As a fan of Avril Lavigne, I have been waiting for her to release her new album since early 2021. And now, it’s a dream come true! Avril is back with her latest single and ready to save the music industry this year!
Avril has signed a contract with a new recording label, DTA Records, owned by Travis Barker, the drummer of Blink-182, and released her lead single called Bite Me.
The song starts with a high-pitched “Hey, you!” which reminds me of the Girlfriend song from her third album, The Best Damn Thing. When I first listened to this song, I was just “meh,” “that’s it?”, “I need more,” I thought to myself. It’s probably because I was listening to it at midnight as this song was released at 01:00 AM, Bali Time, and I was so sleepy. Everything becomes subjective when we are hungry or exhausted, you know. But then, when I listened to it 3 times the next day, I thought, “Damn! This is great!” the song is charming, angsty, and addictive. It’s just like the sound of Avril that I have wanted to hear all this time.
Avril’s songs are simple, catchy, and friendly to the ear; in my opinion, so does this song. The composition is simple but nice; the guitar and the drum sound dominate throughout the song, which means Avril is returning to her root, pop-rock. As we know, her previous album, Head Above Water, is more personal with a mixed genre of songs (mostly acoustic) as she was trying to explore new things and showcase what her vocals can do. So, this new single brings a fresh experience and nostalgia for us, Little Black Stars!
Talking about the lyrics, it’s a kind of girl-power and boy-bashing thing, like most of her lyrics from her second album, Under My Skin. Avril is experimenting and combining ideas based on her older albums as well, and it turned out really great! Yesterday, 13 November 2021, the music video for Bite Me was released, and I was so excited because I got the He Wasn’t and Girlfriend vibe at the same time! If you watch the music video closely, some men are wearing the ballerina dress, which could reference her first hit song in 2002, Sk8er Boi. But instead of “He was a punk, she did ballet,” it’s reversed here!
