Avril Lavigne (album)

Background, development and release

Three months after the release of Goodbye Lullaby, Lavigne announced that work on her fifth studio album had already begun, with eight songs written so far. Lavigne stated that the album would musically be the opposite of Goodbye Lullaby, with a release date rumored for sometime in 2012. Lavigne explained, "Goodbye Lullaby was more mellow, [but] the next one will be pop and more fun again. I already have a song that I know is going to be a single, I just need to re-record it!" In late 2011, Lavigne confirmed that she had moved to Epic Records, which is now headed by L.A. Reid, who signed Lavigne to Arista Records in 2000. In August 2012, it was reported that Lavigne had completed work on the album, stating on her Twitter, "That's a wrap boyz @hodgesmusic and chad @Nickelback !!! Woo hoo. Super stoked for this record."

In September 2012, Epic Records chairman L.A. Reid told Billboard that Lavigne "just completed" the album and that she enlisted her then-fiancée Chad Kroeger for a song. "She worked with Chad Kroeger, who is now her fiance, and they did a really good record," says Reid. He also revealed, "We're in the mixing process now and I expect to release it very soon. I'd like to get it out this year, but time seems to be flying. If we don't, it will be top of the new year." The same month, French website Charts in France announced that the album would be released in March, however, in April 2013, the singer announced that she was still working on the album, stating, "I've been working on this record for a year, so it's been quite a while," she said. "As soon as I played [producer LA Reid] the song, he wanted to put it out right away. So I'm actually still in the studio - I'm still making my record. I still have one more song left to write that I'm going to do by myself, because I love to do that. It's important for me. But it's just - it's all happened so fast, and I'm so excited."

On 8 August 2013, Lavigne revealed the cover art for the album via her Instagram account. The cover features a closeup of her face against an all-black background, with her eyes ringed in smeared eyeliner, while her hair is pulled back tight on her head. In an interview on Extra in September 2013, Lavigne said of the artwork: "I like it because I always wear my hair down, so I put my hair up and it's a little more fashion, I guess. I went nuts with the eye make-up, just a ton of black eye oil." In an interview at the radio station WRVE, Lavigne confirmed that the album would be available to pre-order on 24 September 2013 and would be released later on 5 November 2013. The official track listing was later revealed on 5 September, while the entire album streamed on iTunes and her official website on 29 October.

Recording

Recording sessions began in November 2011, and took place over a period of almost two years, concluding in July 2013. One of the first confirmed producers and writers for the album was Nickelback's frontman Chad Kroeger. The first song they wrote was "Let Me Go", a breakup ballad. "We started off [in March 2012] just getting to know each other, and then we really bonded through music," Lavigne said. Eventually, Lavigne and Kroeger became romantically involved in July 2012, and a month later they got engaged. Kroeger co-wrote 10 songs on the album, being the producer of three, and co-producer of four. They promised power ballads, piano ballads, string arrangements and a duet. Lavigne also worked with Evanescence former member David Hodges, commenting, "I’ve just spent 17 days working with Chad Kroeger and David Hodges. And the three of us have been writing a lot of songs together. A lot. And recording and having a really good time, having a really great time. They’re very talented musicians and it feels good for me to be around people like that."

Boys Like Girls frontman Martin Johnson also worked with Lavigne on the album, co-producing five songs, including the lead-single "Here's to Never Growing Up". In a Billboard interview, Lavigne revealed that she worked with Marilyn Manson on a track called "Bad Girl". She said about the collaboration, "It's a heavier tune and I thought his voice would be perfect on it, so I hit him up. I called him and he came over to the studio and he really liked the track and he just put some vocals down on it. He was a pro and he did an amazing job. I really appreciate him as an artist and I love his style and I really respect him and his art, and I thought it was really cool to have him on this record."

In an interview for 4Music, Lavigne teased a female collaboration, but it didn't make to the album. Because Lavigne had written so many songs for her fifth album, she was considering releasing two back-to-back albums. This is the second time that Lavigne has mentioned writing enough material for more than one record, the first during the production of Goodbye Lullaby. "I kinda wanna do the back-to-back records because I've worked so hard on writing a ton of songs and I just wanna make it perfect. And then because there were so many it was like, 'OK well what makes sense?'," she commented.

Composition and themes

In an interview for Nylon, Lavigne stated that the album was "more artistic" than her previous efforts, explaining, "This time it's not just all songs about relationships and dudes. I just wanted to write songs and make something that was a little more artistic. I wanted to go down that road, I wasn't trying to write a big radio record." While discussing the album's style for Entertainmentwise, Lavigne opined, "The album is really all over the place. There's piano songs which are just piano and vocals, some very raw, emotional pieces. There's a few summer songs, it's nostalgic." Regarding the album's lyrical meaning, she commented, "Lyrically I pushed myself to talk about different subjects I haven't talked about before. I didn't want to be so simple. I tried to really express myself and go deeper." [...] "There's a bunch of summer songs then a couple of songs which are pretty nostalgic, about looking back like ‘17’. I guess I didn’t mean for it to turn out like that but it's good."

While discussing the songs on the album, Lavigne revealed, "I'm really excited about the song 'Hello Kitty' that I've written for this record, because I'm obsessed with Hello Kitty and it's really fun and the sound is different," she said. "It sounds like nothing I've done before, and I even throw a little bit of Japanese in it." She also described the song called "Rock n Roll" as "LOUD, impressive and it stands for so many other things than just music – that's really what it comes down to - and it's a song that I’m just putting the final touches to now." She also called her duet with Marilyn Manson as "heavier" and "rock". While responding what was her favourite song on the album, Lavigne answered, "'Give You What You Like,' 'Hush Hush' and 'Bad Girl.'"

Songs

The album's opening track "Rock n Roll" is an upbeat, pop punk song, about a boisterous declaration of rebellion on which Lavigne puts up her "middle finger to the sky" to "let 'em know that we're still rock and roll." The second track and lead single, "Here's to Never Growing Up", is a celebration of being forever young. The third track "17" was considered a "fizzy, buzzing look back on adolescence," over a "steady" beat, "long acoustic" strums and "yelping" vocals that refract the mischievous glow of youth. It also stays the course, recalling her high school days of "learning how to break the rules". The fourth track, "Bitchin' Summer", is a mid-tempo song where she and the object of her affection are like "high school lovebirds" and she's picking him up at the liquor store. "Let Me Go", the fifth track, is a duet with Lavigne's husband and Nickelback's frontman Chad Kroeger, and was described by Lavigne as "the journey of love through one's life, going from one stage in one love into finding the right one." The sixth track "Give You What You Like" is a sensual-sounding ballad about the exchange of physical pleasures to combat loneliness.

The seventh track "Bad Girl" finds Lavigne teaming up with Marilyn Manson in a rock, industrial and nu metal arrangement, with Manson singing about his perverted "daddy" fantasies while Lavigne invites him to "do whatever" and more. "Hello Kitty" sees Lavigne flirting with electronic music and techno pop, while also featuring a dubstep breakdown. Lyrically, Lavigne pointed out that the song "is about her love of the Japanese brand" but also has a "flirtatious" meaning. The ninth track, the pop rock "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet", finds its protagonist rounding "third base and headed for a home run," while the bouncy "Sippin' on Sunshine" with lyrics about the sunshine being delivered by way of a kiss. The breakup track "Hello Heartache" has a background vocal hook crawling "la-la-la" and a skittering backbeat, which amplify Lavigne's pain. The twelfth track "Falling Fast" is a country pop influenced song. The song's guardedly celebrates new love with "hushed" rock elements and "crystallized" melody, which was described by Jason Lipshutz of Billboard as "at home on a Taylor Swift album". "Hush Hush", the last track on the album's standard edition, is a piano-driven ballad which emits a rush of feelings - regret, anger, desperation, nakedness, and finally, faint hopefulness.

Promotion

Lavigne promoted the album with a series of live performances. First, she went to Los Angeles' famed Sunset Strip club, "the Viper Room", performing a range of tracks, including "17". On 21 September 2013, Lavigne performed on the iHeart Radio Festival, performing "Here's to Never Growing Up", "Rock n Roll" and other hits. On October 2013, Lavigne performed at "We Day 2013", which took place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She performed "Let Me Go" with Chad Kroeger, as well as "Girlfriend" and "Here's to Never Growing Up". On 5 November 2013, during the album's release day in the United States, Lavigne performed "Let Me Go" and snippets of "Girlfriend" and "Sk8er Boi". She also performed "Let Me Go" on The Katie Couric Show, on 8 November 2013 and on Conan, on 11 November 2013. On 4 December 2013, Lavigne performed on Q102's Jingle Ball, singing "Here's To Never Growing Up", "Girlfriend", "Let Me Go" and "Sk8er Boi".

Singles

On 9 April 2013, the album's lead single, "Here's to Never Growing Up", produced by Martin Johnson of the band Boys Like Girls, was released. The song received mixed reviews, but was the album's most successful single. The track peaked at number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, also reaching the top-twenty in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom, while reaching the top-ten in Ireland and Japan. A lyric video featuring submitted photographs of fans "never growing up" was released onto Lavigne's official Vevo account the same day as the release of the single. The song's official music video was later released on 9 May 2013.

The second single, "Rock n Roll", premiered on Lavigne's official YouTube channel on 18 July 2013 and was released on 27 August, with the music video premiering a week earlier on 20 August, while the lyric video for the song, featuring fan-made videos submitted through Instagram, was released onto Lavigne's official Vevo account on 12 August 2013. The song received very limited commercial success, being a success in Japan, where it reached number five. However, it only managed to peak at number 37 in Canada, number 45 in Australia, number 68 in the United Kingdom and number 91 in the United States.

"Let Me Go" featuring Chad Kroeger was confirmed as the album's third single. It premiered on the radio station KBIG on 7 October 2013. It was officially impacted contemporary hit radio in Italy on 11 October 2013. It was later made available for purchase on iTunes along with its music video on 15 October 2013. Worldwide, "Let Me Go" was more successful than "Rock n Roll", reaching a peak of number 12 on the Canadian Hot 100 chart and the top-forty in Austria. Elsewhere, it also achieved moderate impact in the United Kingdom and the United States.

On 27 February 2014, Lavigne revealed on her Twitter page that she would be releasing two singles in two different territories. Later, she revealed that "Hello Kitty" was going to be released in Asia, shooting its music video in March 2014. Lavigne also revealed the cover art for the single and its music video was released on 21 April 2014. Its music video was heavily criticized by critics, with Billboard labelling it "abhorrent" and "lazy". Its depiction of Japanese culture was met with widespread criticism, which has included suggestions of racism, with Lavigne denying it. "Hello Kitty" debuted at number 75 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, due to the popularity of its music video.

On 21 March 2014, Lavigne confirmed that "Give You What You Like" would be released as the album's fifth single. Almost a year later, on 2 February 2015; the official artwork for "Give You What You Like" was uploaded via Lavigne's official Twitter account along with the announcement that the song would be featured in the upcoming Lifetime film Babysitter's Black Book, which premieres on 21 February 2015. The following day, a 30-second clip of the music video, including footage from the film, was posted on Vevo. On 10 February 2015, the music video for "Give You What You Like" was released. The song was released to the radio by Epic Records on 30 March 2015 as the album's fifth single.

Other songs

The only promotional single "How You Remind Me" was released in Japan on 11 December 2012, as a digital download on the One Piece Film: Z soundtrack. It was released on 19 December 2013 as a digital download in the UK. The song was included in the Japan, Taiwan and China Tour Edition of the album as one of the bonus tracks.

Tour

To further promote the album, Lavigne embarked on her fifth tour, "The Avril Lavigne Tour", starting in Asia, followed by South America. In the United States, Lavigne served as opening act on the Backstreet Boys tour, "In a World Like This Tour".

Critical reception

At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, it received an average score of 65, based on 9 reviews indicating "Generally favorable reviews". Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic gave the album a rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars, calling it "one of Avril's livelier and better albums; it's all about the good times, no matter how temporary or illusionary they may be." Erlewine also wrote that the "hooks are stronger, better than so many of Avril's songs since her 2002 debut, Let Go." Jason Lipshutz of Billboard praised the album for "encapsulat[ing] everything worth loving about the 29-year-old's long-running artistry," highlighting that "unlike 2011's Goodbye Lullaby, which featured moments in which Lavigne sounded unsure of herself, the singer is fully in control here." Nick Catucci of Entertainment Weekly was also positive, praising Lavigne for "revealing her grown-woman wisdom," noticing that the album "reminds us that maturity sometimes means doubling down on what's expected of you." Sowing Season of Sputnikmusic wrote that the album "couldn't be a better representation of her career up to the present day. It's fun, easily digestible pop for the masses, featuring the soaring choruses and melodies that made us fall in love with her over the past ten years."

Sam Lansky of Idolator lauded the album as his "favorite pop album of the year," labeling it "the Avril-iest album of Avril's career. It's brimming with character, jagged with contradictions, deeply nostalgic, occasionally annoying, likably bratty and mostly great." Laurence Green of musicOMH praised the album, writing that "the eponymous effort goes a long way to restore the singer to her rightful place as purveyor of some of the most carefree, feelgood pop around." Craig Manning of Absolute Punk acknowledged that, "It's not going to be a new favorite album for anyone other than Avril Lavigne's most ardent admirers, but a handful of great summer mixtape songs and a few other exercises in mindless pop fun are still enough to make 'Avril Lavigne' the eponymous singer's best record in nine years." Caroline Sullivan of The Guardian echoed the same thought, calling the "bratty nostalgia trip", "the best thing she's done in years." In a more negative review, Chuck Eddy of Rolling Stone found that the album features "soggy ballads, sometimes vaguely goth or R&B, and tries in vain to keep up with Taylor Swift," but praised "Hello Kitty" for feeling "truly playful." Kyle Fowle of Slant Magazine also found the exploration of life-affirming mantras and boasts of rebelliousness "forced, as if she's trying to capture an attitude, and craft a persona, that she no longer lives."

Commercial performance

Avril Lavigne debuted at number five on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, selling over 44,000 copies, becoming Lavigne's fifth straight top 10 album. However, it also heralded her lowest peak and first-week sales on the chart. In its second week, the album dropped from number 5 to number 26. As of September 2015, the album has sold 156,000 copies in the United States. In Canada, the album debuted at number four, with sales of 8,500 copies. With this chart position, Lavigne managed to have all of her albums debut on the chart within the top five. In Japan, the album debuted at number-two, shifting 47,873 copies in its first week, becoming the second album by Lavigne to peak in this position, the other being Goodbye Lullaby (2011). As of 2014, the album has sold over 210,000 copies in Japan.

In the United Kingdom, the album debuted and peaked at number 14 with a little over 9,000 units sold, becoming her first album to enter and peak outside the top 10 within the United Kingdom, leaving the charts after one week. As of September 2015, Avril Lavigne sold 50,000 copies, becoming the least successful album by Lavigne in the United Kingdom. In Australia, the album debuted at number 7, selling 2,829 copies and remained on the chart for two weeks. In China and Taiwan, the album debuted at the top of the charts, eventually receiving Gold and Platinum certifications in both countries, respectively.To date, Avril Lavigne has sold over 1 million copies worldwide.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Avril Lavigne.