Avril Lavigne: C/D?

Wow. The new Avril Lavigne single is dripping with attitude. In fact, it's the best song I've heard this year.
It's incredible - like she's finally ditched all the precious: I'm a little punk rocker - in favor of a much more teenpop approach to relationships. So where Sk8tr Boi was about how her relationships weren't conventional (they had emancipated themselves from the highschool set and were touring professionally) this is set in the standard context of boyfriend -girlfriends. But in doing so, it's the most punk song I've ever heard her sing. It reminds me of Blondie in terms of investing the mundane with attitude.

"Hey, hey, you, you, I don't like your girlfriend. Hey, hey, you, you, I think you need a new one," is far more aggressive. In contrast to Sk8r, where she steals the boy away from his old girlfriend is completely overlooking in favor of the larger tension (he's great, and you missed your chance), here she's actively stealing him. And the opening: Hey, hey, you, you, is almost like a faster: "Ai, Oh, Let's go," without the beat between the noise ("Hey" "Oh") and the narrative ("You, you" "Let's go"). So she's editing out the Ramone's pause in favor of thrusting herself forward. There's huge amounts of pose in here - down to the hand-clapping, which almost sounds as though she applauding herself as she sings. Or maybe even the Stones, singing: "Hey, hey, you, you get off of my cloud," which is probably the more obvious touchstone. Which is perfect! Because she's aggressively pulling you in like the Stone's song chases you away. It's the same attitude, but used to different means.

"Ok fine I want you mine you're so delicious. I think about you all the time you're so addictive. Don't you know what I can do to make you feel alright? (Alright, alright, alright)" Combining the speedy breathlessness of the first two statements, which the echoing 'alright' of the third, it's as though Avril is coming overwhelming the target (and us) by pounding us over and over with the Possibility of Her. By the time it gets to "alright, alright, alright," it sounds like we're responding to the song ourself (also through Avril's voice) agreeing to her. She's puppeting both the predator and the prey - so that she never has to fail.

And then the song launches into the greatest thing I've heard - certainly this year and possibly last as well. "Don't pretend I think you know I'm damn precious / And hell yeah, I'm the motherfucking princess / I can tell you like me too and you know I'm right. (alright, alright, alright)" She simultaneously needs this guy, and doesn't need him at all. She's fine without him - sneering: "You know I'm damn precious." - but she's only saying it because it'll let her get him. And when she sings "I'm the motherfucking princess," she completely slays the entire Paris Hilton album. Just the implicit contradiction of using the word "motherfucking" while describing herself as a "princess" is completely honest, jarring, confusing, and refreshing. It means that a "princess" can use the word "motherfucking." It also means she has a sense of humor about being a "princess." It also means that she's a "princess" /because/ she uses words like "motherfucking," which makes her "precious" which she also understands.

This is thus far my favorite song of 2007. And I predict it'll be in the top 5 if not at the top 1 by the end of the year. I can't imagine anything displacing it. It's much better than the Veronica's 4eva - which was near the top of my list last year.

Mordechai Shinefield (Mordy) on Monday, February 5, 2007 11:31 PM (3 weeks ago)

why did no one call this out for being "hey mickey"?

('girlfriend', that is)

Because it sounds more like the Rubinoos?

yikes.

it still sounds like hey mickey to me though.

Lavigne's Vancouver-based manager, Terry McBride, CEO of Nettwerk Music Group, claims the suit "has no basis. There's nothing similar (between the two songs)," he says. "Our musicologist says there is no similarities of melody, choral progression or meter."

haha "musicologist"

some nice constructive comments on this fascinating bit of news here

http://www.hollyscoop.com/avril-lavigne/avril-lavigne-turns-the-tables_12783.aspx

why are you reading 2 year old internet comments on a 3 year old story about avril lavigne tbh

Good question, my friend.
(was a link to it somewhere)

Counting the days until the cast of Glee covers "What the Hell".

why did no one call this out for being "hey mickey"?

― tissp, Thursday, November 8, 2007 6:25 PM (3 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
('girlfriend' WHAT THE HELL, that is)

― tissp, Thursday, November 8, 2007 6:25 PM (3 years ago) Bookmark

fixed.

Great song though! Better than "Born This Way", better than "Party crasher, panty snatcher," better than "Hold It Against Me," SURE AS FUCK a hell of a lot better than "Firework." Why is ILM not loving it?? You fools!!

any chance of "what the hell" hitting the ILM year-end list? that tune is huge.

definitely not, but it will probably be on my ballot

:( It's the new "Since U Been Gone"

lord what the hell rules

i jam 'what the hell' & 'push' a lot tbqh

i don't really see the comparison to "since u been gone"

it's not even the new "girlfriend"

i like the follow-up "Smile" a lot too...kind of a shame that Avril's Max Martin singles are as good as almost anyone else's these days but she's totally getting lost in the crowd

smile's the best

i don't really see the comparison to "since u been gone"

― J0rdan S., Saturday, July 23, 2011 2:15 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark

the HUGE chorus

not any more HUGE than like 17 other Max Martin songs tbh

I mean, female pop rock wise.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weeluzD_hxk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFSaNmZyPQo

what's a bimbox

Can artists be banned from mentioning Radiohead in their songs?

wow i threw my headphones out of my ears at that first lyric

maybe she meant the talking heads song

Who the heck sings Radiohead at the top of their lungs?

song is p good

it's pretty catchy

Here's To Never Ever Ever Growing Up Together

it just makes me wanna turn it off and listen to "complicated"

http://i.imgur.com/Gg2ieRP.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/uIlv5uW.jpg

i love "rock n roll"

that cover is great