Let Go (Avril Lavigne album)

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.

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 favors more "Losing Grip", because "it means so much more when it comes straight from the artist".[14]

Lavigne in concert for the album's promotion

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]

Although Lavigne was targeted to the teen audience, a marketing strategy credited with the successful launch of her career;[14][23] Lavigne performed on a host of radio-sponsored multi-artist holiday shows throughout the United States,[24] a marketing strategy that induced higher sales of the album during the season. She embarked on her first headlining tour, Try to Shut Me Up Tour, which took place on 23 January 2003, and ended on 4 June 2003. Lavigne toured with her band—drummer Matthew Brann, bassist Mark Spicoluk, and guitarists Jesse Colburn and Evan Taubenfeld—which she had grouped after signing the deal.[20] In the tour, she included all songs off Let Go, B-sides, and cover versions of "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" by Bob Dylan and "Basket Case" by Green Day.[25]

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]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	68/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[31]
Blender	[32]
Entertainment Weekly	B−[33]
Melodic	[34]
Pitchfork	6.6/10[35]
Q	[36]
Robert Christgau	[37]
Rolling Stone	[38]
Slant Magazine	[39]
Stylus Magazine	B[40]

Let Go received mostly positive responses from critics, earning a metascore of 68 over 100 on Metacritic, which is based on the collated reviews from 9 publications.[36] Rolling Stone magazine's music critic Pat Blashill wrote that the album "comes fully loaded with another dozen infectious hymns of Total Request angst". Blashill complimented Lavigne on having a "great voice", adding she crafted the album with "a qualified staff of hitmakers".[38] Christina Saraceno of AllMusic noted that Lavigne "handles a variety of styles deftly", while also complimenting her as "a capable songwriter with vocal chops". Nonetheless, Saraceno opined that "at her age, one imagines, she is still finding her feet, borrowing from the music she's grown up listening to".[31] John Perry of Blender magazine summarized Let Go into an "outstanding guitar-pop debut".[32] A review in Q magazine praised Lavigne for displaying "a musical guile way beyond her years".[36] Kaj Roth of Melodic felt that Lavigne "sings lovely and some of the songs goes in the Alanis Morissette [sic] vein".[34] For Jon Caramanica of Entertainment Weekly magazine (who gave the album a B−), "Lavigne's monochromatic debut set of unimaginative guitar rock is saved only by the earnestness of her songs."[33]

Some reviewers had similar sentiments toward the quality of the lyrics to some songs in the album. Saraceno said that Lavigne "still has some growing up to do lyrically", asserting "Sk8er Boi" shows her "lyrical shortcomings" and calling the phrasing in "Too Much to Ask" "awkward and sometimes silly".[31] Perry noted the lyrics to "Sk8er Boi" as "endearingly naive".[32]

Let Go was commercially successful in the United States, gaining praise from Entertainment Weekly magazine as one of the biggest pop debut albums of 2002.[23] According to Billboard, as of 2022, Let Go is one of the 15 best-performing 21st-century albums without any of its singles being number-one hits on the Billboard Hot 100.[55] The album debuted on the Billboard 200 at number eight on the strength of 62,000-unit sales and later peaked at number two. Its high debut was fueled by the success of "Complicated", which was in heavy rotation on MTV.[56] Increasing weekly sales allowed the album to stay inside the chart's top 10 for 37 weeks.[57] The album sold at least 100,000 copies every week straight until late 2002, easily accumulating over 2-million-unit sales.[17] In a December 2002 report by Entertainment Weekly magazine, it was stated that the album had sold 3.9 million copies, becoming the third top-selling album of 2002 in the United States.[58] Year-end figures released by Nielsen SoundScan revealed that Let Go had sold over 4.1 million copies in the United States, accumulated in 30 weeks of the album's release.[59][60] Let Go was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.[61] This earned Let Go the distinction of being the highest-shipped debut of 2002 and best-selling album by a female artist.[62] On 30 April 2003, the RIAA certified the album six-times platinum, denoting shipments of over six million units.[63] It remains Lavigne's best-selling album to date, with 6.9 million copies sold in the United States and over 16 million worldwide.[64]

Chartwise, the album reached higher peak positions notably during and after the holidays. Following her show-opening performance at the 2002 Billboard Music Awards, Let Go continued to be one of the holiday's top sellers with sales that week of 272,000.[65] It reached its highest sales week on the issue dated 4 January 2003 with 363,000 copies sold. Although it had peaked at number two in September 2002, Let Go rose from three to two on the Billboard 200 on the issue dated 1 February 2003.[66] The increase of sales was the offshoot to Lavigne's appearance on 11 January in Saturday Night Live as the show's musical guest. There were accusations of lip-synching but in an interview at the time she tells she has never lip-sung or ever plans to. During this time also, Lavigne received much media coverage due to her nominations at the 2003 Grammy Awards and for embarking on her first North American tour.[67] In the United Kingdom, the album took longer to reach the summit of the UK Albums Chart. In its 18th week of release, reached on the chart year 2003, the album hit number one, rising to the top spot over the holiday, making Lavigne breaking a record becoming the youngest female singer to top the chart at 17 years and nine months old. However, the record was broken by Joss Stone in October 2004, when her album Mind Body & Soul debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart when she was 17 years and five months old.[68]

The album's international sales upsurge was attributed to the continuing success of "Sk8er Boi".[69] Let Go is the 12th best-selling album of 2003 in the United Kingdom.[70] The album has been certified six-times platinum by the British Phonographic Industry.[71]

Let Go was also selling well in Canada, surpassing sales of over one-million-unit sales in less than a year. The Canadian Recording Industry Association certified the album diamond in May 2003.[72] In Australia, Let Go had been certified seven-times platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association in 2003, based on the sales of over 490,000 units from wholesalers to retailers.[73] The album is the tenth best-selling album of 2002 there, and the third in the following year. Overall, the album charted at number one in six countries and top five in eight countries.

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Let Go.

• Let Go at Metacritic