Premiering today, the official music video for Avril Lavigne’s latest single, What The Hell serves as the visual counterpart to a fun and bouncy song about spreading one’s wings as a relatively single woman in this era of an eternal summer. As with most pop songs there is the doubt that anyone is actually listening to the lyrics, but we’re pleasantly surprised that there is actual correlation involved. Can we say that we seriously feel for the boyfriend?
The bulk of the video involves Avril the persona smiling about pseudo-infidelity, taking a taxi cab for a joy ride, hiding from her boyfriend in a vintage shop before taking the stage at an underground club and rocking out. Simple plot, decent execution for a three-and-a-half-or-so-minute track.
Now maybe we’re getting older, but as blatantly and sickeningly drawn out in Ke$ha’s video for We R Who We R, the issue of product placement in videos has gone from subtle to giggle-worthy to “Sweet Mother, just cut the song short by two minutes and make it a commercial already”. Which is probably what will happen, considering Lavigne’s latest vid features both her perfume and clothing lines (Black Star and Forbidden Rose; Abbey Dawn, respectively), among other products unrelated to her budding empire.
But back to execution and all such things: The video in and of itself has cute moments, with the track showcasing Lavigne’s actual talent — her voice — but proves to be anti-climatic as a visual device. The aforementioned is enough on its own, but the energy is off and scene transitions feel delayed. Also, the tease-flirt angle assumed between Lavigne’s antics and her video boyfriend’s chasing her around town seems worth mentioning. One would think it’d inspire some hot-and-heavy make-up tension. Yet when it comes time for even that to make itself known — making out and then some being a basic human need, like food, water and sleep — it’s seriously staged and far from believable.
But don’t leave it merely to us. Check out the video on her official website.