“Complicated”
Writers: Avril Lavigne, Lauren Christy, Scott Spock, Graham Edwards
Original Release Date: May 14, 2002
Put on your best skinny tie and get ready to talk about how solid early Avril Lavigne songs were in this week’s (Un)Covered.
While “Sk8r Boi” is arguably Avril Lavigne’s best known song, “Complicated” would be a close second. It’s very 2000s alternative rock, with her sad lyrics and pseudo-whiny voice, but that doesn’t stop it from being a biting tune that points out how some people find it easier to pretend than be real with each other. If you ever want to wallow in teenaged angst, or find yourself frustrated with “fake friends”, you could do worse than listen to this song on repeat.
Did you know that there’s an all-male Avril Lavigne tribute album? Me neither. Of course, they had to go and make things complicated by not making the album easily available, but after stumbling across it on Spotify, I listened to this version of “Complicated” on repeat. I can’t find a lot of information about most of the bands featured on this tribute album (seriously, we’d like to know who Remik is), but you should check it out anyway; the covers give Avril’s already pop-punky sound a little more edge. This rendition in particular sounds more like early Sum 41, but Avril’s angsty essence is still there.
Really, no one can compete with the original pop-punk princess Avril Lavigne, so as cool as an all-male tribute album is, it doesn’t really change her status as badass Canadian rockstar.