Avril Lavigne is putting us on notice: she”s tired of being a good girl on new single, “What the Hell,” which she debuted on “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rocking Eve” and is now streaming on her Facebook page. Okay, we confess, she had never seemed particularly like a goody two shoes to us, but whatever.
“All my life I”ve been good, but now I”m thinking what the hell.” That”s about as deep as this song gets, which is about a mile deeper than most pop fodder these days. Turns out Lavigne”s beau didn”t like it when she was making out with his friend. Well, guess what, buddy, “love hurts.” We”re guessing she”s feeling her oats after splitting with hubby Deryck Whibley (although it must have been a very amicable parting since he worked on the new album, “Goodbye Lullaby,” out March 8).
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The song”s chorus is very catchy (and very typical of producer Max Martin) and we dig the organ intro, but the “la-la-las” add nothing and she sounds flat at the beginning. Having said that, the tune is strong, but not undeniable, so its viability depends completely on how much her fans have missed her when many of them may have already turned to the likes of Pink, Katy Perry, Ke$ha and Lady Gaga during Lavigne’s absence.
Plus, as we reported here, Lavigne crafted the song as a compromise with her label to come up with something commercial. So if it’s not a hit, she can blame her label. “This song is the least personal song to me off this album,” she said. “It”s a fun and funny anthem. It has a broad message about personal freedom. It is the most pop track on the record.”
Listen to it below (although the version on her Facebook page sounds much cleaner. We wanted to give you an option if you didn’t want to “like” Lavigne to hear the single. What do you think?