In Which Avril Lavigne is Most Certainly Not Compared to the Fuhrer.

Hooray! Because Avril Lavigne's back, and she's really sticking it to those princesses out there. The video for her new single, The Best Damn Thing, features all of your favourite Avril highjinks; the singer herself dances and shouts a bit, overemphasises the drama 101 staples of vulnerable, angry, stupid etc, and 'plays the drums' because she's a bit different to everyone else. The gaggle of obligatory happy emos who always seem to have such a roaring time pandering to Avril's dull wildness are present and correct, though not to the same extent as previous videos - they're achingly happy just to play band in the background this time. And, of course, the lazy references to America's obsession with the teen princess are there too. Next video, please.

Or that SHOULD be the end of it. So what's got the heckles up?

Weeeell, Avril's undergone a bit of branding. In case you didn't notice it (maybe you were watching the braille version of this one), it's that clever big Anarchy A, in a heart. Clever. Thing is, when your pitching yourself fundamentally, and still very presently, as someone against everything that's vacuous and shallow about teen culture, then subsequently branding yourself...well, that's just Damn Stupid.

And when it's stacked up against other standard MV fare, it's Pretty Damn Conventional. Three wardrobe changes? Yes. Distinct choreographed dance/with the band/artist alone sections? Yes. Has it made the choice between being sorrowful ("singing about tragic things in my life") and upbeat ("I'm sexy and brilliant")? Yes. Anarchy!

And branding yourself with the symbol of Anarchy? In a heart? What do you mean, Avril?! What are you trying to tell us? Is love anarchy? Do you love anarchy? Is to love you to love anarchy? Or is it just because your name begins with an A, and you were googling your name one day, and you found a site of rubbish fanfiction where you led the storming of the Bastille with the cast of Stargate SG1, and you convinced yourself that that actually probobly happened, so you decided to use that cool A you saw on a bus stop the one time you actually had to use public transport (because you're no princess) because that's KEWL and subversive as well LOL.

Ok, so this might all seem a bit harsh, but the Lavigne lost any of those Irony as a Get-Out-of-Jail-Free card/ "oh she's just a teenager singing songs for teenagers so stop taking it all so serious you unemployed boatman" arguments when she pitched up with the video for "Girlfriend", which simply advocated the systematic bullying of a peer in order to get what-you don't-have. Of course, she overacts as the bullied party as well, but it's employment in the video is as weak an argument for Avril understanding the other side of the coin as Hitler suggesting that he whaled on other countries in the 40's because someone laughed at his painting prowess when he were a lad. Not that I'm comparing Avril Lavigne to Hitler (he liked the order, for one thing), but seriously, I defy anyone to watch "Girlfriend" and come back with an ironclad point by point FAQ detailing how it isn't some turgid advert for torturing your peers for personal gain. Damn anyone who even tries.