Under My Skin Avril Lavigne

Under My Skin

1	Take Me Away 2:57
2	Together 3:14
3	Don't Tell Me 3:22
4	He Wasn't 2:59
5	How Does It Feel 3:44
6	My Happy Ending 4:02
7	Nobody's Home 3:32
8	Forgotten 3:16
9	Who Knows 3:30
10	Fall to Pieces 3:28
11	Freak Out 3:13
12	Slipped Away 3:33

Barnes & Noble

Like peers such as Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, Avril Lavigne has done a lot of growing up in the years since the release of her smash debut album. But in stark contrast to those gals, the spunky Canadian hasn't manifested that change in a strictly sexual context. Instead, she's made a concerted effort to mature as a musician, unloading The Matrix (the slick production team that helped push Let Go to multi-platinum status) and moving beyond the unreconstructed anger of that effort. She's still speaking her mind, as evidenced by "Don't Tell Me," on which she gives an earful -- and nothing else -- to an oversexed suitor. But the presentation of that song, as well as love-life musings such as "Together" and "Fall to Pieces," is a far cry from the pubescent angst of "Sk8er Boi." Under My Skin has plenty of sonic variety. "He Wasn't," one of a handful of songs co-written by fellow Canuck Chantal Kreviazuk, combines a bouncy new-wave melody with a sweetly sung kiss-off to a guy who wasn't well versed in the realm of chivalry ("He wouldn't even open up the door"). Lavigne even takes a cue or two from Sarah McLachlan, most notably on the ethereal "How Does It Feel," perhaps the most vulnerable song she's yet recorded. A kinder, gentler Avril? In a sense, yes, but the girl-power undercurrent is still strong enough to assure listeners she's not about to become a pushover. David Sprague

Rolling Stone

1/2 For her new album, Under My Skin, Lavigne split with Matrix, the team that wrote much of Let Go. Working with an unlikely crew of songwriters -- her guitarist Evan Taubenfeld and the Canadian singer-songwriter Chantal Kreviazuk -- she put together an album that's both more satisfying and more formulaic. Kelefa Sanneh