Avril Lavigne Let Go 20th Anniversary Cd

[Renita Lukins]

LetGo is the debut studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne, released on 4 June 2002, by Arista Records. Critics have described Let Go as an alternative rock[2] album with a pop-punk and post-grunge-oriented sound.[3] The album is considered to have transformed the pop-punk music scene, integrating the genre to the mainstream and contributing to the rise of female-fronted pop-punk music acts.[4] The album has sold over 16 million copies worldwide, making it Lavigne's highest-selling album to date and the best selling album of the 21st century by a Canadian artist.[5][6] A Rolling Stone readers' poll named Let Go the fourth best album of the 2000s.[7]

The album was credited as the biggest pop debut of 2002. According to Billboard, the album was the 21st-best-selling album of the decade. It was certified 7x Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in the United States, and it received a diamond certification from Music Canada. The album reached multi-platinum in many countries around the world, including the UK, in which she became the youngest female solo artist to have a number-one album in the region.

On 18 March 2013, Let Go was re-released as a double disc-set paired with her second studio album, Under My Skin, which is released under RCA Records.[8] The album was further promoted by the Try to Shut Me Up Tour between December 2002 and June 2003.

In November 2000,[9] Ken Krongard, an A&R representative, invited Antonio "L.A." Reid, then head of Arista Records, to producer Peter Zizzo's Manhattan studio to hear Lavigne sing. Her 15-minute audition "so impressed" Reid that he immediately signed her to Arista with a deal worth $1.25 million for two albums and an extra $900,000 for a publishing advance.[10][11] By this time, Lavigne had found that she fit in naturally with her hometown high school's skater clique, an image that carried through to her first album, but although she enjoyed skateboarding, school left her feeling insecure. Armed with a record deal, she dropped out to focus on her music career,[9] but she still had to inform her parents of her decision. "I wasn't going to turn [the record deal] down. It's been my dream all my life. They knew how much I wanted this and how much I've put into it."[12][13]

Lavigne relocated to Los Angeles, where she collaborated with songwriter and producer Clif Magness, who gave her ample creative control in the writing process. Lavigne and Magness wrote "Losing Grip" and "Unwanted", songs that she deemed reflective of her vision for the entire album.[14] However, Arista was not thrilled with the heavy-guitar laden songs that Lavigne was writing, prompting the label to look for other producers to match their demands.[15]

Now two years since she signed the deal, Lavigne, who was then unknown, came to the attention of the three-piece production team the Matrix. Arista could not find the right direction for Lavigne, so the team's manager, Sandy Roberton, suggested that they work together: "Why don't you put her together with the Matrix for a couple of days?"[16] According to member Lauren Christy, they had been listening to Lavigne's early songs and felt they contained "a Faith Hill kind of vibe". As soon as they saw Lavigne coming into their studio, the Matrix felt that her musical direction was incongruous to her image and attitude.[16] After talking to Lavigne for an hour, "we cottoned on that she wasn't happy but couldn't quite figure out where to go."[16] The Matrix played her songs with Faith Hill influences, because these were the kinds of songs the label wanted Lavigne to sing. But Lavigne dismissed it, saying she wanted songs with punk rock inclinations.[17] Lavigne played the Matrix a song that she had recorded and really loved, a track with sounds evocative of the rock band System of a Down. Fortunately, prior to forming the Matrix, its members' early projects were in the pop-rock vein, so they readily figured out what Lavigne wanted to record and knew exactly what to do with her. They told her to come back the following day. In the meantime, they wrote a song that evolved into "Complicated" and another song called "Falling Down" (which appears on the Sweet Home Alabama soundtrack). They played these for Lavigne when she returned the following day; the songs ultimately allowed her to visualize the path she should take.[16]

When Josh Sarubin, the A&R executive who signed Lavigne to the imprint, heard "Complicated", he knew it was right for her. Lavigne presented the song to Reid, who approved of the musical direction Lavigne and the Matrix were taking, and set "Complicated" as the album's lead single.[16] Reid sent Lavigne back to the Matrix to work with them, initially for a month.[17][15] Arista gave the team carte blanche to write and produce ten songs, which took them two months.[16] The album was originally titled Anything but Ordinary, after the track of the same name that the Matrix produced, but Lavigne asked Reid for the album to be called Let Go instead,[14] which is the title of an unreleased demo featured on Lavigne's 2001 B-Sides.[citation needed]

The album cover was taken in Manhattan, New York City at the intersection of Broadway and Canal Street.[18] In 2022, Lavigne visited the same place and recreated the cover in a short video for the 20th anniversary of the album.[18][19]

With the Matrix, Lavigne recorded tracks in Decoy Studios, situated in a Los Angeles suburb known as Valley Village.[15] She also worked with producer-songwriter Curt Frasca and Peter Zizzo, whose Manhattan studio Lavigne was checked in prior to securing a record deal with Arista, and where Lavigne also recorded some of the tracks.[20][17] The Matrix member Scott Spock was their principal engineer for the project, while Tom Lord-Alge was assigned to mix the tracks.[15] Lavigne recorded complete takes "against the largely finished instrumental tracks". Spocks revealed Lavigne normally recorded each song in five or six takes, "and probably 90 percent of what was finally used came from the first or second takes." The Matrix also contributed backing vocals.[15]

Introduced as a singer-songwriter, Lavigne's involvement produced significant issues. Lavigne has implied that she is the primary author of the album. In an article published in Rolling Stone magazine, Lavigne stated that while working with the Matrix, one member would be in the recording studio while they were writing, but did not write the guitar parts, lyrics, or the melody. According to Lavigne, she and Christy wrote all the lyrics together. Graham would come up with some guitar parts, "and I'd be like, 'Yeah, I like that,' or 'No, I don't like that.' None of those songs aren't from me."[14]

The Matrix, who produced six songs for Lavigne, five of which appear in the album,[15] had another explanation of how the collaboration went. According to them, they wrote much of the portions in the three singles: "Complicated", "Sk8er Boi", and "I'm with You", which were conceived using a guitar and piano. Christy said, "Avril would come in and sing a few melodies, change a word here or there."[14] Reid complemented the issue over the credits: "If I'm looking for a single for an artist, I don't care who writes it. Avril had the freedom to do as she really pleased, and the songs show her point of view. ... Avril has always been confident about her ideas."[14]

Although she needed pop songs "to break" into the industry, Lavigne felt "Complicated" does not reflect her and her songwriting skills. Nonetheless, she was grateful for the song because it successfully launched her career. She favours more "Losing Grip", because "it means so much more when it comes straight from the artist".[14]

The album was released on 4 June 2002, in Canada and the United States. Later, on 22 July, Let Go hit record stores worldwide, and on 26 August in some parts of Europe, including the United Kingdom and Ireland. A DataPlay version of the album was released in September 2002. Arista had established a deal with DataPlay earlier in 2002 and included Let Go alongside albums by rock singer Santana and singer Whitney Houston in the release.[21][22]

Lavigne filmed her performance in Buffalo, New York, on 18 May 2003, the final date of her five-week headlining North American tour. The tour DVD My World was released on 4 November 2003, on joint venture by Arista Records and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. The DVD features the concert, a behind-the-scenes featurette, five music videos and a six-song bonus audio CD that includes an unreleased track "Why".[26]

"Complicated" was released by Arista as the album's lead single, which was seen as an across-all-age-groups introduction to Lavigne.[17] Thought to produce wide cross-demographic appeal, however, the music video for the single features Lavigne and her band wreaking havoc in a mall, "the sort of imagery that might have grown-ups thinking 'Clean that mess up!' more than clamoring for the record."[23] The song topped the charts in several countries and was nominated for two Grammy Awards for Song of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.[citation needed]

The second single, "Sk8er Boi", was aimed at pop-punk-oriented kids.[17] The release of "Sk8er Boi" created disagreement among many radio programming directors. However, their impressions were diverted as listeners helped change their minds; early rotation of the single proved successful, showing it was as popular with post-collegiate listeners as with teens. The song reached number one on US mainstream radio.[23]

"I'm with You" was released in late November 2002, close to Christmas holidays to remind parents about the album to, if not to buy it themselves, to purchase it for any children in their family.[17][23] The song became another success for Lavigne reaching number four in the Billboard Hot 100, number one on mainstream radio and the top 10 in the UK and Canada. It was not officially released in Australia but received radio and television airplay. To date, Let Go is Lavigne's only album to produce multiple top-ten singles in the US. The song was also nominated for two Grammy Awards the same categories as "Complicated". The release arrangement of the album's singles, with "I'm with You" being served as the third, was regarded as "controversial", given that "I'm with You" was "thought by some to be the biggest potential smash on the album", and could have established Lavigne as a more mature artist if it was released first.[23] According to Reid, "Some people just really didn't get that. And with the first video, there was some concern that maybe because it's so young and so playful, it might alienate more serious music lovers."[23]

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