In May we discovered that Avril Lavigne is already writing new songs. Even though her self-titled 5th album came out only last November and she is currently touring in support of it, that hasn’t stopped her from crafting more tunes. She confirmed in June that she’s been writing these new songs alone.
Now we have more info on Avril Lavigne’s new songs: In an interview with In Rock Magazine, she revealed that the songs she was writing while in Brazil are less pop than the music she’s known for. Will Avril Lavigne’s next album go in a new direction?
Throughout her career, she has always been somewhere in the pop rock category. She’s ranged from darker, heavier tracks to upbeat pop punk and straightforward pop. It was after her 3rd album when things got tricky for the singer. Although she wanted to go in a mellow, acoustic direction for Goodbye Lullaby – reflective of her recent divorce – her label wanted a couple of hit pop singles. Arguments, returns to the studio, and a over a year later, and her 4th album was divided into two halves: Part radio friendly pop, part acoustic pop rock.
On her 5th album, Avril Lavigne, Avril faced similar differences of opinion. She was ready to release a record full of indie rock and pop rock songs that were personal to her. Indeed, songs like “Give You What You Like” and “Falling Fast” showed a whole new direction for Avril Lavigne, one that was more mature and adult contemporary. But her label once again wanted those radio hits, and she ended up recording with big name producers to make pop rock songs that are more akin to her earlier work.
So Avril Lavigne’s last two albums have been inconsistent and confused in their musical style. So she probably knows what she wants: Less pop, more singer-songwriter/rock/acoustic. But her label wants her to repeat the success of “Girlfriend” over and over, and demands pop songs that she ultimately isn’t interested in.
Hopefully Avril Lavigne’s next album will be exactly how she wants it, and represent the sound and style that she has in mind. We’re excited to hear her “less pop” songs. If they’re anything like the more latter half of Avril Lavigne, they will be amazing.
Keep checking back here for more news on Avril Lavigne and your other favorite artists. You can also check out a full recap of everything we know about Avril Lavigne’s 6th album so far.
OK, here's what I'm saying about the 6th Avril Lavigne album. In my opinion, it appears that Avril Lavigne is getting better after the RCA era ended in 2011. But the songs released after RCA like Rock N Roll were ended up going with the floed by Epic Records. Well, come to think of it.
About that... For me, I think Here's To Never Growing Up was her top 20 2013 hit single right? Yeah. That's right, Here's To Never Growing Up would be a great time to start things up quietly without any general public which is driven by poor promotions, bratty singles of Avril Lavigne as a whole and Martin Johnson. It would've been great if Here's To Never Growing Up is produced by Max Martin. But no, Here's To Never Growing Up lost its number 1 peaks because of Martin Johnson and bratty singles of Avril Lavigne as a whole. That's too bad because Here's To Never Growing Up is such a funny Avril Lavigne song and Here's To Never Growing Up fits nicely as a 2013 Avril Lavigne song. Plus, Here's To Never Growing Up is a great Avril Lavigne song to start summer 2013 off. But it got lazy. So instead of Here's To Never Growing Up becoming her huge comeback unlike the misguided What The Hell, it got wasted in the public and it was thrown against other summer 2013 singles like Come & Get It (great song by the way), We Can't Stop, Heart Attack and Blurred Lines. Epic Records is lazy.
Anyway, following Here's To Never Growing Up, we have Rock N Roll (another funny song) and Let Me Go with Chad Kroeger of Nickelback. But again, poor marketing and Epic Records killed Rock N Roll and Let Me Go. Why, Epic Records, why? Worse, her fifth album was a mess by putting in bratty songs, bad release date, Martin Johnson, and of course, a song that nearly killed her career called Hello Kitty. Hello Kitty? Who come up with that idea? Anyway, will Avril Lavigne's sixth album and her 2015 lead single ever gonna get her number 1 singles back? I hope so. Why? Because Avril Lavigne hasn't do her number 1 singles since 2007's Girlfriend and Avril Lavigne needs her number 1 singles back. She needs a real comeback. No more bratty songs and she needs to leave Epic Records and move to Universal labels like The Island Def Jam Music Group because Sony screwed over her music after the Let Go era since 2004. Remember artists that can try something new on a new album instead of major staple signature objects? Take Taylor Swift for instance, Taylor Swift wanted to make an album with no country songs which will be her fifth album which is coming out on October 27. The result is her first pop album, 1989. With Taylor Swift finally manage to make an album with no country songs, Avril Lavigne gets to make an album with no bratty songs and instead trying out new things. Just like Taylor Swift. Hey, I know, what if Taylor Swift can team up with Avril Lavigne? That would be awesome if both album can do that. Plus, Taylor Swift can handledly compete against Avril Lavigne since Avril Lavigne was screwed over by Sony and RCA during 2004 onwards allowing Taylor Swift to beat Avril Lavigne. So when Taylor Swift gets to tour on her 1989 tour next year, Avril Lavigne would be a good time to team up with Taylor Swift. Pretty interesting, huh? Now let's continue.
So why am I rooting for Avril Lavigne's 2015 outputs for 2015 so much? The answer: It's a big risk. A HUGE risk. I think Avril Lavigne needs her successes back and she needs to bring back her number 1 peaks in general when Avril Lavigne takes risks, and pulls them off.
Her sixth album, to me, is a risk along with the lines of her second 3 albums, Under My Skin, The Best Damn Thing and Goodbye Lullaby. These 3 Avril Lavigne albums released between 2004 and 2011 with Under My Skin, Avril Lavigne's sophomore album, becoming an album that fans loved along with Let Go as well as her funny lead single off of her third album, The Best Damn Thing, Girlfriend where Girlfriend sold more than 3 million copies in the US and topped the Hot 100 Billboard chart in 2007. Right? Yup. Let's continue. Avril Lavigne's fourth album, Goodbye Lullaby, is where Avril Lavigne gets to go on a mature route by releasing mellow tracks like Wish You Were Here and let's not forget Max Martin too. All three albums were released after Let Go released in 2002 and all three albums will be different than Let Go by focusing on different experiments. These three albums is perfect for this thing, but unfortunately, those three albums fell short of their ambitions thanks to RCA and Sony's executives for ruining the 3 post 2002 albums. Under My Skin was originally made by Arista Records in 2004. It was going to be an epic Avril Lavigne album because it was her second album and her album that fans loved in 2004, and it showed that Avril Lavigne wanted to break away from bratty songs that plagued Complicated and Skater Boy and even Losing Grip during the Let Go era.
It would've been perfect, coming off of Let Go during 2002. Shirts that said "No Bratty Songs. Yes Mature Songs." were worn by Arista during production in 2003. This was shaping up to be Avril Lavigne’s most ambitious album yet. Something Avril Lavigne would've made. What happened? Well, Arista and Avril Lavigne was dictated by RCA and Sony Music’s executives. RCA manufactured the album causing Arista unable to manufacture the album on its own, and Under My Skin turned out to be a mess. It couldn't appeal to music public in 2004. It was perceived as too explicit for kids (even though this happened in Don’t Tell Me and My Happy Ending), her singles which are better than her 2007-present bratty singles did horrible compared to her Let Go singles and feels more like a post 2002 album rather than a sophomore Avril Lavigne album because the album wasn't mature enough for people in 2004. Worse, 2004 music hates Under My Skin and 2004 music only likes other 2004 music like Lean Back. Overall, Under My Skin was a big mess. Even with positive reviews from the critics, Under My Skin paled along with The Best Damn Thing/Goodbye Lullaby/2013 Avril Lavigne album compared to Let Go. Even the success of Under My Skin and fans loved the album couldn't saved the album’s public during 2004. Worse, He Wasn’t did not release a music video in 2005 in the US. That’s why the Let Go era and Girlfriend is better than Under My Skin. OK, let’s continue.
Following Under My Skin, where in return, that poorly-marketed album turned out to be the second best selling Avril Lavigne album of all time selling more than 3 million copies in the US as of 2006, undoubtedly, Avril Lavigne lost tons of fans after releasing The Best Damn Thing despite the album's lead single, Girlfriend, is her number 1 smash hit single of 2007. And yet they ignore the fact, her career has severely gone downhill in 2004 when RCA and Sony Music gets to control too much power over Avril Lavigne causing Avril Lavigne's career after 2003 started to have problems in the same year. She then reluctantly faded into obscurity for four years, as her record label had refused to release her next album until she agreed to work with Max Martin on the single What The Hell.
That next album, Goodbye Lullaby, was designed to win back her old fans. But that never happened. What The Hell was supposed to appeal to teens and tweens. But the song never caught on. Plus, she couldn’t capture a wider audience with the more mature songs that she had otherwise recorded for the album.
So in 2011, Goodbye Lullaby tanked on the charts (again, bad date, bratty songs like Smile, RCA and the album pushed back several times killed Goodbye Lullaby), and the rest of her world tour was canned.
It appears that the majority of Avril Lavigne fans have moved on.
RCA blew it because RCA killed Avril Lavigne's 2004-2011 music like Under My Skin. Curse you, RCA.
Avril Lavigne's upcoming sixth album and her 2015 singles will be similar to her music from 2004-2011, but her sixth album and its 2015 singles will most likely won't be plagued with the problems that plagued them. Those songs were produced when RCA executives had their way. Read up on all the horror stories. An Avril Lavigne song called He Wasn't from her sophomore album, Under My Skin, was being cut from Under My Skin's singles selection in 2005 because the music department at test screenings got antsy for not releasing He Wasn't's music video on MTV in 2005, the decision to throw RCA and explicit writing into My Happy Ending in 2004 causing that 2004 song to get rejected by the radio in 2004 after it peaked at number 1 on Top 40 Mainstream and played more than 80 million times on the radio causing that Avril Lavigne song to unable to compete against other 2004 songs like Since U Been Gone, RCA killed Arista's Under My Skin (Avril Lavigne's second album from 2004) causing that album to pale along with its singles like Don't Tell Me compared to 2002's Let Go era despite selling almost 3 million copies in the US and fans loved the album, the various cuts done to her third album, The Best Damn Thing like no Keep Holding On music video, fans hated Girlfriend in 2007 despite Girlfriend peaked at number 1 on Billboard Hot 100 in 2007 and the butchering of Goodbye Lullaby (Avril Lavigne's 4th album in 2011)... The list goes on. Now that the RCA era is over, Epic Records and LA Reid don't have to worry about this. No more pandering Avril Lavigne songs to people who doesn't care about Avril Lavigne, no attempts to make an Avril Lavigne song more appealing to music listeners who never heard of Avril Lavigne rather than fans. Avril Lavigne is following footsteps of another artist like Madonna and Taylor Swift, allowing Avril Lavigne to create great songs for all ages without having to pander to any particular audience.
This is why Avril Lavigne's recent outputs is superior to a majority of her music released between 2004 and 2011. I'll take Here's To Never Growing Up, Rock N Roll and Let Me Go over Don't Tell Me, My Happy Ending, Nobody's Home, Girlfriend, When You're Gone, Hot, The Best Damn Thing, What The Hell, Smile and Wish You Were Here any day. Still, fascinating work shines through in these songs. Look past the executive meddling and you'd be surprised. Now we're in an era where we don't have to look past that. I have a feeling that the sixth Avril Lavigne album and her 2015 singles could be the first ambitious Avril Lavigne era that will work, because no executives will be sticking their spoons into the broth. Avril Lavigne hasn't made a risky, ambitious sixth album and its 2015 singles that worked for a while. Now the time has come...
OK, let's get back to my ideas for Avril Lavigne's sixth album. Shall we? Good. Remember I talked about why Avril Lavigne needs to stop making bratty songs earlier? That's what I'm saying. No bratty songs and the lead single has to be different. So how about a rock album. Yeah, that would be nice. A rock album sounds like a good choice for the sixth album. Plus, she can make alot of amazing rock tracks with good storytelling. Taylor Swift did that already. So how about doing the same thing Taylor Swift did for the next album. A crossover rock single for pop radio works perfectly for an Avril Lavigne rock single. Not only that, she needs good collaborations like Max Martin and make it appropriate for all ages, not explicit writing. Let's not forget that she needs another artist for a new collabo single too like Lorde. That's another reason Avril Lavigne is a fan favorite artist. One more thing, she needs to find a beautiful, mature talented image, not a spoiled brat image. You got that? Good. OK, that's it for my thoughts.
What do you think? Do you want Avril Lavigne's sixth album to be better than her fourth and fifth albums? Do you think it's the only way to bring back Avril Lavigne's number 1 records? Do you think 2015 would be a great time for Avril Lavigne to get her number 1 singles back? Sound off!
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