Review of Their Song ‘Dumb Blonde’
Avril Lavigne released her newest album, “Head Above Water,” on Feb. 15, which includes one the song “Dumb Blonde” that her fans are up in arms over.
“Dumb Blonde” features Nicki Minaj and is not living up to fans’ expectations. The song begins with the lines, “I ain’t no dumb blonde, I ain’t no stupid Barbie doll, I got my game on, Watch me, watch me, watch me prove you wrong,” which is repeated often throughout the entire song – but then again, every line is repeated often throughout the dreaded duration of its three minutes and 34 seconds.
“It’s terrible!” Lexi DelPico, a University of Rhode Island sophomore, said when she listened to the song.
Another URI sophomore, Erez Davidson, had a visceral reaction to the song and had to pause the song halfway through, saying, “that’s enough,” when his friends played it for him.
Lavigne’s 2002 “Let Go” album brought “Sk8er Boi” and “Complicated” into the music sphere, changing the lives of every girl born in the 90s. Okay yes, I was only four years old when these two iconic songs aired, but those guitar riffs and poetic lyrics truly resonated with me long into my angsty teen years and still get me hype to this day.
However, after “Girlfriend” aired (the original “breakup with your girlfriend, I’m bored” song by Ariana Grande) in her 2007 album, “The Best Damn Thing,” Lavigne’s reign of producing musical masterpieces quickly dwindled.
URI sophomore Julia Nelson said “her career died when she did – in 2008,” referencing the conspiracy theory of Lavigne passing away and being replaced by a clone named Melissa.
To semi-quote Lavigne herself, why did she have to go and make things so complicated with this new awful music? Life was so much easier when Lavigne came out with adolescent angst songs that made you want to date a skateboarder, dye your hair pink and wear black ripped clothing.
Freshman Collin O’Connor agreed that “Dumb Blonde” was not living up to Lavigne’s prime time and impacting him as he had hoped.
“It’s just not emo enough,” O’Connor said.
“Dumb Blonde” feels to me as though it should have surfaced in the early 2000’s when Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie were tanning by their poolside, maxing out their credit cards at posh designer stores and looking in every mirror they passed. As someone who has recently become a blonde with the help of lots of hair bleach and toners, I am saddened to say that I did not feel as empowered as I was hoping to by this song.
Yes, Lavigne and Minaj do convey the message that they “ain’t no stupid Barbie doll” and instead are “bombshells raisin’ hell now,” but I would still turn much quicker to Dolly Parton’s “Dumb Blonde” or “Backwoods Barbie” songs if I felt the need to receive blonde empowerment validation.