No matter how hard I try, I can't dislike the new Avril Lavigne single ("Girlfriend").
I know.
Hooks aplenty, there's a ton to latch onto in this little ditty: the cheerleader chorus, the layered harmonies in the verses, the half-time pre-chorus, etc. The production is great - I'm sure it's compressed like crazy, but the mix is fantastic. The guitars have a nice fluid crunch (I'm aware of the oxymoron), which reminds me of my twangy Strat sound through a high gain setting on my Orange amp. Mmm, delicious. The bass drum is a bit clicky for my taste, but it really drives the verses. The bass is there, doing its job as usual. If vocal pitch correction was used, they probably did it in the background harmonies to tighten things up, but I couldn't really hear any in the lead parts - another plus.
The target audience is clearly the 13-15 year-old female crowd ("she's like, so whatever"), and so the lyrical content is about as complicated and layered as Dude, Where's my Car?, but it's just so appealing to hear Avril say "motherfucking princess" (in the uncensored version, of course). I wouldn't put it in the same league as Norah Jones dropping the MF bomb in her Peeping Tom feature, "Sucker," because that was damn hot/sexy, whereas this is cute/playful.
As far as girl rock/punk/whatever is concerned, I still wouldn't put her in the same league as Katy Rose in terms of songwriting ability, but since most of you are probably saying "who?" to that reference, I think we know who has the better hooks.
The rest of the album is decent, but the 3 ballads feel forced and could have been left out. I highly recommend the uncensored version over the censored one for obvious reasons. After listening to all 40 minutes of it, you might feel like you've lost 30 IQ points and are on your way to developing diabetes, but that might be your thing.
Now to listen to some Shining to balance out my day....
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Posted by
Johnny
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5 comments:
Dude, admit it, you have a crush on Avril.
So, we going to her concert, or what?
I try to avoid married women... it hasn't worked out well for me in the past.
If by "her concert", you mean "the Roger Waters concert and not Avril Lavigne's" then yes.
OR, how about White Stripes, June 29.
I should get those Roger Waters tickets some time. And Reid owes me $160. Johnny paid me...and you'll be happy to know the $100 bill he gave me is part of the hockey pool prize money! Not that anyone who reads this is going to win the hockey pool, but most people who read this will know what I'm talking about.
I'd see the White Stripes for sure. Are the tickets on sale yet?
Kev: I'll pay you ASAP. I know I'll get it before the show
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