"...This song i dedicated specially for someone who is very special in my life and i want him to know that every moment and every second i'm gonna miss him...tq"
Saturday, June 9, 2007
The Best Damn Thing By Avril Lavigne
Things have certainly changed for Canadian rocker Avril Lavigne since 2004's sophomore effort Under My Skin. Where that album portrayed a petulant, pre-marriage Avril on angst overload - she moaned about boys, boys and, well, boys - latest disc The Best Damn Thing doesn't so much as moan about boys, rather it showcases Lavigne in a far feistier mood, kicking their asses and taking names respectively. It's a direction best offset by lead single Girlfriend, a swaggering, bitchy empowerment anthem that sees bad Avril tangle with her distinctly more geeky counterpart ('cause she's 'like, so whatever') for the affections of her current squeeze. It's confident, though at times complacently arrogant lyrics typify the standpoint Lavigne's taken as regards The Best Damn Thing. It's an assured, though not entirely fulfilling, set of songs designed to get fans off their asses and back into the mosh-pit - and to that degree, it works an absolute treat.
There's no playing the lowly underdog here, as the likes of I Can Do Better and Everything Back But You act as proverbial middle fingers to wasteful lovers, with Lavigne breaking into hysterical giggles at the climax of the former. When You're Gone and Innocence meanwhile show that Avril certainly hasn't lost her ear for a cracking power ballad, with the combination of subtle strings and gorgeous piano working especially well throughout Innocence's loved-up tale of (you'd assume) Lavigne's not-so-recent marriage to Sum 41 frontman Deryck Whibley.
Long time fans will doubtless notice the writing credits for Lavigne's former lead guitarist Evan Taubenfeld on the likes of Innocence, Hot and One Of Those Girls - arguably the albums' three standout tracks - and considering Taubenfeld's successful co-work with Lavigne on debut album Let Go back in 2001, it really comes as little surprise to see his name attached to the albums best moments. If anything, it serves to show just how inexperienced Avril remains as a sole lyricist, with the bratty naivety of title-track The Best Damn Thing paling in comparison to Taubenfeld's assistance on Hot et al.
That said though, it's the same youthful innocence that makes The Best Damn Thing such a fun, engaging record. The excellent Runaway crashes along on a wave of crunchy guitars and Travis Barker-donated drums, whilst the catchy-as-hell Contagious sees Avril professing her qualities to a prospective partner, and whilst there are times when the songs show a worrying lack of substance, it's largely due to The Best Damn Thing being a no-frills romp of a record, not designed to be deep or particularly meaningful.
Lavigne's legion of fans will doubtless treat The Best Damn Thing like an early Christmas present, and so they should. For all its lyrical misgivings (largely when Avril tries to go it alone), TBTD is an exuberantly fun album, one that packs more than a fair punch and puts a delightfully perky twist on the direction of former releases Let Go and Under My Skin.
Though it's hard to see The Best Damn Thing furthering Lavigne's aims of ultimately becoming a serious singer-songwriter, for now it's simply a case - as her currently dyed hair suggests - of blondes having just that bit more fun.
These are the songs provided in this album :
- Girlfriend
- Keep Holding On
- When You're Gone
- I Can Do Better
- Runaway
- Everything Back But You
- One Of Those Girls
- Contagious
- I Don't Have To Try
- Innocence
- The Best Damn Thing
- Hot
The new Hillary Duff - Dignity
Dignity is the third studio album by Hillary Duff, released in Italy onMarch 23, in theUnited Kingdom, Spain and Portugal on March 26, 2007, in Japan on March 28,2007, in Australia on March 31, 2007, and in the United States by Hollywood Records on April 3, 2007. The first single was "With Love", and the second is "Stranger".In September 2005 Duff said she would "love" Joel and Benji Madden, who produced songs on her compilation album Most Wanted, to produce one of her albums. In January 2006 Duff said she wanted to take time on the album and "really work on [it]", possibly by herself or with just one other producer and songwriter. "[I want to] do it just a little bit different from how I've done it in the past and see what we come up with", she said.
Duff co-wrote all tracks but "Outside of You", which was co-written by singer Pink, and Kara DioGuardi is a co-writer on every song except "Outside of You" and "Gypsy Woman" (co-written by Haylie Duff). Duff said working with DioGuardi "allowed me to talk about things on my mind. It was one big therapy session."According to Duff, she wanted to work with DioGuardi because she liked DioGuardi's work on melodies, which she says "[are] not my strongest suit." Duff wrote most of the lyrics with occasional help from DioGuardi: "She'd say, 'This doesn't really fit', and if I was adamant, we'd make it work." She said the process of her writing lyrics, which she had only done "here and there" on her previous albums, was "important this time".
Duff also worked with producer-songwriter Rhett Lawrence in Toronto, Canada. Other producers and mixers on the album include Greg Wells, Ryan Tedder, Richard "Humpty" Vission, Tim and Bob, and Manny Marroquin, and will.i.am of hip-hop/R&B group The Black Eyed Peas. Chico Bennett, Vada Nobles and Fred Wreck have also contributed.
An early version of the song "Happy" was featured in the 2006 film Material Girls, in which Duff starred. It was originally set to the beat of "Play with Fire", but the lyrics were later changed, and it became a new song.
These are a few songs that are included in this album :
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