Under My Skin by Avril Lavigne
2004, Arista Records
'Under My Skin' is a firm fan-favourite with Lavigne providing the perfect soundtrack for every pre-teen girl who has somehow been wronged. It is unsurprising then that pretty much every song on the album is about breaking up with your boyfriend, perhaps because he's pressuring you into sex or because he doesn't open doors for you or tell you that you're special. That becomes Lavigne's main weakness; she seems to be desperate to show us that she's a capable songwriter but she doesn't have many stories worth telling - even when she does, such as in "Slipped Away", a song about her grandfather who died, her lyrics fail to produce anything other than a basic, clumsy list of emotions ('I miss you so bad, I don't forget you, oh it's so sad').
There are a few lyrical highlights, especially in "My Happy Ending", but ultimately it's the production and vocal delivery that really makes this album shine, with Lavigne ambitiously merging together heavy rock guitars with golden pop melodies. Each song has been so expertly produced and so well thought out that it's a shame that the lyrics don't quite do them justice. Despite this, 'Under My Skin' has clearly had a lot of effort put into it and songs like "Fall To Pieces", "Together" and "Nobody's Home" definitely deserve a listen (if you can overlook her bland rhyming of 'home' with 'home')!…
6/10
(Edited in May '12)