Cute and spunky [Avril Lavigne] is all of 17 years old, and her first single -- "Complicated," from her debut album, "Let Go" -- is already a fixture on MTV's starmaking teeny-bopper hour, "TRL." But Lavigne is a departure from the Britney-Christina-Mandy mold. Her record label, Arista, crows about Lavigne's songwriting at every opportunity. And she eschews the bare navel, hip thrusts and skimpy costumes of her "TRL" peers, in favor of the baggy jeans, T's and tanks of skater gear.

Lavigne is at her best on these pogo-inducing pop songs. "Complicated" is followed by "Skater Boi," an adorable (and again, timeless) song about a girl who does ballet and the punk boy she wants, despite the lack of her friends' approval. The song churns with punky eighth notes, but never loses its light heart; if Courtney Love was Hole, Lavigne is more sugared-doughnut middle, her songs almost too cutesy with Dr. Seuss-like rhyme schemes to convey angst, let alone anger.