NEW ALBUM: AVRIL LAVIGNE | LOVE SUX

Nearly 20 years since the release of her debut album, “Let Go,” Avril Lavigne is going full-throttle back to her roots with her seventh studio album, “Love Sux,” and her timing couldn’t be more perfect. It’s no secret that throughout the past two years, pop-punk — the genre that melds angsty riffs, sticky pop melodies and distorted guitar chords pioneered by 1970s acts like the Ramones and Buzzcocks — has experienced a revival with artists like Olivia Rodrigo, Machine Gun Kelly and Willow. Her collaborators helped push the tempo. In addition to veteran producer John Feldmann (5 Seconds of Summer, All Time Low), Lavigne worked on the album with Travis Barker, the Blink-182 drummer and Svengali of the current pop-punk resurgence that has crossed over from alternative radio to top 40 over the past two years. Lavigne signed with Barker’s Elektra Music Group imprint DTA Records for "Love Sux" after a one-album deal with BMG for "Head Above Water" and brought in revival poster boy Machine Gun Kelly, his “My Ex’s Best Friend” collaborator Blackbear, Barker’s Blink bandmate Mark Hoppus and her boyfriend, Mod Sun, for the album. Throughout the record’s 12 tracks, Canadian singer Lavigne fuses the recognizable, angsty ethos from “Let Go” with more polished production. Blistering tracks like “Cannonball,” “Bois Lie,” an homage to “Sk8er Boi” and “Avalanche” are bursting with Lavigne’s striking runs, spunky one-liners and the rush that made listeners become fans of her work. It’s what makes “Love Sux” both nostalgic and of the moment.