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Avril Lavigne returns in good mood

(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-03-05 14:21

Los ANGELES: When Avril Lavigne released album No. 2 in 2004, the spunky teen pop star announced to the world that she was growing up. Gone were the baggy pants and skater-chick image that first earned Lavigne the media-christened nickname of "the anti-Britney".

On that year's Under My Skin, punky anthems like Sk8er Boi were replaced largely with grammatically correct, midtempo teen-angst rockers. The album was released a few months shy of Lavigne's 20th birthday, and the black-and-white Goth imagery made it clear that Lavigne was dealing with some intense late-teen issues.

Today, Lavigne is done with all that.

On April 17, she will release her third album, Best Damn Thing, on RCA, and the mood is decidedly lighter. Ask Lavigne about the single Girlfriend, and she doesn't so much answer as break into song - chorus, air punches and all.

Lavigne has never been nearly as animated as she is on Best Damn Thing, at least based on the six songs previewed for the press. Contagious, her hardest-rocking song to date, features Blink-182's Travis Barker on drums.

Yet elsewhere, the album moves like an arena-rock party, with the title track and I Can Do Better built for fan sing-alongs.

OVER IT

"I was just so over writing such serious songs," Lavigne said. "Even though they really weren't that serious, I went through a little dark phase when I was 18 and wrote Under My Skin. But I grew out of that. Lyrically, I didn't know where I was going to go on this record. I totally did not even think about it. I had no theme. I was thinking more about the music and the vibe."

The vibe of Girlfriend is pure high school pep rally, complete with shout-outs and hand claps. With its '60s girl group meets punk rock feel, the song, in fact, could be a cheerleading routine, were it not for Lavigne's penchant for swearing.

All signs point to Lavigne re-embracing a lighter, more colorful approach to her music and image for the release of Best Damn Thing.