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Under My Skin is a bit awkward, sometimes sounding tentative and unsure, sometimes clicking and surging on Avril's attitude and ambition.
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A one-two punch of radio-ready, rock-tinged riffs and Lavigne's signature defiant yet introspective vocals.
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BlenderShe has deepened and darkened her sound without sacrificing her platinum-plated melodies. [#27, p.141]
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So, we have a maturing Ms Lavigne, distancing herself from the teen antics of her "Let Go" debut, but struggling to find any stories worth telling save for boyfriend trouble and dead grandparents.
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Under My Skin gets generic at times, but that's why it works.
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Entertainment WeeklyAs contrived as the results can be, there's no denying the level of craft at work. [28 May 2004, p.121]
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She's sounding as genre-bound in her way as the synthetic singers she was supposed to be a relief from.
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A good, if slightly disappointing, follow-up.
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Q MagazineAn altogether more satisfying supply of air punching, stadium sized choruses. [Jun 2004, p.103]
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Both more satisfying and more formulaic.
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Under My Skin is a far more balanced album than Let Go, allowing Avril to stretch out a bit more and not suffer the troughs that typified any song that happened to follow a Matrix penned track.
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Mascara-streaked moods dictate an excess of ballads and rockers that trade in sterile nü-metal crunch, leaving Lavigne's pop-punk spunk by the wayside.
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The music is so anodyne that you don't pay much attention to Lavigne's lyrics. This proves to be a small mercy: examination of the CD booklet reveals that prolonged exposure to her words could leave a previously healthy adult rocking backwards and forwards in a foetal ball.
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There's little subtlety on "Under My Skin," and... absolutely no fear of clichés. But on the emotionally fraught battleground that is high-school romance, perhaps those would be frills. [16 May 2004]
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 342 out of 409
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Mixed: 15 out of 409
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Negative: 52 out of 409
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NormanG.Oct 26, 2007Personally I think this is her best debut album B/c it contains varios kinds of songs and its deep.
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Nov 15, 2015
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Feb 28, 2011This review contains spoilers, click full review link to view.