Avril Lavigne released her sixth studio album, “Head Above Water,” Friday after a long six-year hiatus.
Lavigne, as many know, started her career with legendary pop-punk anthems like “Complicated” and “Sk8ter Boi,” which helped cultivate her image as an edgy teen icon. Her signature voice and sound were recognizable throughout the 2000s in her first five albums.
Unfortunately, life remains “Complicated” for Lavigne, who took some time off from releasing music to handle some personal struggles. She is still standing, however, despite an internet hoax that claimed she died and was replaced with a look-alike by name of Melissa.
In addition, she was diagnosed with Lyme disease shortly after her 30th birthday and split with her now ex-husband Chad Kroeger.
Though Lavigne lyrically included some of the hardships she faced in the album, her discography and identity still felt stagnant. Lavigne doesn’t showcase anything new compared to her previous albums.
“Head Above Water” is the lead single on the album, and it serves as a promising start to Lavigne’s comeback era.
The song addresses Lavigne’s battle with Lyme disease, as she previously addressed to her fans on her website: “I had accepted death and could feel my body shutting down. I felt like I was drowning. Like I was going under water and I just needed to come up for air … Praying to God for Him to help me just keep my head above the water.”
Lavigne brings in some Christian rock influences to the single, along with some of the previous pop-punk influences she had cultivated in her earlier music.
“Tell Me It’s Over” is probably the other standout song, as it showcases Lavigne’s powerful voice along with some vulnerable moments that she does not normally show in her work. However, the song never seems to reach its full potential and starts to lose its appeal after the first listen.
Most of the other tracks on this album were forgettable and seemed like B-side tracks that were scrapped from Lavigne’s previous five albums.
“It Was In Me” sounds like a rip-off of one of her earlier hits, “I’m With You,” which is further evidence of her lacking musical growth and progression.
The worst song on the album, “Dumb Blonde,” features Nicki Minaj. It sounds like it was written when Lavigne was still a teenager, or as if her label decided that it wasn’t good enough to put on one of her more iconic albums.
The chorus of “Dumb Blonde” is again reminiscent of Lavigne’s early music, but it falls short of her iconic songs like “Sk8ter Boi.” It sounds like a song that just should have been scrapped altogether and never seen the light of day.
Even Minaj’s verse sounds phoned in, done at the last minute. For a comeback album after a six-year hiatus, you would think that a little bit more effort would have been put into writing a better song and adding a better feature.
“Birdie” is a song that had a lot of potential. But like most of the others on the album, it disappoints.
The message of “Birdie” is about Lavigne flying away from her problems like a bird. It was reminiscent of Kesha’s song on her most recent album “Learn To Let Go” — but unlike Kesha, Lavigne fails to express genuine emotion. Instead, the song feels copied, like something that has already been released by thousands of other artists before.
Now that Lavigne has made somewhat of a comeback, it will be interesting to see how she continues to progresses, or not progress, with her music.
Millennials across the country recognize Lavigne as an idol of their MTV eras. Assuming that she doesn’t take another beak from fame long enough to create doppelganger rumors, fans will wait patiently to see if she maintains that status as a pop-punk artist or if she will experiment with other genres of music.
“Head Above Water” seems a little bit too safe. This reality will probably hurt Lavigne rather than help her as she continues to develop her career. However, she can only go up from here, and this is definitely not the last time we will be hearing from her.
