Avril Lavigne
Head Above Water
Release Date: Feb 15, 2019
Genre(s): Pop/Rock
Record label: BMG
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Album Review: Head Above Water by Avril Lavigne
Acceptable, Based on 6 Critics
Based on rating 6/10
What do you do with a rebel heart when it gets old? It's an age-old question that everyone from Elvis to JAY-Z have grappled with, with varying degrees of success. Yet few leaned into their youthful insouciance as hard and at so young an age as Avril Lavigne. Just 17 years old when her debut, Let Go, was released, she was already trying on different aesthetics (as anyone her age does) by the time her sophomore record dropped just two years later. Yet neither doubling down, moving past, nor looking back ever really seemed to suit Lavigne ….
Based on rating 3/5
After a mother of a rough patch, the Canadian pop-rocker returns with an album that sounds a lot like growing up gracefully Back in 2013, Avril Lavigne launched her last album with the nostalgic banger ‘Here’s To Never Growing Up’, which suggested she could be getting trapped by her ‘sk8er girl’ persona. When you sell 16m copies of your debut as a teenager, artistic development must be, well, complicated. But since 2013’s ‘Avril Lavigne’ campaign, she’s gone through divorce (her marriage to Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger ended in 2015) and a debilitating battle with Lyme Disease that left her bed-bound.
Based on rating 5.5/10
The word "yeah" is a noncommittal affirmation, the preferred response of huffy teens across the English-speaking world. But on the lips of Avril Lavigne, "yeah" is a powerful tool: On 2007's "When You're Gone," it's a plea for reconciliation; 2011's "What the Hell" uses them as a makeshift Greek chorus. The "yeahs" from her 2002 track "I'm With You" were so brightly evocative, Rihanna sampled them.
Based on rating 2.2/5
All my life I've been good, but now... One of the most curious aspects of Avril Lavigne's career has been her reverse maturation. She wrote mostly grown-up pop songs across Let Go and Under My Skin, then steered into a bratty punk-rock phase for The Best Damn Thing and parts of Goodbye Lullabye. That isn't to say that the quality was poor - the infusion of youth brought a dose of energy that was sorely missing - but still, it was odd to witness her pen innocent, poignant lyrics at age seventeen and then rapidly devolve into songs about Hello Kitty and literally being a slut ('Bad Girl', courtesy of Marilyn Manson).
Opinion: Very Good
An album that's meant to tell a story; of the teen-pop star's trials and tribulations. Avril Lavigne's sixth studio album - her first since overcoming Lyme disease - establishes itself as honest right from the get-go. From an all-baring album cover of monochromatic nudity that's meant to reiterate her growth into a serious song-writer to the poignant title of the album 'Head Above Water'- everything about the record is meant to represent growth and fights won.
Opinion: Mediocre
Rating: NN In 2002, I bought my first album: Avril Lavigne's Let Go. It was a love affair that left me with heavy-handed eyeliner, side bangs, the works. Even to this day my heart races when I hear a skateboard roll by. So yes, I had naive hopes for her comeback. She's been on hiatus since 2014 ….
'Head Above Water'
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