Avril Lavigne feat. Lil Mama

Avril Lavigne’s third album, The Best Damn Thing, may have furthered her reputation as the world’s best selling solo artist (no, really, the World Music Awards say so) and boosted her up to the eighth spot in Forbes’ top 20 celeb earners under 25 ($12 million), but it also sat Avril on the hot seat for three, count ’em, three songs others have claimed to have written without being credited and compensated. One of them is hit single "Girlfriend,” which we all know is far from an original work and owes its infectious chorus to the Rubinoos’ "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend.” She didn’t give us the sort of statement to convince us that she’s anything more than what she was back in 2002. Instead, she held her image as a lame-brained and self-absorbed faux punk, but a lame-brained and self-absorbed faux punk with delicious playground hooks and flirtatiously bitchy gesturing. Clearly she’s still only concerned about what sells millions of records and that’s fine. As great a single as "Girlfriend” is, I find this remix to be far more satisfying — largely because it shows Avril trying something new, albeit only just. Bringing in shit-hot teenage rapper Lil Mama (more from three spots from now on this list) to add some credible ’tude, and tasty rhymes, her youthful hip-hop swagger counterbalances Avril’s juvenile ramblings and transparent posturing. Dr. Luke’s bursts out of the gates with a hip-hop thumping, and the verses and chorus are cut up and re-imagined for Lil Mama’s amiable gift for gabbing. It's young, dumb and full of, erm, bubblegum. It all kind of makes you forget how unimaginative Napanee’s sk8ter brat really is — well, maybe not Chantal Kreviazuk, Peaches or the old dudes in the Rubinoos.