On her latest album, Goodbye Lullaby, Avril Lavigne takes listeners on a musical journey through the rocky emotion of love, topping beautiful pianos and guitar tracks with heartfelt yet at times redundant lyrics.
After a four-year hiatus, the Canadian pop-punk princess is back, attempting to shed her tough rocker image for a more mature sound. She even wrote and co-wrote every song on the album, including bonus track “Alice,” featured in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland.
But despite her best efforts, Goodbye Lullaby ultimately lacks balance and comes off sounding like it could have been sung by P!nk or Katy Perry.
Of course, the album isn’t without its strengths. The lead single, “What the Hell,” has major commercial appeal. The catchy hook and familiar themes of being free and having fun remind listeners of the old rebellious Lavigne they fell in love with. “I don’t really care about if you love me,” she sings. “If you hate me / You can’t save me / Baby, baby / All my life I been good but now / Whoa what the hell.”
On Goodbye Lullaby, Lavigne sounds like she’s battling between two loves: her ex-husband and her new beau. The main themes of the album sway between “I miss you” and “I love you,” “let’s be together” and “we can’t be together,” and, of course, “I love you” and “I hate you.”
The two standout tracks are “Wish You Were Here” and “Smile.” On “Smile,” Lavigne sings about a guy who’s stolen her heart because he can make her smile. On “Wish You Were Here,” the topic is reminiscing about a love and wishing he were near.
Despite all the raw emotion on Goodbye Lullaby, it’s ultimately the songs reminding listeners of Lavigne’s earlier work that sound the best. Case in point: “Darlin,” Which Lavigne wrote when she was 15. It’s cute and raw, focusing on keeping your head up and loving a person the best way you can.
Lavigne shook things up when she first hit the scene with her cheeky, cheerfully rebellious brand of pop-punk. Although Goodbye Lullaby is worth a listen — especially if you’ve recently gone through a breakup — Lavigne would do well to return to her original sound.
