Under My Skin

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This article is about the album. For other uses, see Under My Skin (disambiguation).

Professional reviews
Under My Skin

Studio album by Avril Lavigne
Released	May 25 2004 (U.S.)
Recorded	2004
Genre	Pop, Rock
Length	43:31
Label	Arista
All Music Guide Image:3 stars.svg link RockReviews (8.5/10) the review
Avril Lavigne chronology
Let Go (2002)	Under My Skin (2004)

Under My Skin is the second album by rock singer Avril Lavigne, released on May 25 2004 by Arista Records. In its first week of release, it reached number one on both the Billboard 200 and UK Albums Chart. According to Metacritic.com, Under My Skin received an average rating of sixty-three, reflecting a mixed reception from critics.<ref>www.metacritic.com</ref>. The album was certified Platinum by the RIAA in July 2004 Double Platinum in November 2004 and Triple Platinum in January 2006.<ref>www.billboard.com Triple Platinum</ref> It sold about 9 million copies worldwide.

1 Track listing
2 Making of the album
3 Singles
4 Chart performance
5 Shopping Mall Tour
6 Notes
7 External links

[edit] Track listing

"Take Me Away" (Lavigne, Taubenfeld) – 2:57
"Together" (Kreviazuk, Lavigne) – 3:14
"Don't Tell Me" (Lavigne, Taubenfeld) – 3:21
"He Wasn't" (Lavigne, Kreviazuk) – 2:59
"How Does It Feel" (Lavigne, Kreviazuk) – 3:44
"My Happy Ending" (Lavigne, Walker) – 4:02
"Nobody's Home" (Lavigne, Moody) – 3:32
"Forgotten" (Lavigne, Kreviazuk) – 3:16
"Who Knows" (Lavigne, Kreviazuk) – 3:30
"Fall to Pieces" (Lavigne, Maida) – 3:28
"Freak Out" (Brann, Lavigne, Taubenfeld) – 3:13
"Slipped Away" (Lavigne, Kreviazuk) – 3:33

Bonus tracks:

"I Always Get What I Want" – 2:33 – Japanese and UK release
"Nobody's Home" (Live)– Under My Skin Special Edition
"Take Me Away" (Live)– Under My Skin Special Edition
"He Wasn't" (Live) – Under My Skin Special Edition
"Tomorrow" (Live)– Under My Skin Special Edition

[edit] Making of the album

Lavigne wrote much of the album with Canadian singer-songwriter Chantal Kreviazuk. She also co-wrote one track, "Nobody's Home", with Ben Moody, formerly of Evanescence, and the rest with her guitarist Evan Taubenfeld. Lavigne used three producers for Under My Skin: Butch Walker from Marvelous 3, Raine Maida of Our Lady Peace, and Don Gilmore, who has produced Good Charlotte and Linkin Park.

Much of the album was recorded in Maida's Malibu studios, as Maida is Kreviazuk's husband, and the rest was recorded nearby. On her website, Lavigne states that she has learned a lot since her first record, Let Go: "I was involved in every aspect of making this record. I'm very hands-on. I knew how I wanted the drums, the guitar tones, and the structures to be. I understand the whole process so much better this time because I've been through it. I'm really picky with my sound."

Track number 11, "Freak Out," though not released, is used by BBC Scotland as the theme tune to their sports television programme, Sportscene.

The track, "Slipped Away", is about the death of Lavigne's grandfather.

[edit] Singles

"Don't Tell Me" was the first single released from Under My Skin. It deals with a girl rejecting a boy's attempts to pressure her into sex when she is not ready. The song shot Lavigne back to the charts, reaching the top ten in several countries around the world, and number twenty-two on the Billboard Hot 100. The single was certified gold in late October 2004. <ref>www.billboard.com Don't Tell Me goes gold</ref>
"Take Me Away" was delivered to Canadian rock radio in March 2004. It was a radio-only single, and was a single in Australia released in 2005.
"My Happy Ending" was the second single from the album. It was released to radio in June 2004 and to retail stores on August 2 2004. The song returned Under My Skin to number one again in Canada for several weeks, and to the top five in the U.S., Germany, the UK, Australia, and other European countries. The song peaked at number nine on the Billboard Hot 100. The single was certified gold by the RIAA in mid-November 2004 <ref>www.billboard.com My Happy Ending goes gold</ref> and then platinum in late January 2005. <ref>www.billboard.com My Happy Ending goes platinum</ref>
"Nobody's Home" was the third single. It hit went top 40 in most countries, and received a significant amount of airplay, but failed to reach the top forty on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at number forty-one.
"He Wasn't" is the fourth single from the album. It peaked at number twenty-three in the UK.
"Fall to Pieces" was the radio-only fifth single (fourth single in the United States). It was a relative flop there, due to no promotion. It is Lavigne's weakest single to date.

[edit] Chart performance

Under My Skin was released on May 25, 2004 in the United States and went to number one there and sold over 381,000 copies in its first week. Under My Skin also went to number one in the UK, Canada, Australia, and Taiwan. It also topped the US Billboard Internet Albums.

[edit] Shopping Mall Tour

Lavigne went on a "Live and by Surprise" twenty-one-city mall-tour in the U.S., starting on March 4, 2004 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to promote "Under My Skin". Each performance consisted of a short live acoustic set of songs from the new album. She was accompanied by her guitarist, Evan Taubenfeld. The venue in each city was not announced until forty-eight hours before the show. The tour was very popular and was successful in promoting the album. The set at Indianapolis on March 25, 2004 at Glendale mall included "He Wasn't", "My Happy Ending", "Don't Tell Me", "Take Me Away", "Nobody's Home", "Sk8er Boi", and "Complicated".