Image Credits: Avril Band Aids
Oh my gosh. First off let me say I am completely OBSESSED with Avril’s new single, “Let Me Go”. Today alone I must have listened to it about 100 times. Avril’s always been one of my all-time favorite musicians, but I must admit I was a bit disappointed with her first two singles off of her upcoming self-titled album. “Here to Never Growing Up” and “Rock N Roll” were both good, but neither one was great. The thing I always loved about Avril is how deep and personal some of her songs could be. I could always relate to them no matter what I was going through. I have been missing that from her new album…until now.
“Let Me Go” is so beautiful and deeply personal, far more than any of the other singles she’s released from her upcoming album thus far. I personally relate it to my relationship with my most recent ex whom I’ve had a really hard time letting go of. I feel like we had that “love that once hung on the wall” and that it “used to mean something but now it means nothing” and I’m really working to “break free from these memories” and “just let it go”. Damn, I just relate to it so much that it almost makes me cry.
One of my favorite parts of “Let Me Go” is how hopeful it is. It’s so sad, but there’s still that sense of hope especially at the end when Lavigne sings of a “brand new life down the road”. This makes me wonder if perhaps she is referring to her new marriage to Chad Kroeger. Perhaps she was singing about one of her ex’s Deryck Whibley or Adam Brody before and now she’s seeing how she got through the pain of those relationships and is better off with Chad. Just a thought.
Image Credits: Direct Lyrics
The video is equally as beautiful as the song. It’s a bit dark and depressing as it arguably should be, but Avril and Chad are both dressed very, well, classy. It’s the pure definition of beautiful tragedy. All of the paintings and the piano definitely adds to this feeling of tragic beauty.
The video makes it out that the song is more about losing a lover to time. Chad transforms back from himself to an older man. Perhaps in the video, Lavigne is showing herself as a widow struggling to cope with loss? But even when he’s gone, he’s still with her even if she cannot see him. Seeing the video in this way makes the whole element of beautiful tragedy play out like a funeral, which could also very well explain why everything is black in the video.
You can view the music video for Avril Lavigne’s “Let Me Go” below. What do you think of her new, more serious video and single?
Video Credits:AvrilLavigneVevo
Image Credits: Vevo
Music has always been a very special, personal thing to me. When I hear an old song I immediately reflect back on all of the times I have heard it including when it was first introduced to me or when or how it was the most significant.
Image Credits: Lyrics Mode
When I was thinking about all the different things I could do for this week’s Throwback Thursday post I started to remember that this weekend is Labor Day weekend. When I think about how I celebrated Labor Day weekend as a child I remember my hometown, Pitman and their annual Labor Day weekend Carnival.
Image Credits: Rock Transmission
One of the last years I attended the carnival before moving to Woodbury was back in September of 2001. During this time pop-punk was just starting to emerge and overthrow the pop acts of the 90’s like Britney Spears, The Backstreet Boys, and Nsync. I was always really into the pop music, but I was excited by this new genre and eager to change my taste in music a bit.
Image Credits: Last.fm
One of the first pop-punk bands (other than Blink-182 and way before Good Charlotte) that I remember falling in love with was Sum-41. This band had ATTITUDE. Back in 2001 MTV still actually played music videos and even had an amazing countdown music video show called “Total Request Live”, or TRL for short. Sum-41 was slowly making their way up the TRL chart with their hit single, “Fat Lip”. This is the first time I remember being exposed to them.
Image Credits: Last.fm
I loved the lyrics to “Fat Lip”. I didn’t understand all of them, being that I was just a 12 year old kid (what was an abortion and why should that guy’s mom have had one?) but I understand them enough to know that the guys of Sum-41 were outcasts that didn’t want to fit in, just like myself. I appreciated the punk rock look of the guys in the video along with the skateboarding in break dancing, too. These guys were so badassed and ultimately appealing to the blue-haired 12 year-old version of myself.
Image Credits: Fan Pop
Back at the Labor Day carnival that year I played a game and won. For my prize I had the option of choosing any CD I wanted from a large selection (this was obviously well before the days of iPods and digital music). I noticed Sum-41’s “All Killer, No Filler” album was available and immediately chose that one without further thought. I really loved having the ability to play “Fat Lip” whenever I wanted but I also enjoyed all of the other songs on the album as well. I remember “Crazy Amanda Bunkface” quickly becoming one of my favorites.
Image Credits: MTV
To this day, even though they are arguably less mainstream and much more serious, I still love Sum-41. I have enjoyed watching the band blossom from a badass group of punk kids to more mature, serious adults. I have to admit I do like their more serious songs more, but I will never forget their song “Fat Lip” and the first time I saw the music video on TRL or the time I purchased their album at the good ol’ Labor Day carnival.
You can view “Fat Lip” below. Do you still like the music video? Do you remember your first time seeing it?
Image Credits: Sum41Vevo
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