While driving around with NPY, the deejay on Z95 or some similarly inane radio station announced that Avril Lavigne’s latest single was one where when you hear it, you can’t get it out of your head. How true. NPY didn’t like it but I felt as if one could let loose to it. It defined once and for all to me the meaning of an “anthem song”.
Then I learned that she remade the song with 7 different choruses (imeem.com links ahead): they are in German (sounds funny and daunting at once), French (better have done it right, since she’s from Ottawa!), Italian, Mandarin (well, she tried), Portuguese, Japanese (my favourite because I can’t tell if it’s off =P), and Spanish. (Apparently a Hindi version was also slated but was ultimately too difficult to record.)
Besides loving the very energized and blonde(-haired) girl, I can only imagine Japanese and Chinese fans wholly appreciate the inclusive gesture with her rocking it in their language even if the accent is woefully off. So gimmicky. But can you really grudge the resoundingly successful girl who was chosen to represent Vancouver, wait, Canada at the closing ceremonies of the last winter Olympics?