Avril Lavigne

Avril Lavigne has never had a problem with viewing herself and her music as an aid to empowerment. So as she gears up for the release of Best Damn Thing (RCA) on April 20, she’s partnered with Del Ray Manga to star as a hero to young girls in a Japanese-style anime comic book called Make 5 Wishes. And they’ve both teamed up with iTunes to whet the appetites of Avril’s target audience for the new disc with what might be described as an on-line comic book packaged as a series of Podcasts available free on iTunes. If nothing else, it’s an amusing way to get a taste of the backing tracks for at least one tune that’s going to be in heavy rotation all summer.

Avril Lavigne, “Make Five Wishes — Trailer”
This overview of the story introduces the main character, young Hana, as well as the Internet site of the title that, true to its word, offers our alienated young heroine the opportunity to make five wishes. It’s all set to Avril’s anthemic “Keep Holding On,” a track she lent to the soundtrack of Eragon (RCA), the film adaptation of a popular novel for young adults that came out in December. It also happens to be the closing track on Best Damn Thing. And for all its overblown intensity, it has everything you could want from a good power ballad.

Avril Lavigne, “Make Five Wishes – Episode One”
The story may be about Hana but, surprise, Avril is the real star. So as the vocal-less backing track to “Girlfriend,” the first track on Best Damn Thing blasts, Hana daydreams about being at an Avril Lavigne concert, being on stage with Avril Lavigne, and getting a little advice from, yes, Avril Lavigne. The track itself is a guitar-driven number with playful handclaps and a nice hard-rocking refrain.

Avril Lavigne, “Make Five Wishes – Episode Two”
When the guitar drops out and no vocals come in to join the brisk, driving pop-punk backing track, it’s worth questioning the wisdom of releasing these vocal-less recordings. Because as Blink-182 found out, there’s only so much you can do with the basic pop-punk formula. And things in Hana’s world are developing at a snail’s pace. She e-mails someone in Brazil, doesn’t fit in well in school, complains about her lot in life, and whenever possible dons her headphones to listen to her favorite artist in the world: Avril Lavigne. Even if kids don’t see through the marketing ploy, they might not have the attention span to sit through all this.