It took Christina Aguilera three recorded studio albums before her record company gave her complete control of her music, yet rookie Avril Lavigne was given the green light by Arista even before she had recorded a song. But by no means is Lavigne similar to Aguilera, in fact she is more like the anti-Aguilera.

The Napanea, Ontario-born Lavigne is Michelle Branch with an attitude. Her debut and surely breakthrough album, ?Let Go,? starts off ?Losing Grip? expressing her feelings towards an ex-boyfriend with a somber verse. That quickly changes into a head-banging like sound by the time the chorus comes around. She also has some punk-rock in her, evident in the radio-friendly ?Sk8er Boi.?

But she?s not all rock. ?I?m With You,? reminiscent of a heart-felt ballad with a twist of a background rock band, focuses on her vocal talents instead of the production like the other songs. And of course there?s the very poppy ?Complicated,? which is tearing up radio charts all across the continent.

A fault of Lavigne?s is that some lyrics sound forced. When Bob Dylan writes rhyming tunes, they flow naturally, but in songs like ?Nobody?s Fool? and ?Naked,? it sounds like Lavigne is writing the lyrics just so they fit the mold of the music.

The pre-album release hype is not just label-fabricated hype. Lavigne is the real deal. ?Let Go? has depth, a characteristic that is rarely heard in a debut album. ?I?d rather be anything but ordinary,? she sings, and there is no doubt that Avril Lavigne is anything but that.

Track Listing:
1. Losing Grip
2. Complicated
3. Sk8er Boi
4. I’m With You
5. Mobile
6. Unwanted
7. Tomorrow
8. Anything But Ordinary
9. Things I’ll Never Say
10. My World
11. Nobody’s Fool
12. Too Much to Ask
13. Naked

andPOP rating: *****/***** plus a bonus * for mentioning Napanea in “My World.”






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