Avril Lavigne Gets Warm And Fuzzy In "Smile"

Treating her many fans to another new offering, Avril Lavigne is back in all her skater chick glory and gets poignant in her newly released video for her uptempo track "Smile," the second single off her latest record, "Goodbye Lullaby." Not the poignancy is totally clear right off the bat: In the opening moments, the First Lady of Mall Punk is mad as hell, and she's not gonna take it anymore. Green-streaked hair and all, Lavigne delivers some choice words in her trademark sneer while rocking out and covering everything from the walls to the camera with spray paint.
"Smile" pays tribute to the special someone who was able to win her heart and put a grin on her face. The lyrics find the singer expressing her gratitude for a special person in her life. Backed up by a punchy drum rhythm and electric guitars, Lavigne offers even more reasons why most normal guys would run in the other direction, then praises her guy for sticking around. The sassy and catchy pop punk track represents Lavigne's best qualities as a pop star, while the tune incorporates talk-singing as well as the bold melodic choruses for which the 26-year-old is known.
Directed by Shane Drake, the video starts out with Lavigne in a white room, spray painting the walls with words, hearts, and posters. She then plugs in her electric guitar, rocks bright green hair extensions and rocks out while smiling. The video then heads outside with broken pieces of glass scattered around the city. The pieces are next to a person as the Canadian punk princess removes them to remove the brokenness of love and then smile returns to the person's face. The punk rocker wants her fans to put on a brave face and smile no matter how hard the situation is.
Throughout the punchy "Smile" video, Lavigne is in full-on punk rock mode. Overall, the video is a boldly visual clip that shifts between scenes splashed with color, like the neon green and white room where Lavigne spends her time rocking the hell out, and the black and white plot footage where Lavigne is strolling through town, picking up pieces of red glass, which is the only color in those particular parts. The red shards eventually turn out to be the pieces of a heart. It's a cute, youthful and loose video that reminds us why we were crushing on Lavigne in the first place. She's so spunky and spirited and she offers a dose of punk rock to the mainstream music scene where she largely camps out.