AVRIL LAVIGNE – “Sk8er Boi”
First seven seconds: pretty much perfect. That’s handy if you’re on a slow dial-up, plus it means you can imagine what the rest of the song is like. It is kind of what you’re imagining but with less time to tease and twang her vowels Avril sounds a bit puffed, so I’m not as interested (‘interested’). Meanwhile on first listen the narrative seems to be a “Teenage Dirtbag” re-write but really it’s quite nasty: Avril’s got the boy – the boi – her rival turned down and now she’s rubbing her face in it. It’s kind of disingenuous though cos she’s claiming reality-kudos compared to other-girl’s stuck-upness, whereas obviously the reason now-famous rockboi and now-famous Avril got together is because they are famous! So really “Sk8er Boi” is the biggest celebrity-bitch song since J Lo’s “Play”. Still, at least she’s happy.