Avril Lavigne: Avril Lavigne Album Review

 Avril Lavigne came into the music industry in 2002 when she released her first album "Let Go" which had a total of 5 singles, "Complicated", "Sk8er Boi", "I'm With You", "Losing Grip", and "Mobile".  "Complicated", "Sk8er Boi", and "I'm With You", were hits in the U.S. while "Losing Grip", although a favorite of Avril herself, didn't achieve the same success, and "Mobile" was only released in Australia and New Zealand and its' video was leaked onto youtube about 8 years after its' single release.  Avril's second album "Under My Skin", released 2 years after "Let Go",  was much more darker than "Let Go" and had more of a raw and rock sound opposed to the radio-friendly, pop/rock sound of "Let Go".  "Under My Skin" had 6 singles released, "Don't Tell Me", "Take Me Away", "My Happy Ending", "Nobody's Home", "He Wasn't" and "Fall to Pieces".  "Don't Tell Me" and "My Happy Ending" were the most successful singles from the album, "Nobody's Home" faired pretty well on the charts, "Take Me Away" was a promo single in Canada and Australia, "He Wasn't" was released in only a few countries such as the UK and Australia, and "Fall to Pieces" was released in only Canada and the U.S. and although somewhat successful the song had no video and is Avril's lowest charting single in the states.  Before she released her third album she released a song called "Keep Holding On" for Eragon, although the movie wasn't successful the song was.  Avril's third album "The Best Damn Thing", released 3 years after its' proceeder, was much more upbeat pop with 6 singles, "Girlfriend", "Girlfriend (Remix featuring Lil' Mama), When You're Gone", "Hot", "Innocence", and "The Best Damn Thing".  "Girlfriend" became Avril's first number 1 in the U.S., "Girlfriend (Remix)" and "When You're Gone" did great on the charts, "Hot" didn't do so well, "Innocence" was only released in the UK where it charted badly, and "The Best Damn Thing" didn't do any better although it did chart in the U.S. without a physical CD single release.  Before the release of her fourth album she released a song called "Alice" for Tim Burton's "Alice In Wonderland" movie, a longer version of the song appeared on Avril's fourth album.  Avril's fourth album, "Goodbye Lullaby" was released 4 years after "The Best Damn Thing", although it was later revealed that Avril had finished the album almost 2 years before its release but stated that her than record label, RCA records, kept delaying the release.  "Goodbye Lullaby" was a much more serious adult alternative/acoustic pop record and had a total of 4 singles, "What the Hell", "Smile", "Wish You Were Here", and "Push".  "What the Hell" was the most successful, "Smile" was the lowest charting single from the album, "Wish You Were Here" barely did better than "Smile" and "Push" was released only in Japan.  The song "Goodbye" released a video in 2012 without a single release.  Avril had begun work on her 5th album around the time she was promoting "Goodbye Lullaby" in 2011.  Now after 2 years Avril has finally released her 5th album, self-titled, "Avril Lavigne.  Now after a long background of her past (which I apologize for typing it all) here's my track-by-track review of her album.

1) Rock N Roll: Rock N Roll was released as the album's 2nd single.  It is my favorite song on the album.  It's video was very weird with Avril fighting a bear-shark, having a dog drive, and her fight a lobster.  One of it's highlights was the beginning of the video were she quoted some lyrics to "Sk8er Boi", her 2nd single from her first album "Let Go".  It's title is ironic since it's pop/punk as opposed to rock and roll but it's still my favorite.  I only wonder why it wasn't the first single.  10/10.

2) Here's to Never Growing Up: The 1st single from the album.  I liked the song when it first but after awhile it became kind of boring.  The video for the song was a prom theme which also had Avril dressed her the exact same clothing as "Complicated", the first single from "Let Go".  8/10.

3) 17: A pop/rock track about reminiscing about how being 17 was.  Avril performed the song months before the album's release and it leaked almost 2 months before the album release as well.  But the song is still good.  10/10.

4) Bitchin' Summer: A summer song on an album that was released in the fall?  This would be strange, however Avril had mentioned that the album had a summer vibe and was supposed to be released in July.  It was then pushed back to September and finally to November.  This is the first time we hear Avril rap in a song and she's pretty good, but that being said I'm glad she won't be doing a rap album anytime soon.  It makes me wish summer would be here already!  10/10.

5) Let Me Go (featuring Chad Kroeger): The 3rd single from the album.  After a bunch of upbeat songs, we finally get a ballad and it features Avril's husband Chad Kroeger, the lead singer of Nickelback.  When I found out it was a ballad I thought, she's releasing a ballad as the third single just like she did with "I'm With You" on "Let Go".  The video and song are great but I feel that it would've been better on a Nickelback album because it sounds like a Nickelback song instead of an Avril Lavigne.  10/10.

6) Give You What You Like:  Another ballad, but unlike "Let Me Go", "Give You What You Like" is more dark and serious.  It feels like it could've been on "Under My Skin" or "Goodbye Lullaby".  2014 Update: Avril has said that this song will be the fifth single from the album.  10/10.

7) Bad Girl (featuring Marilyn Manson):  Avril Lavigne and Marilyn Manson collaborating together?  As strange and scary as it may sound "Bad Girl" is one of the best songs on the album.  If this is the next single it would prove that Avril's trying to go back to the "Let Go era" since this song is a rock song, just like the 4th single from "Let Go", "Losing Grip".  Although I'd be fine with that I'd just find it a little weird.  That being said it's another one of my favorite's on this album. 2014 Update: A video for the song was used on Avril's tour.  10/10.

8) Hello Kitty:  From a rock song to and electronic influenced song?  Yes I'm surprised too.  It's a very upbeat song that was inspired by Avril's love for Hello Kitty.  2014 Update:  This song is the fourth single from the album.  Not only is the song the worst one on the album but the video is jusst horrible!  2/10.

9) You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet: This song is perfect.  This pop/rock track is something you'd expect from Avril.  It sounds like it could've been on "Let Go" or "The Best Damn Thing".  I question why this wasn't the first single because it's way better than "Here's to Never Growing Up".  10/10.

10) Sippin' On Sunshine: Another Summer song.  With a great chorus, I think it could do really well if it's released sometime in summer 2014, but the chances of that are unlikely.  This song makes me happy.  10/10.

11) Hello Heartache: Like "Give You What You Like" this a song where you hear Avril's raw vocals.  Before the album release "Hello Heartache" had another title which was "Complete Me", a song that didn't make Avril's last album "Goodbye Lullaby".  The original instrumental of "Complete Me" was leaked back in 2011 but the instrumental for "Hello Heartache" sounds much different.  This song took awhile for me to like which is interesting considering I relate to this song the most out of all the songs on the album.  10/10.

12) Falling Fast: A love song that could've been written by Taylor Swift.  I used to hate it before but after awhile I started to like it more and more.  It's an amazing song that shows off Avril's amazing vocals.  The song is about falling in love with someone.  10/10.

13) Hush, Hush:  Like "Falling Fast", I ignored this song as well.  The song has grown on me and I think it's an amazing ballad that could've been on "Goodbye Lullaby".  It is a sad song that a lot of people can relate to.  9/10.

14) Rock N Roll (Acoustic): If you got the deluxe edition of the album at target or got the Taiwan or Japanese version of the album, you got this song.  It's an acoustic version of the 2nd single but it doesn't sound as good as the original.  7/10.

15) Bad Reputation: Cover of Joan Jett's song.  Not only is it a bonus track on this album in Taiwan and Japan vesions but it's also on the One Piece Z movie soundtrack and a bonus track on "Goodbye Lullaby".  Avril fans will love it, Joan Jett fans probably won't.  10/10.

16) How You Remind Me: Cover of Nickelback's song.  It was recorded for the One Piece Z movie soundtrack.  Avril's cover is defined as "sadcore rock" as opposed to Nickelback's which is "post-grunge".  Although I prefer Nickelback's original version, Avril does a good job covering the song.  9/10.

 Avril's self-titled album to me is better than "The Best Damn Thing" and "Goodbye Lullaby" but it's not as good as "Let Go" and "Under My Skin".  It's still a great album though.  The songs I recommend are: Rock N Roll, Here's to Never Growing Up, 17, Bitchin' Summer, Let Me Go, Give You What You Like, Bad Girl, Falling Fast, You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet, Sippin' On Sunshine, Hello Heartache, Hush Hush, Bad Reputation, and How You Remind Me.  Out of 160 points the album gets 145 which is summed up to a 90% an A.  Great Job Avril!

Taylor Swift: Red Album Review

 Taylor Swift came into the music industry in 2006 when she released her self-titled album which had 5 hits singles, "Tim McGraw", "Teardrops On My Guitar", "Our Song", "Picture to Burn", and "Should've Said No".  In 2008 she continued her success with her second album "Fearless".  "Fearless" debuted at number 1 on the billboard charts also with 5 hit singles, "Love Story", "White Horse", "You Belong With Me", "Fifteen", and "Fearless".  Although "Fearless" was a hard album to beat Taylor managed to do so in 2010 with "Speak Now", where she wrote all the songs by herself.  The album had 6 singles, "Mine", "Back to December", "Mean", "The Story of Us", "Sparks Fly", and "Ours".  "The Story of Us" became Taylor's first, and so far only single, to miss the top 40 on the billboard charts.  I thought when Taylor was going to release her 4th album it'd be better than "Speak Now".  BOY WAS I WRONG!  Despite "Red" doing good on the charts, it sounded uneven and bad to me.  Here's my review of the album track by track.

1) State of Grace: State of Grace was released as the final promo before the album released.  It sounded like something U2 probably would have sung.  Despite that it doesn't feel like a Taylor Swift song at all.  4/10.

2) Red: The title track was one of the 2 songs announced for the album in August.  It was also released as the second promo single.  Unlike State of Grace, I like this song.  Despite it using lines like "Losing him was blue like I'd never known, Missing him was dark gray all alone." and the auto-tuned "Red" part at the end of the chorus it still sounds great.  It was released as the 5th single and like previous 5th singles "Fearless" and "Sparks Fly" from her previous albums it's video showed parts of Taylor's concert.  That annoys me but at least we got a video right?  10/10.

3) Treacherous: When I saw this as a song title I thought it'd be an angry song like "Picture to Burn".  Clearly I was wrong, however the song is my favorite song on the whole album.  It's slow buts gets a little faster as it continues.  Taylor co-wrote the song with Dan Wilson who co-wrote Adele's hit "Someone Like You" so it's no surprise the song is great.  This should be the final single instead of The Last Time.  10/10.

4) I Knew You Were Trouble: Considering State of Grace being alternative rock, Red being mainly pop, and Treacherous being country, we'd think there wouldn't be anymore surprises with the album.  However I Knew You Were Trouble adds a little bit of dub step to the mix.  Very surprising.  The song was released as the third promo single and later the 3rd official single from the album.  I liked the song initially but after hearing on radio so much it bored me to death.  The video was great though.  7/10.

5) All to Well:  Co-written by Liz Rose, who's co-written a lot of Taylor's songs, All to Well ends up being the longest song on the record.  I didn't like the song at first but after a bad day last December I listened to it and it grew on me.  It's rumored to be about Taylor's ex-boyfriend and famous actor, Jake Gyllenhaal.  9/10.

6) 22: When I first heard it I thought "Did she use the same melody from The Corrs' song Humdrum?".  Afterwards I thought it was catchy and then I turned 22 and many people would mention this song.  It annoyed me so much and the fact that this song was released as the 4th single didn't help.  After a couple of listens today I'm starting to think it was a rejected from a Katy Perry album.  5/10.

7) I Almost Do:  I don't listen to this one.  For some reason it's not memorable.  2/10.

8) We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together: I HATE THIS SONG!  I admit it sounded good the first time I heard it.  Then it got on my nerves.  It sounds like a song Avril Lavigne might've recorded if she didn't do "Under My Skin".  This was the 1st single from the album and became Taylor's first number 1 on the billboard charts.  WHAT?!  I know, shocking especially since she's had better songs like "Love Story", "Sparks Fly", "Today Was a Fairytale", just to name a few.  The video is also strange was her band mates dresses as animals.  Creepy.  1/10.

9) Stay Stay Stay: Bad Bad Bad. That's all I have to say.  0/10.

10) The Last Time featuring Gary Lightbody from Snow Patrol: The 7th and final single from the album.  This is surprising considering Taylor rarely features anyone on her records.  The slow is is half good half bad.  Taylor's vocals are perfect but Gary's don't mesh well with hers.  I think if she did the song by herself it would've been better.  5/10.

11) Holy Ground:  Because of it's title, I thought the song would be a ballad.  Instead the song is more upbeat and probably could've been on Speak Now.  Not bad at all.  8/10.

12) Sad Beautiful Tragic: Unlike Holy Ground being upbeat Sad Beautiful Tragic is slow with hints of sadness and vulnerability.  The song also stays at the same pace without that much of a change.  Taylor's vocals are great but I feel the song goes on just a minute too long.  5/10.

13) The Lucky One: A song that tells a story about a star who faces many ups in the beginning but it comes crashing down and leaves the spotlight for a normal life.  Not a bad song but I skip it most of the time like I do with I Almost Do.  5/10

14) Everything Has Changed featuring Ed Sheeran): Another collaboration.  Unlike The Last Time Ed and Taylor's vocals complement each other perfectly.  It's mainly an acoustic-like song but it's hands down one of the best tracks.  It is the 6th single from the album and the video for it was cute.  10/10.

15) Starlight: Taylor's known for always having an amazing love song on her albums.  On her first album it was "Mary's Song (Oh My My)", on Fearless it was "Love Story", on Speak Now it was "Mine", and on Red it's Starlight.  This probably should've been the first single from the album.  My favorite part is the chorus.  10/10.

16) Begin Again: Begin Again was the first promo single from the album and then became the 2nd official single.  When I first heard it I thought it wasn't all the great but after a couple more listens I liked the song.  10/10.

17) The Moment I Knew: If you got the deluxe edition of Red at target you got 3 bonus tracks.  The first being The Moment I Knew.  Taylor shows a lot of vulnerability in this song.  I feel sad when I listen to it though.  9/10.

18) Come Back... Be Here: Like Treacherous, Come Back... Be Here was also co-written by Dan Wilson.  It's not bad but it isn't awesome, it's kind of in the middle.  6/10.

19) Girl At Home:  I go back and forth with this song.  When I first heard it I thought it was great and after awhile I thought it satisfactory.  I still listen to it a lot though.  Just like with Holy Ground this could've been on Speak Now.  9/10.

  Overall Taylor's Red album was not as good as "Taylor Swift", "Fearless", and "Speak Now".  I liked only a few of the songs on this album.  I understand artists need to grow but she basically made the album Avril Lavigne would've made after Let Go had she not gone and made Under My Skin.  Another thing that doesn't make sense is that before the album was released Taylor released two songs for the Hunger Games soundtrack called "Safe & Sound" and "Eyes Open", both amazing songs and so it doesn't make sense why she didn't make the album a little bit like those songs.  Anyway, the songs I recommend are: Red, Treacherous, All to Well, Everything Has Changed, Starlight, Begin Again, and Girl At Home.  Out of 190 points the album gets 125 which is summed up as 65% a D.  My advice to Taylor is stick with writing with Ed Sheeran and Liz Rose, don't lose your country pop sound, and I pray your 5th album ends up being better than this.  Sorry!

Hello

 Hello everyone,

 

 This is this first I'm doing blogging so I'm a little nervous.  Firstly I won't be using my real name on this blog so instead you can call me Unknown Drifter.  Secondly  I'm going to be reviewing albums that are either Pop, Pop/Rock, Country, and occasional  R&B as well talking about crazy things that go on in mind.  For anyone who's reading this, Hi and welcome.

 -Unknown Drifter