Rating: NNN
When not blaming carb-loading for her dorky lyrics and verbally bitch-slapping Britney in the press for being trampy, Avril Lavigne’s made a point of insisting she’s not some girly pop tart, man – she’s a raaaawker chick. Ergo, her sophomore album is a stompy-booted claim to the Jagged Little Pill throne recently vacated by Ms. Morissette. Under My Skin hits the ground running with looped, feedbacked guitars and thrashy nu metal riffs courtesy of Linkin Park producer Don Gilmore, then veers into the alt-rock power ballad territory of Sony lovebirds Raine Maida and Chantal Kreviazuk, who play foster parents to li’l Lavigne, sharing co-writing and/or production credits on over half the tracks. Lavigne’s smartest move was ditching the Matrix (maybe she was pissed they rehashed Complicated for Liz Phair?) in favour of more sophisticated collaborators. Bubble-gum pop it ain’t, but Avril’s real appeal is in translating teen angst into believably insipid lyrics – the ones here are charmingly raw.
