Music Head Wrote:enters the Billboard chart this week at #5

allmusic gives it a 2.1 of 3.0
Grooveshark online listen
two entirely different sounds here
as we know her, morphs into Evanescence
the transition no doubt the Chad Kroeger influence
might gain some new fans but I prefer the pop side



Bio - from allmusic

Avril Lavigne first appeared in summer 2002, touting an addictive debut single (the spunky pop/rock gem "Complicated") and a skatepunk image
that purposely clashed with the polished glamour of mainstream pop. Lavigne, who was 17 at the time, quickly rose to teen idol status, selling
several million copies of her debut album, Let Go (the best-selling album by a female artist in 2002), while inspiring a genuine fashion craze
with her penchant for tank tops and neckties. As the decade progressed, so did Lavigne's marketable sound, which took a contemplative turn on
the sophomore effort Under My Skin before reaching an aggressively upbeat tone for 2007's The Best Damn Thing.

Born into a devout Christian household in the small town of Napanee, Ontario, Lavigne sharpened her vocal talents in church choirs, local
festivals, and county fairs. She began playing guitar and writing songs in her early teens, focusing her early efforts on country music and
contributing vocals to several albums by local folk musician Steve Medd. Arista Records caught wind of the singer and brought her aboard at the
age of 16, with CEO Antonio "L.A." Reid personally taking Lavigne under his wing. She quit high school, relocated to Manhattan, and set to work
with a handful of prime songwriters and producers, but the partnerships only produced country songs, not the rock music in which Lavigne had
become increasingly interested. Arista relented and instead sent Lavigne to Los Angeles, where she fashioned her melodic, edgy debut alongside
such writing teams as the Matrix. Released in 2002, Let Go was the polished product, and its four high-charting singles -- "Complicated," "Sk8er
Boi," "I'm with You," and "Losing Grip" -- led the album to multi-platinum status within its second month of release. Lavigne became the
youngest female musician ever to have a number one album in the U.K., and she supported the wildly popular disc (which eventually gained eight
Grammy nominations) with a tour of Europe, Asia, North America, and Australia.

Compared with the skin-bearing antics of other teen idols -- Britney Spears chief among them -- Lavigne was a new kind of superstar, one whose
appeal didn't rely on sexy videos or suggestive music. She further distinguished herself by bypassing the assistance of professional writing
teams during the creation of her second album, choosing instead to collaborate with singer/songwriter Chantal Kreviazuk, Evanescence's Ben
Moody, and Evan Taubenfeld (who had previously worked with Lavigne as her touring guitarist). Released in May 2004, Under My Skin was more
serious than its predecessor, dealing with such issues as premarital sex ("Don't Tell Me"), depression ("Nobody's Home"), and the death of
Lavigne's grandfather ("Slipped Away"). The album debuted at number one in more than ten countries, went platinum within one month, and further
established Lavigne as a pop icon. Incidentally, a song that was co-written by Lavigne and ultimately cut from the final track list --
"Breakaway" -- was later given to Kelly Clarkson, who used it as the title track and lead-off single for her Grammy-winning sophomore album.

Lavigne married her boyfriend of two years, Sum 41's Deryck Whibley, in July 2006, just one month after the animated film Over the Hedge
announced her cinematic debut (Lavigne voiced the part of Heather, a hungry opossum). She also appeared in Richard Linklater's fictional
adaptation of Fast Food Nation, which was released that November. Nevertheless, she spent most of the year working on her third album, enlisting
former blink-182 drummer Travis Barker to play drums, and cherry-picking a variety of producers (including her husband) to helm the recording
sessions. The Best Damn Thing appeared in April 2007, and its lead-off single, "Girlfriend," marked a return to the bratty, spunky, punk-pop of
her first album. "Girlfriend" soon became the subject of controversy as the '70s power pop band the Rubinoos sued Lavigne, claiming that her
tune reworked their 1979 song "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend." No amount of bad publicity could hurt the singer, however, as "Girlfriend" became her
biggest U.S. single ever and The Best Damn Thing topped album charts worldwide.

Lavigne filed for divorce from Whibley in October of 2009. The dissolution of their union featured heavily on her next album, 2011's Goodbye
Lullaby, which included tracks produced by Whibley.

Lavigne returned to the studio just weeks after the release of Goodbye Lullaby and begun work on her fifth album. In 2012 she started working on
new material with Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger and eventually the pair began dating; she married Kroeger on July 1, 2013. By that point, she
had released "Here's to Never Growing Up," the first single from her eponymous fifth album. Released in October, Avril Lavigne featured eight
songs co-written by Kroeger, who also duetted with Avril on the record's third single, "Let Me Go."



Album Review - from allmusic

There is a pattern to Avril Lavigne albums, one that's easily discernible to anybody paying attention. First comes the party, then comes the
reflection, then comes the party again. Avril Lavigne, her eponymous fifth album, is an odd-numbered release, so that means it's one of her
party records, somewhat mitigated by her union with fellow Canadian post-grunge superstar Chad Kroeger. The Nickelback frontman co-wrote well
over half of this 13-track album, including the dearly beloved couple's duet "Let Me Go," and his blunt-force hooks and bad taste are evident
all over the place, whether it's the vaguely icky sex song "Bad Girl" -- where Marilyn Manson is the daddy to Avril's baby girl, a union made
creepier by Kroeger's presence as a co-writer and producer -- to the fist-pumping openers of "Rock N Roll" and "Here's to Never Growing Up."
Lavigne's full-throated testament to "singing Radiohead at the top of our lungs" on the latter suggests the tin ear at play here: this is
rebellion where the signifiers are off -- after all, what Radiohead song would ever soundtrack a joyride by mall-punk delinquents? The specifics
suggest the isolation of the almost-30 Lavigne from the mainstream -- the former skate-punk brat is now the corporate rebel she's always wanted
to be -- but ultimately it doesn't matter much because the hooks are stronger, better than so many of Avril's songs since her 2002 debut, Let
Go. This doesn't have the abandon of The Best Damn Thing, the 2007 record where she fully embraced her trashiness, but Lavigne's thorough
collaboration with Kroeger keeps Avril Lavigne from being anything near respectable, and while the bad taste can wind up as gauche -- "Hello
Kitty" bypasses bubblegum so it can settle into the embarrassing -- this ultimately winds up as one of Avril's livelier and better albums; it's
all about the good times, no matter how temporary or illusionary they may be.

first single:

[video=youtube;sXd2WxoOP5g]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXd2WxoOP5g[/video]

Track Listing

1. Rock N Roll
2. Here's to Never Growing Up
3. 17
4. Bitchin' Summer
5. Let Me Go
6. Give You What You Like
7. Bad Girl
8. Hello Kitty
9. You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet
10. Sippin' on Sunshine
11. Hello Heartache
12. Falling Fast
13. Hush Hush