Avril Lavigne fans who were disappointed by her lacklustre third album The Best Damn Thing will be cheered to hear the Canadian’s sounds somewhat rejuvenated on this new work.
But Goodbye Lullaby is full of contradictions, as if the 26-year-old divorcée still hasn’t made up her mind what she wants to be. The philosophising lyric in the infectiously keyboard-driven ‘What The Hell’, which refers to abandoning her good girl past for a more reckless one, is not matched by any sense of musical adventure. Instead, it opts for safe Gwen Stefani territory. Its sentiments are further complicated by the power ballad ‘Wish You Were Here’ in which she sings “There’s a girl that gives a shit behind this wall”. Then again, in the groovy ‘Smile’ she talks of being a crazy bitch, and refers to tampered drinks and waking up with a new tattoo. Either way, the music is stuck on planet froth.
‘Push’ is standard Lavigne, not unlike ‘Let Go’, while ‘I Love You’ stays just this side of cheesy. ‘Alice’, from the movie Alice in Wonderland, is more adventurous. Lavigne’s best asset is her pure pop vocal which, with some added traces of Alanis Morissette, has developed a winsome maturity. There’s also a bunch of mainly acoustic tracks to give added value to this welcome, if hardly overwhelming, return towards form.