Avril Lavigne: Let Go

A 17-YEAR-OLD skate chick with the face of a rebellious angel and attitude to match, singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne should be the answer to every record label's prayers: the missing link between Britney Spears and Blink 182. Her skate-punk style’s perilously mis-leading though. Only on dappy chugger 'Sk8er Boi' does she play the part of slacker eye candy. For the rest of Let Go, Lavigne displays a musical guile way beyond her years. Like Natalie Imbruglia’s best, 'Complicated' and 'I'm With You' wrap emotional baggage and country-tinged guitars in big-hearted pop tunes. At the other end of the "issues" scale, 'Losing Grip' and 'Unwanted''s raging distortion and deep-seated rejection are enough to suggest that she may indeed be the next Alanis Morissette.