Single Review: Avril Lavigne "Sk8er Boi"

Avril Lavigne sticks it to her ex-boyfriend's crush in the smug "Sk8er Boi."

Lippy guitars open the single, setting a petty tone. Lavigne starts by saying she's not not going to be subtle. The song is about her boyfriend and the popular girl he once loved in high school. They were opposites. He liked to skateboard and cuss. She was prim and performed in the local "Nutcracker" every year. He liked her a lot. She gave him signals and talked to him when none of her friends were around. But her friends told her not to go out with him. He was a greasy nerd and that she deserved better. She dropped him and decided to date the hot jock who she knew would cheat on her.

"He was a boi/She was a girl/Can I make it any more obvious/He was a punk/She did ballet/What more can I say/He wanted her/She'd never tell secretly she wanted him as well/But all of her friends/Stuck up their nose/They had a problem with his baggy clothes."

In the chorus, she dumps him for not being bland and not like being everybody else. She notes the girl was beautiful but she didn't have a brain of her own. She was self-centered and would benefit from a reality check.

"He was a sk8er boi/She said see you later boi/He wasn't good enough for her/She had a pretty face/But her head was up in space/She needed to come back down to earth."

It's five years later. The girl is a single mom. She's listening to MTV in the background. When she takes a look at the screen, she does a double-take. It's the punk guy she liked in high school. He had told her he had a band, which she thought was great. She had always wanted to go one of his practices. She immediately calls up her friends to tell them. They tell her they've been hearing about him for the past month or so. They have tickets to his concert and they invite her to come. At the concert, she's in awe of him as she claps and screams after every song.

"5 years from now/She sits at home/Feeding the baby she's all alone/She turns on tv/Guess who she sees/Sk8er boi rockin' up MTV/She calls up her friends/They already know/And they've all got/Tickets to see his show/She tags along/And stands in the crowd/Looks up at the man that she turned down."

In the second chorus, she adds that he's a rock star. Lavigne asks the girl if she knows what a sweet, desirable guy he is.

"He was a sk8er boi/She said see you later boi/He wasn't good enough for her/Now he's a super star/Slamming on his guitar/Does your pretty face see what he's worth?"

Article Author: Pam Avoledo

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