Avril Lavigne - rebellion for tots

Not really knowing how much Avril Lavigne has input in song writing - don’t believe the credit, it’s all percentage points - we don’t wanna diss her just because she appears to be a smart little punk-puppet. Her music has the same quality of so much other processed tunes as well as functioning as the soundtrack to rebelettes-without-cause. Bar its youth, naturlich.

There is a function to pop music, sociology informs us. It introduces the youngsters, via its simple, basic and catchy idioms to the joys of mass culture… Implication is preparing us to be good citizens: consuming, watching television & reproducin’… [Thus, nativity rate’s up in the UK!? Damn, just think of all the future drivers… Or, budding pop idols? And, illegal downloaders?!]

And, yo, it teaches us a lot about sex where girls excel by the nature’s preferential curve-sculpting. Divas who are not afraid to spread their gifts… It looks like Avril has nothing of this kind to sell in spite of all the entertainment being sold on the promise of fictitious sex. She is a model for female fans and object-o’-desire for puberty fighting boys, mainly.

On ‘Under My Skin’ she’s still the little bundle of punk rage that spat, and roared throughout her debut but she is also attempting to move away from kiddie-friendly punk and partially succeeds by nearing Alanis Morissette’s territory on ‘My Happy Ending’. On the final track, ‘I Always Get What I Want’, the pocket punkette raises an angry vox that shows a way out.

But, is there any use? The way the things are regressing, it is only a question of time before a femme appears onstage with clothes-free torso. No, nothing like Janet’s ‘boob-flop-out’ but the full ‘twin-peaks’ display. It would be interesting to see where it happens first Europe-wise: somewhere up north in EU, like Sweden or Finland, perhaps France…

It is all to do with playing to survive rather that to entertain or, God forgive, to matter. [Although it appears so to a social segment for a moment but then they sober up PDQ.] Britney, to finish the thought on commando-breasts movement, is our tip. She, the sexiest mime-babe on pop stage, is planning to release a live DVD. Is there a meaning of ‘live’ we are not aware of?

“Why should I act like a demure housewife?’ argues Courtney Love [whose former band Hole’s album title was ‘Celebrity Skin’] and she is so right. Avril still has to learn the lesson, if allowed sufficient time. Right now she is in a cocoon of success, protected from the ugliness of fame. She’s had some episodes but that’s nothing to what awaits her on the way down…

Majority of male fans don’t care for matronly charms of Dido, Annie Lennox, Alanis, Alicia or Avril… however good they are. Goldfrapp! Or, Kelli Ali! Men don’t listen to music but value it for its gratuitous content. Watching, not hearing… Yeah, ogling, not listening. Thus, girls - carry on with your minimizing-attire project, the lads are eternally down with it.

After all, Lavigne’s album is not that bad for what it is: irate pop-rock. It is a product of/by/for the beaten generation and [still] primarily targeting rather young and easy-to-impress.

6/10