themusicaddict Wonders Whatever Happened To Avril Lavigne (Updated and Finished July 6th, 2016)

Hello,

After working on and thinking about this blog for two or three days, this is the mostly finished product. (Truly none of my blogs are ever truly finished). I've worked my way through all five of her CDs. From the good CDs, her first 3 CDs, to the bad, her last 2 CDs.

As I was out on my morning walk the other day Avril Lavigne's "The Best Damn Thing" played on my iPod- I thought to myself that's a great song. Then I started wondering whatever happened to Avril Lavigne? Her 2007 CD "The Best Damn Thing" was the last thing from Lavigne that attracted more than a cursory interest from me. That is until she married Chad Kroeger- one of the biggest musical hacks ever. This isn't a personal attack on him- he may be a cool guy. Although after having the misfortune of seeing Nickelback in concert I have my doubts about that. Musically Nickelback is one of the dumbest, most generic rock bands ever.

A brief overview of Miss Lavigne's career. Miss Avril Ramona Lavigne was born September 27th, 1984. She released her debut CD, "Let Go", in 2002 at the age of 17. It was loaded with great music and hit songs. Those songs included "Complicated", "I'm With You", "Sk8er Boi", "Mobile" and other great songs. She rocked to international super stardom and nearly everyone was singing along to "Sk8er Boi". She also started the trend of girls wearing ties with their casual wear. I remember being in Atlanta when this CD was blowing up and I saw several girls wearing ties.

"Sk8er Boi":

Here's her beautiful soft slow ballad- until you listen to the lyrics. "I'm With You":

After a successful first CD, questions about a sophomore slump always come up. Two years later she released "Under My Skin", which featured "He Wasn't", "My Happy Ending", "Fall To Pieces", "Take Me Away" and "Slipped Away" . I wouldn't say this CD was as good as "Let Go", but it's pretty darn good.

"Take Me Away":

"My Happy Ending":

Three years later that she released "The Best Damn Thing" which was her last pretty good CD. Her sound was still that pop punk sound, but it was a sound that worked for her. Highlights include "The Best Damn Thing", "Girlfriend", "Keep Holding On", "Everything Back But You", "I Don't Have To Try" and "Runaway".

I'm not going to lie, I really like this song. "Everything Back But You":

Again that was three CDs, three solid CDs. She released her fourth CD on March 8th, 2011- almost 4 years after "The Last Damn Thing". That CD was "Goodbye Lullaby". It has a couple of meh songs, "Black Star" and "Goodbye", on it. Other than those songs and "What The Hell", that's about it. But other singers had come along usurping her buzz. She still had her fans, but she was no longer the hot thing. It felt obvious that her career was on the way down. In an attempt to be relevant, her songs were filled with more vulgarity. Sometimes those words overshadowed the actual songs. Creatively and artistically it was not a good idea and it didn't help her in the marketplace. Unless one is a humongous LaVigne fan, most of us would be hard pressed to name a song off this CD. Simply it's not a very good CD.

Not that there's much competition, but this is probably the second best song on the CD "Black Star":

"What The Hell" is serviceable:

Then fate made it's way into Miss Lavigne's life. In March, 2012 she started writing songs with Chad Kroeger for her next CD. In July, 2012 they began dating. They were engaged a month after they started dating- which is really a good idea. They dated for a year before getting married on July 1st, 2013. The CD, "Avril Lavigne" that they had written songs for was released on November 1st, 2013. Not surprisingly it's not a very good CD. Having Kroeger co-write songs is akin to having Donald Trump help you make good decisions.

"Avril Lavigne" does have a couple of decent songs, for a brief moment she recaptured the joy of her first CD with "17". Not coincidentally it wasn't co-written by Kroeger. "Here's To Never Growing Up" is decent. "Rock N' Roll" is a decent song, but it's needlessly vulgar. "Hello Kitty" and "Bad Girl" - with no longer relevant Marilyn Manson- are both very weak. Having Kroeger and Manson on your CD doesn't help either. Was Kid Rock busy?- ha ha ha I just made myself laugh. Her language on this CD has become quite profane and honestly it doesn't suit her music. Sometimes a swear word works for a song, sometimes it's just someone trying to be someone other than who they are. The second one was the case with Miss Lavigne. As an artist one should always be true to themselves.

"17":

The profane language and the poor choice of guests on the CD seriously back fired. Wisely she's taken a bit of a break since then. On September 2nd, 2015 Lavigne announced her separation from Kroeger and the world breathed a sigh of relief. However she's been seen with him recently and has even taken to Twitter to defend Nickleback's "music". Also in April, 2015 she told People magazine that she's been diagnosed with Lyme disease.

Other than her Twitter messages, she has been fairly quiet the last few years. Her most recent single is the below song.

This is her most recent song "Fly". It's an okay song, if not a bit sappy.

Here's hoping Avril makes a comeback, with some of the same people that helped her make her first three great CDs. I'd love to see some new music from her in the next couple of years. When a musicians career hits a lull, that's usually when you see a greatest hits CD. I wouldn't be surprised to that released before Christmas, 2016. That will be okay but Lavigne fans, which I number myself with, want new music.

Miss Lavigne, best of luck with your relationship status and Lyme disease. And selfishly best of luck in reviving your career and capturing your early career magic. I'd love to see you in concert.

themusicaddict