10 Rock And Metal Albums From The 2000s The Critics Got Wrong
7. Under My Skin - Avril Lavigne (2004)
Avril Lavigne burst into the mainstream with her debut album back in 2002. Let Go was helped by the huge success of the singles ‘Complicated’ and ‘Sk8er Boi’, both of which remain pop-punk anthems to this day.
Yet Lavigne’s best record is her sophomore effort. Under My Skin maintains the pop-punk tone of her debut but injects it with a darker and heavier flavour. ‘Together’, 'Forgotten’, and ‘Slipped Away’ are the best examples of this evolution, but the entire record is brimming with catchy anthems and hefty power ballads.
Though critics didn’t hate Under My Skin, they didn’t fully appreciate just how great it was. The Guardian, for instance, objected to the album’s adolescent leanings, but given Lavigne was still a teenager at the time, this criticism seems rather unfair. Indeed, the Metacritic User Score of 8.8 is a much more accurate representation of the album’s quality.