Released: June 21
Pop-punk superstar Avril Lavigne celebrates two decades of music with her first-ever ‘Greatest Hits’ album and a showcase of her enduring brilliance over the past 20 years.
It was back in 2002 that the then-17-year-old Canadian star launched into the global charts with her debut single, Complicated, establishing a sound that would carry through her career and the ‘tank top and tie’ look that would become iconic of the early ‘00s.
Lifted from her debut album, ‘Let Go’ (2002), it’s one of 20 songs on the new compilation, all of which credit Avril as a co-writer, spanning her seven studio albums to date. What stands out immediately is the sequencing of the project, which unlike the majority of recent retrospective releases appears out of chronology, with classics like I’m With You, My Happy Ending and When You’re Gone sequenced alongside recent singles such as Bite Me, Head Above Water and I’m A Mess (with Yungblud).
The effect spotlights the strength of Lavigne’s catalogue outside of her best-known hits – Sk8er Boi, Girlfriend, What The Hell, etc., all of which feature on ‘Greatest Hits’ – giving cuts like Losing Grip, Nobody’s Home and He Wasn’t moments early in the running to reach new listeners.
It’s a smart move from the star, who recently returned to the Top 5 of the UK charts for the first time in 15 years with her latest album, ‘Love Sux’ (2022), and a natural progression at this stage in her career that’s sure to pay off.
Composed solely of catalogue tracks, ‘Greatest Hits’ features no new material from Avril; another curious move in a digital age where the existing content is so readily available, though not a dealbreaker for a project that more than holds its own based on the strength of the songs on offer.
Over two decades, it’s been far from plain sailing for Avril, who was diagnosed with Lyme disease a decade ago and has experienced a number of personal highs and lows playing out in the public eye, but through it all the music prevails. ‘Greatest Hits’ not only places the focus on Avril as one of today’s premier pop stars, but reaffirms her excellence as a singer and writer capable of delivering some of the most enduring material of the 21st Century.
