Avril Lavigne
          Let Go
          Arista, 2003

Musical Quality:
Fun Factor:

Review:

Well, this is my first album review, and I must say it's a pretty good one. You'll notice that there are two star ratings: one for "musical quality," which takes into account how the album sounds, whether or not it's innovative or different, and of course lyrical relavance and prowess. The second star rating is what I call "fun factor," athough it could also be called "pop factor." Basically, I'm rating the "poppiness" of the album. How catchy it is, how radio-friendly it is, and how much it will entertain the masses. Some music lovers hat "poppiness," but I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing. So anyway, if you hat "pop" music and you see a high "fun factor" rating, stay away! Also, the reason why I call it "fun factor" rather than "pop factor" is that there are two kinds of music I like: good music and fun music. Good music might get a high rating on "musical quality" but little or nothing for "fun factor"; fun music may be musically awful, but it's either damn catchy or just plain fun, hence "fun factor."

Anyway, on to Avril. I'm actually really impressed with the 18-year-old from Canada. Other than the fact that her first two singles, "Complicated" and "Sk8ter Boi" were and still are horrendously overplayed (and her third single "I'm With You" is well on its way to joining them), the songs really are good pop songs, and the rest of the album lives up to the reputations of the first three singles.

The album is definitely a fun listen; the only song that sometimes makes me want to puke is the pseudo-rapping Avril attempts on "Nobody's Fool." It seems a little out of place on such a hard-rocking pop album. Speaking of hard-rocking pop, I think Avril is doing a great thing for music. Even though it's just as bubblegum as Brittney in a way, at least she's helping to reintroduce guitars back into mainstream pop music. And that's definitely a good thing.

I'll stop here, but if I feel like adding more later, I can. Ciao!