What Avril Did Next . . .

In the book I mentioned how Avril Lavigne progressed from her breakthrough material (“Complicated,” “Sk8ter Boi,” etc.), which owed a lot to professional songwriters such as the Matrix, to writing her own rather dour material for the second album, presumably in an attempt to “keep it real.”

One of the problems of publishing a book is that real life doesn’t stand still--and now Avril has done her best to make the argument more, er . . . complicated . . . by bouncing back to the opposite extreme for her next move. “Girlfriend,” her new single, is bubblegum par excellence, ticking every box of “fakery” it can. Professional songwriting involvement from pop svengali Dr. Luke, a production that owes more to Toni Basil’s “Mickey” than any kind of punk or grunge, a chorus recorded in eight different languages (here’s the Mandarin version) to appeal to the global audience, and above all an extraordinary confection of crass singalong riffs and choruses. What the hell is going on?

From reading the Internet chatter, the single seems to have created some consternation among her fanbase, although it also looks set to be a massive hit. The video doesn’t help. Avril, previously prone to dressing as an angsty goth-skate punker, is now in full Valley-Girl mode--a blonde cheerleader, mini-skirted and leading a heavily choreographed dance routine. She ends up stealing the boyfriend of a nerdy bookish girl, having subjected her to a series of bullying indignities. It is quite disconcerting, as though the follow-up to Heathers had cast Winona Ryder’s previously “wrong side of the tracks” character as the scheming prom queen bitch. But Avril actually plays all three roles--the cheerleader, the nerdy redhead, and the brunette who steals the nerd’s boyfriend--and each of these could be taken to represent stages of her career path. The message is complex, but we’re still left feeling that present-day Avril has given the old Avril a beating.

Is the whole thing ironic? Has Avril just decided that authenticity is a waste of time and she’ll have more fun following up the bubblegum parts of her career than trying to be worthy and serious? Is it a great pop song or a farrago of puerile nonsense? Is she selling out, or just recognising that there was nothing to ‘sell out’ in the first place?

Or am I just taking it all a bit too seriously?

- Hugh

Comments

[Thalia May]

My (teenage) cousin used to love Avril Lavigne, but has decided she's 'sold out' with this single. Probably all part of the painful process of growing up...

Personally I enjoy it as stupid driving music, but then I'm too old to care if it's cool or not.

[Luke D]

I'm watching Avril perform "Girlfriend" on SNL this second; she seems a bit embarrassed by the song, not really into it. Maybe she's just nervous. Her "authentic" looking backup singers seem to like it.

Wait, now she's really swinging it. Who knows?

[Hugh Barker]

Ach, we can't get SNL here, so I won't be able to see it. "Authentic" looking backing singers in what way? Were they dressed as valley girls?

If she was attempting to reproduce any of the video's dance routine, that might have made her more nervous as I think it isn't something she's used to, having previously been more used to just having to look like a moody teenager.