Tim: Apparently, the kids today are all into Radiohead. Who knew?
Tim: Actually, that’s an entirely unfair way of looking at it; given that this was written by Avril herself (with Nickelback’s own Chad Kroeger).
Tom: Ah, Nickelback, the music industry’s punchline.
Tim: If we take this at a slightly deeper level it’s actually probably a sort of autobiographical song. A decade or so ago when she first started out, Radiohead were at the peak of their popularity in the US so really it’s a song about her being a Peter Pan sort of person.
Tom: And certainly, her music doesn’t seem to have changed all that much since then: this could, I think, have been a lower-key song off any of her earlier albums.
Tim: It’s not really a song aimed at teenagers, but instead at people her age. My age. Your age, if it’s not too late for that. Basically, the people that want to be kids forever. The people that don’t want a maturing pop sound but are instead as happy as they ever were with Avril Lavigne’s pleasant but somewhat shouty, pop output.
Tom: That’s certainly a pretty big audience.
Tim: Of course, teenagers could take a lesson from it – she’s 28 now, but she doesn’t want to let go (HA! Let Go.) of her youth.
Tom: I see what you did there.
Tim: Cheers – good, wasn’t it? Maybe she missed it while she had the chance, maybe she’s warning those damn kids to make the most of their childhood and adolescence while they can. Either way, I think this is far more analysis than I’ve ever given to any song before, maybe because it almost speaks to me directly.
It’s a flawed concept, obviously – we all have to grow up, and there’s perhaps a sense of desperation in the “won’t you say forever, if you stay forever we can stay forever young” – but’s a nice idea, and one I can try my hardest to cling to in the face of the gradually dawning reality that is my disappointingly unfulfilled life.
Tom: Wow. That got dark fast.
Tim: Yeah, it did, didn’t it? Damn it, I was in a really good mood when I started writing this. Sorry, everybody. This is basically a perfect example of why pop music should never ever meet real life.
Tom: So in summary: standard Avril Lavigne track, except it makes you feel a sense of existential dread. Fair enough.