Let Go (Avril Lavigne album) producer The Matrix
Let Go is the debut studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne. It was released on June 4, 2002, by Arista Records. For a year after signing a record deal with Arista, Lavigne struggled due to conflicts in musical direction. She relocated to Los Angeles, where she recorded her earlier materials for the album, the sound of which the label did not approve. She was paired with the production team the Matrix, who understood her vision for the album. Critics described Let Go as an alternative rock album with a pop-punk and post-grunge-oriented sound.The album was credited as the biggest pop debut of 2002 and was certified 7x Platinum in the United States. It was released to generally positive reviews, although Lavigne's songwriting received some criticism. It also did extremely well in Canada, receiving a diamond certification from  Music Canada, as well as reaching multi-platinum in many countries around the world, including the UK, in which she became the youngest female solo artist to have a number-one album in the region.
Let Go has sold over 16 million copies worldwide, making it Lavigne's highest-selling album to date and the best selling album of the 21st century by a Canadian artist. According to Billboard, the album was the 21st best-selling album of the decade. A Rolling Stone readers' poll named Let Go the fourth best album of the 2000s. The album is considered one of the albums that transformed the pop-punk music scene, helping to consolidate the genre in the mainstream and contributing to the rise of female-fronted pop-punk bands and female-driven punk-influenced pop music. On 18 March 2013, Let Go was re-released as a double disc-set paired with her second studio album, Under My Skin, which is released under RCA Records. The album was further promoted by the Try to Shut Me Up Tour between December 2002 and June 2003.Background
In November 2000, Ken Krongard, an A&R representative, invited Antonio "L.A." Reid, then head of Arista Records, to producer Peter Zizzo's Manhattan studio to hear Lavigne sing. Her 15-minute audition "so impressed" Reid that he immediately signed her to Arista with a deal worth $1.25 million for two albums and an extra $900,000 for a publishing advance. By this time, Lavigne had found that she fit in naturally with her hometown high school's skater clique, an image that carried through to her first album, but although she enjoyed skateboarding, school left her feeling insecure. Armed with a record deal, she dropped out to focus on her music career, but she still had to inform her parents of her decision. "I wasn't going to turn [the record deal] down. It's been my dream all my life. They knew how much I wanted this and how much I've put into it."Lavigne relocated to Los Angeles, where she collaborated with songwriter and producer Clif Magness, who gave her ample creative control in the writing process. Lavigne and Magness wrote "Losing Grip" and "Unwanted", songs that she deemed reflective of her vision for the entire album. However, Arista was not thrilled with the heavy-guitar laden songs that Lavigne was writing, prompting the label to look for other producers to match their demands.Now two years since she signed the deal, Lavigne, who was then unknown, came to the attention of the three-piece production team the Matrix. Arista could not find the right direction for Lavigne, so the team's manager, Sandy Roberton, suggested that they work together: "Why don't you put her together with the Matrix for a couple of days?" According to member Lauren Christy, they had been listening to Lavigne's early songs and felt they contained "a Faith Hill kind of vibe". As soon as they saw Lavigne coming into their studio, the Matrix felt that her musical direction was incongruous to her image and attitude. After talking to Lavigne for an hour, "we cottoned on that she wasn't happy but couldn't quite figure out where to go." The Matrix played her songs with Faith Hill influences, because these were the kinds of songs the label wanted Lavigne to sing. But Lavigne dismissed it, saying she wanted songs with punk rock inclinations. Lavigne played the Matrix a song that she had recorded and really loved, a track with sounds evocative of the rock band System of a Down. Fortunately, prior to forming the Matrix, its members' early projects were in the pop-rock vein, so they readily figured out what Lavigne wanted to record and knew exactly what to do with her. They told her to come back the following day. In the meantime, they wrote a song that evolved into "Complicated" and another song called "Falling Down" (which appears on the Sweet Home Alabama soundtrack). They played these for Lavigne when she returned the following day; the songs ultimately allowed her to visualize the path she should take.When Josh Sarubin, the A&R executive who signed Lavigne to the imprint, heard "Complicated", he knew it was right for her. Lavigne presented the song to Reid, who approved of the musical direction Lavigne and the Matrix were taking, and set "Complicated" as the album's lead single. Reid sent Lavigne back to the Matrix to work with them, initially for a month. Arista gave the team carte blanche to write and produce ten songs, which took them two months. The album was originally titled Anything but Ordinary, after the track of the same name that the Matrix produced, but Lavigne asked Reid for the album to be called Let Go instead, which is the title of an unreleased demo featured on Lavigne's 2001 B-Sides.
The album cover was taken in Manhattan, New York City at the intersection of Broadway and Canal Street. In 2022, Lavigne visited the same place and recreated the cover in a short video for the 20th anniversary of the album.
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