Avril Lavigne reached #2 with “Complicated”

Complicated Avril Lavigne

Writer(s): Avril Lavigne, Lauren Christy, Scott Spock, Graham Edwards (see lyrics here) Released: April 23, 2002 First Charted: April 13, 2002 Peak: 2 US, 18 RR, 13 AC, 116 A40, 3 UK, 1, 16 AU, 9 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.1 US, 0.89 UK, 3.0 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 0.8 radio, 753.98 video, 807.89 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Canadian singer/songwriter Avril Lavigne was 17 years old when her debut single, “Complicated,” was released. The song went all the way to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, halted by Nelly’s “Hot in Herre.” The song reached the top in Australia, Canada, Mexico, and New Zealand. She’d signed to Arista Records in November 2000. They’d also initially seen her as singing folk songs, but she had “just discovered guitar-based rock.” WK After she was teamed with the production team The Matrix, they worked with her punk-rock leanings and wrote what evolved into “Complicated.” WK There was some controversy over how much Lavigne contributed to the song. She said she wrote most of the lyrics, but The Matrix said they crafted most of the song. SF The song is about the facades people create. As Lavigne said, “People sometimes bother me how they’re not real and they’re just, like, putting on a face and being two-faces.” WK Despite the song’s theme, there was a very concerted effort to market her with a certain image, specifically that of “an indie-punk tomboy” who wrote her own songs. SF Entertainment Weekly’s Daid Browne said Lavigne was “the epitome of the blossoming anti-Britney movement.” WK Sal Cinquemani of Slant magazine saw the song as “more poser than punk” WK but All Music Guide’s Christina Saraceno said the song was “a gem of a pop/rock tune with a killer chorus.” WK It song was nominated for Grammys for Song of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. It also won Best New Artist in a Video at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards. It won a Juno Award for Single of the Year and an Ivor Novello Award for International Hit of the Year. Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Avril Lavigne SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 2/13/2021; last updated 4/18/2024.

Avril Lavigne's Let Go released

Let Go Avril Lavigne

Released: June 4, 2002 Charted: June 22, 2002 Peak: 2 US, 13 UK, 12 CN, 17 AU Sales (in millions): 6.8 US, 1.71 UK, 17.1 world (includes US and UK) Genre: pop

Tracks: Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Losing Grip (4/1/03, 64 US, 17 RR, 33 A40, 22 UK, 20 AU) Complicated (4/13/02, 2 US, 1 RR, 13 AC, 1 A40, 3 UK, 1 CN, 1 AU) Sk8er Boi (8/27/02, 10 US, 1 RR, 23 A40, 8 UK, 29 CN, 3 AU) I’m with You (11/19/02, 4 US, 1 RR, 18 AC, 1 A40, 7 UK, 18 CN) Mobile Unwanted Tomorrow Anything But Ordinary Things I’ll Never Say My World Nobody’s Fool Too Much to Ask Naked Total Running Time: 48:37

Rating: 3.675 out of 5.00 (average of 24 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: “Talk about pressure – being under 21 and having a record deal no longer qualifies as extraordinary. And as mass-produced teen pop makes its exit and a glut of young singer/songwriters enter, child prodigies no longer have built-in marketing appeal. So if newcomer, 17-year-old Avril Lavigne truly wants to be Anything But Ordinary, as she sings on her debut album, Let Go, she’ll have to dig deeper.” AMG “Luckily for Lavigne, aside from youth, she does have talent. Her debut runs the gamut from driving rock numbers like Losing Grip – where Lavigne shows off her vocal range, powering into the anger-fueled, explosive rock chorus – to singer/songwriter pop tunes like My World, where Lavigne fills listeners in on the past 17 years of her life.” AMG “Lavigne handles a variety of styles deftly, but she still has some growing up to do lyrically. Sk8er Boi has a terrific power pop bounce, but shows her lyrical shortcomings: ‘He was a punk/She did ballet/What more can I say’ – a lot. The phrasing is awkward and sometimes silly: ‘It’s funny when you think it’s gonna work out/ Till you chose weed over me you’re so lame,’ she sings on Too Much to Ask.” AMG “Not surprisingly, the standout track is the first single, Complicated, a gem of a pop/rock tune with a killer chorus. But listen carefully and you'll realize that [its] sing-song melody borrows just enough from Pink’s ‘Don’t Let Me Get Me’ to make it familiar and likeable. Nonetheless, the song is a knockout radio hit.” AMG “Lavigne, a self-professed skater punk and labelmate of Pink, shares her Take Me As I Am credo as well. And that said, it’s hard not to look at this record, executive produced by Arista label head Antonio ‘L.A.’ Reid, who is thanked by Lavigne for allowing ‘me to be myself,’ and feel cynical about the music industry’s willingness to reproduce a hit over and over. Lavigne, however, is a capable songwriter with vocal chops, and at her age, one imagines, she is still finding her feet, borrowing from the music she’s grown up listening to. The problem is Lavigne is still so young she's listening to the radio hits of the ‘90s and early 2000s: she’s Pink when she’s bucking authority, Alanis Morissette when she’s angry, and Jewel when she’s sensitive. Let Go shows promise, but the question is whether Lavigne and only Lavigne will shine through on her next effort.” AMG

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Avril Lavigne AMG All Music Guide by Christina Saraceno WK Wikipedia First posted 3/29/2008; last updated 5/4/2022.