Avril Lavigne grows up too soon and loses her spunk

Who could forget Avril Lavigne? "Sk8er Boi" captured the hearts of many. "Losing Grip" certainly caused many of us to lose grip on our radios. I'm sure there's at least a handful of girls out there in the Loyola community that remembers wearing plaid skirts and ties with tank tops as a wonderful fashion statement in the early part of this century.

Avril was a big fad for a long time, with teenage boys even jamming to her tunes. Then she fell off the face of the music scene, in the way of her teen years, thought to be gone forever.

The sad truth is that Avril did not disappear. She married a Sum-41 boy and went blonde, throwing away the "punk rock" image that she once held so close to her soul. She now wears Coco Chanel-style clothing and a lot less eyeliner, proud of her new image. In September, she said, "When I was in high school I was a little shit, hanging out with the guys, getting drunk, getting in fights, playing hockey. My band was all guys, so I was only around guys, but when I got older I started being more of a chick. I broke out on the scene looking like the 17-year-old that I was. And from then to now I look really different -- but that's called growing up."

Maybe it is. She's even taken part in a small modeling career. Lavigne has also explored her acting ability, taking on a perfect role for her as Heather the Possum in "Over the Hedge," and appearing in the well-publicized "Fast Food Nation." She recently contributed a track to the fantasy-based movie "Eragon" and appeared as a celebrity guest at the 2006 Winter Olympics.

Now Lavigne's back and whinier then ever (in spite of what she might want everyone to believe), with her new album, sickeningly titled The Best Damn Thing, set to be released on April 17. For her first album and into the second, she was adamant in declaring that she was the representation of punk rock, and that was that. With her new girly, sophisticated image, she's claiming the exact opposite. "I'm not punk rock" she asserted in a recent interview, saying that she's more "pop rock" on her new album.

Pop is right. The rock is questionable. The new album seems to take on a softer approach, no longer telling cutesy, emo-type stories about life being oh-so-complicated. Instead, it goes for a "deeper," gentler sound, with love songs littering the 15-track record, probably due to her still-fresh marriage. She even proclaimed in September, "That's what I'm feeling at the moment. Of course, I still have my boy-bashing songs, but they're very playful. So the record is really fun and cool and different."

Of course, like every artist, she also had to mention, "I think it's my best record yet."

The first single, "Girlfriend," is set to be released on March 5, with the video coming out the end of this month on Feb. 26 (it will be released earlier in Canada). The video has already been shot. The singer seems excited about it, advertising it widely on both her Web site and Myspace page, where there are clips from her new songs.

The Best Damn Thing is far from it. Avril Lavigne puts forward a decent effort but falls short of blowing audiences away. Artists who change their image or sound either do a very good job at it or have made a horrible decision.

Nelly Furtado went from being "Like a Bird" to "Say What You Want" to being a promiscuous man-eating girl. Her music changed drastically from album to album, but fortunately for her, it's made her millions of dollars with each alteration. Pink was not as lucky, weirding listeners out with her extreme shifts in voice with each album.

Avril Lavigne is probably following that same path. What made her music and image so popular was the sheer, sad stupidity of the lyrics and the 30 neckties that she kept on hand. Luckily, her badass attitude has stayed the same; she recently got news coverage for spitting on paparazzi. By putting a love-spin on the lyrics and turning into a young lady instead of staying the grungy punk that everyone knows and loves, however, she's probably going to lose a lot of loyal fans. Her record sales began to drop with her second album as she subtly started to change, and they may continue to do so.

I'll give her the benefit of the doubt, though. Maybe the world will welcome the singer's new style with open arms. Avril Lavigne is hardly following in the footsteps of Nelly Furtado, though. There's always a difference between maturing naturally and changing for the prospect of sales. If she is doing it for the money, it will be a long way from her days of refusing to do advertisements because they were too "superficial." It will be up to the media and the hopelessly devoted Avril fans out there to decide.