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

Under My Skin is the second album by rock singer Avril Lavigne, released on May 25 2004 in the United States and Canada by Arista Records. In its first week of release, it reached number one on the Billboard 200, Australian ARIA Albums Chart and UK Albums Chart. According to Metacritic.com, Under My Skin received an average rating of sixty-three, reflecting a mixed reception from critics.. Under My Skin is significantly different to Lavigne's debut Let Go, which had a pop-punk style for many of the tracks. This album is heavier and more serious, as proclaimed by Lavigne herself, and brought out a darker image for her and her music. The album was certified Platinum by the RIAA in July 2004, Double Platinum in November 2004, and Triple Platinum in January 2006. The album topped the United World Chart for 6 weeks (though not consecutively.) Although commercially successful with 8 million units sold worldwide, it experienced a massive 50% sales decrease in comparison with her debut album.As of August 2007 the album has sold 11 million copies worldwide.

Track listing

1. "Take Me Away" (Lavigne, Taubenfeld) – 2:57
2. "Together" (Lavigne, Kreviazuk) – 3:14
3. "Don't Tell Me" (Lavigne, Taubenfeld) – 3:21
4. "He Wasn't" (Lavigne, Kreviazuk) – 3:00
5. "How Does It Feel" (Lavigne, Kreviazuk) – 3:44
6. "My Happy Ending" (Lavigne, Walker) – 4:02
7. "Nobody's Home" (Lavigne, Moody) – 3:32
8. "Forgotten" (Lavigne, Kreviazuk) – 3:17
9. "Who Knows" (Lavigne, Kreviazuk) – 3:30
10. "Fall to Pieces" (Lavigne, Maida) – 3:28
11. "Freak Out" (Lavigne, Taubenfeld, Brann) – 3:13
12. "Slipped Away" (Lavigne, Kreviazuk) – 3:34

Bonus tracks

1. "I Always Get What I Want" – 2:31 – Japanese and UK bonus track. Also released as a B-side of the "Nobody's Home" single.
2. "Take It" - 2:50 (B-side of "My Happy Ending")
3. "Nobody's Home" (Live Acoustic Version)– Under My Skin Special Edition
4. "Take Me Away" (Live)– Under My Skin Special Edition
5. "He Wasn't" (Live) – Under My Skin Special Edition
6. "Tomorrow" (Live)– Under My Skin Special Edition

B-Sides and outtakes

• "I Always Get What I Want" (Avril Lavigne, Clif Magness) – 2:31
• "Take It" (Avril Lavigne, Clif Magness) - 2:50
• "Daydream" (Avril Lavigne, Chantal Kreviazuk) - 2:39

Special editions

Under My Skin received two notable special edition albums. On February 8, 2005, nearly one year after the album's release, Avril decided to do what many other popular artists were doing and release a DualDisc edition of the album, although the special edition was not promoted in any way. The audio side of the disc included the original tracks as the U.S. album. The DVD side included the making of the "Don't Tell Me" video, the complete "Don't Tell Me" video, as well as the clean complete video for "My Happy Ending", and her newest video at the time, "Nobody's Home". The advantage to this set was that it was released in PCM audio.

Under My Skin also received a special edition release in Europe (Spain) and the Eastern hemisphere, in places such as Japan, China, Korea, Singapore, Australia and Taiwan. The album itself included 4 live bonus tracks - "Nobody's Home", "Take Me Away", "He Wasn't", and a live version of "Tomorrow" from her first album, Let Go. These songs were recorded live from her 2004-2005 Bonez tour. This edition also included a bonus DVD or VCD that included all of her music videos from the album (all the way to "He Wasn't"), a Bonez tour documentary, and the Under My Skin diary.

The 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 had 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 11, "Freak Out", though not released as a single, is used by BBC Scotland as the theme tune to their sports television programme, Sportscene. It was also used as an image song in the early trailers of Ice Princess.

The track, "Slipped Away", is about the death of Lavigne's grandfather. It has been used during the introduction of the 2003 ABC Family film, "Searching for David's Heart".

Singles

• "Take Me Away" was delivered to Canadian rock radio in March 2004. It was a radio-only single. . In early 2005, it was also released into Australia as a radio-only single.
• "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.
• "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 and then platinum in late January 2005.
• "Nobody's Home" was the third single released from the album. It went top 40 in most countries, and received a significant amount of airplay, but failed to reach the top 40 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at number forty-one.
• "He Wasn't" was the fourth single from the album. It peaked at number twenty-three in the UK. The single was not promoted in the United States; however, her 2005 tour included images from the music video.
• "Fall to Pieces" was the radio-only fifth single and the fourth single in the United States.

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 Canada selling over 63,000 copies, UK, Japan, Australia, Spain, Mexico and Taiwan. It also topped the United World Chart for 6 weeks but not conseccutively and the U.S. Billboard Internet Albums. It spent almost 5 months in the New Zealand Album Charts, eventually going Gold, but only peaking at number 7. On April 15, 2007, the album re-entered the UK Albums Chart at #60.

Certifications

Shopping mall tour

Lavigne went on a "Live and by Surprise" twenty-one-city mall-tour in the U.S. and Canada, 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". Selections of this tour were released on the Avril Lavigne Live Acoustic EP, which was released in U.S. Target stores.

Notes

1. www.metacritic.com
2. www.billboard.com Triple Platinum
3. "Official Word-Wide Sales". AvrilLavigne.com. Retrieved 2007-07-07.
4. www.billboard.com Don't Tell Me goes gold
5. www.billboard.com My Happy Ending goes gold
6. www.billboard.com My Happy Ending goes platinum

External links

• Avril Lavigne's official website
• Metacritic's Avril Lavigne Home page
• Avril's second studio album re-enters the UK Albums Chart

• Pages with empty short description
• 2004 albums
• Avril Lavigne albums