REFUSING TO LET GO: A Review of Avril Lavigne's "Let Go" in 15 Parts (​5/15)

We do a lot of ridiculous stuff here at the Sleeping Village--that, I can not deny. However, this mammothian effort on the part of Ancient Hand serves as a response to said frivolity. Nothing--and I mean nothing--is more serious than dissecting, in painstaking detail, the seminal debut of early 2000's pop-punk monarch Avril Lavinge. This, dear readers, is a magnum opus. Also, for the haters: Avril is metal as fuck. There. I said it.

The miniseries before ye is divided into a glorious fifteen parts. After a long hiatus, today marks the fifth installment: "I'm With You." If you missed our introductory statement, check it out here! - Ed.

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"I'M WITH YOU"

Written by: Ancient Hand 

Balladry is an art form long explored, revered, and judged by humans. The act of composing a ballad is a long-documented and discussed one, with many people seeing William Shakespeare as a popularizer, pushing balladry to the forefront of human entertainment. While he certainly did write entertaining ballads that have withstood the test of time, his reputation has stretched beyond the intent of his work. While there are moments of genius relating to the communicability found in his catalog--most notably Romeo and Juliet--this can give us an interesting insight into responses to the plague during his time. His works were created to simply be entertainment, and this should be kept in mind when we run the risk of pushing an artist that only seeks to entertain us into a spotlight deemed for legends.

You may be asking yourself, “Uh… did this guy just say don’t elevate people too high, but he’s calling Avril Lavigne’s Let Go one of the single most important pieces of art ever created?” And to that, I would say: yes! You are exactly right! Because while we run the risk of idolizing people that are undeserving of being placed on a pedestal so high we can’t see the top, Let Go is being examined, in the context of this long-winded review, as a piece of art to be studied and applied to the world around us, not as a person we should be praising and considering the savior of art and integrity.

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