Yes, thats the name of a popular, new, young, singer. She’s from Canada, just turned 18, and fronts a pretty good guitar/pop band.
Whats the buzz here? Any fans?
My sister loves the one song of hers that’s all over the radio and tv here (as much as someone who’s favourite band is Westlife can love any music :)). She said that when she sang live at some awards thing she was terrible though. Off key and out of time.
I call her “Alanis Lite”.
Yep, that’s the one.
I think that, given time, she might become really good, if she’s allowed to develop, and not just required to keep churning out popular-sounding music.
So, I’m not the only one who thinks she’s a kiddie version of Alanis. I love Alanis and I like Avril. There’s also the added benefit of singing Complicated really, really loudly so my daughter can yell back in exasperation “That’s not what she’s saying!”
I liked Complicated, but not the second single, Sk8er boi. I really, really dislike that single.
My favorite part of “Complicated” is the part at the very beginning when she’s talking, rather than singing…she’s ok, I guess. Sounds a bit country, though.
Is it ok for a 34 year old married man to be a fan of an 18 year old sk8er chick singer?
And I like how these girls are found in clumps by the record companies. There’s Avril, Vanessa CArlton, and Michelle Branch.
They’re all young, talented (give it to me, I’m making an argument here!) and, amazingly, all cute! What a coincidence!
I know! The record companies must be kicking themselves, just like the studios were when Dante’s Peak and Volcano came out - boy, you’d think these big businesses would know better!
(in other words, nicely put Mr Two)
I’ve got a live version of Complicated. It’s just Avril and an accoustic guitar. She sounds perfectly lovely on it.
In fact, I like this version better than the album version because it’s slower and enunciated much more clearly. This is why I know the actual words are not:
You don’t call
I’m apalled
So go bake
Me a cake
and a steak
and don’t use the ginsus
Shrug I’m second-hand reporting anyways. She couldn’t get where she is without some talent - her breasts aren’t big enough :D!
shes not to loud and is easy to sing along with in the car, which is all i ask for out of music these days.
as to if she can sing live, i dont care… ill never see her live, so as long as what gets churned out on the radio is listenable, whether shes heavily processed or not really doesnt matter.
i guess i could never be accused of being a music snob.
She leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Her first single was okay, but “Sk8er Boi” is literally sickening: at least to me, it’s so damn calculated. She’s like Britney Spears but aimed at teenybopper’s who wear Blink182 baby doll t-shirts instead of N’sync ones and fall in love with Sum-41’s singer instead of the Backstreet Boys.
Pretty decent at what she does, I think, but she’s a pop singer and I doubt she’s ever heard anything more punk than Green Day. Like I said, there’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s the (to me) blindingly obvious fact that she’s a prepackaged product just as much as the Spice Girls, but aimed in a different direction that makes me dislike her.
Hopefully I didn’t come off like a punk elitist or “music snob”: I’m all for every possible person listening to punk or whatever they want and more power to them, but Avril just strikes me as incredibly fake. I’m not the only one – see here.
Tanaqui
she sucks pretty hard.
tanaqui is right on. calculated faux-punk is worse than caculated pop. and the lyrics to that “sk8er boi” (nice spelling) song are downright shitty. i hope she wrote it becuase i’d feel very sorry for her if she paid someone else to write that tripe. it makes nsync songs sound cohesive and complex.
The reason different ‘types’ show up at the same time is not coincidence. They are manufactured. Avril Levigne was probably an average suburban teen who could sing and play a little guitar. The studio’s marketing wizards decided that the last wave of hot dancin’ babes (Britney, Christina Aguilera, etc. ad nauseum) was getting stale, and decided to ‘get rea’ and get down with the kids. So enter the tough chick. I’m guessing little Avril would have been willing to play anything from a country crooner to a punk chick. Whatever the suits needed.
These girls are manufactured because the studio has to invest tons of money in them to compete. They get million-dollar videos, huge promotion, teams of songwriters and image coaches, you name it.
Sam you don’t know how right you are. They don’t bother going to lok for average suburban teens. They just clone up another one. A few subtle gene tweaks, different sleep training while they are being forced to maturity and bam a new star is “born”.
There was an article in the NY Times magazine maybe 2 months ago, that described pretty much the same phenomenon, The Tim. There was some young woman (unlike Avril, she doens’t even write her songs) and the record execs were trying to decide which genera they wanted to groom her for. She was seen as a “Britney with a harder edge.”
It made me shake my head at the sad state of modern music. Thankfully, I’ve started to pick up on some of the more minor/regional artists, who at least write and play from their heart.
I’ve seen her do Sk8r Boi on Letterman and Regis. Don’t care for it either but a MTV concert she did not too long ago was pretty good.
She’s alright , I guess. But what’s with the tie? It looks sooo tacky as hell. I’ve heard MTV refer to Avril, Michelle Branch, and Vanessa carlton as the Anti-Britneys. They may be right in assuming that this is a calculated movement by record labels against Britney Spears types. Which is probably a good thing. Considering that new Christina Aguilera video. If that’s not skanky, I don’t know what is.