinary' is a perfect example of that for me. If I have any worries it's that as she's maturing she may be losing that edge which was so evident on Let Go and Under My Skin. I certainly think that was the case with Best Damn Thing, which I look at as an album where she was basically trying something different, with mixed results. I'm not sure if she's completely found her way again on the new one but it's definitely a step in the right direction. On Best Damn Thing she seemed to be fighting her instincts in a bid for credibility. I think on Goodbye Lullaby she's a bit more comfortable with herself. Not simply trying to abandon what she'd achieved on the first two albums but not merely trying to replicate them either.