Ontario, Canada - Avril Lavigne is back with her seventh studio album Love Sux, and has proven once again she is a pop-punk force to be reckoned with.

It's been 20 years since Lavigne released her magnum opus Let Go, an album that significantly changed pop music and established her as the queen of pop-punk.

Love it or hate it, anyone in the throes of adolescence during the early 2000s can most likely sing the hooks for songs like Complicated and Skater Boi.

Lavigne's unforgettable use of punk-lite aesthetic and attitude, with everything from her look to her music, was truly trendsetting at the time.

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The Canadian became the Joan Jett of post-Gen X teenagers searching for a new outlet to pour their angst into. And she did so – with her trademark heavily eyelinered look and stick straight blonde hair – during a time when pop-punk was still a heavily male dominated field.

Over the years, her music and personal life have gone through multiple phases, as more female-led bands and similar artists have come along to take over the spotlight.

Since we are in the midst of a 2000s music revival – see this year's When We Were Young and Firefly fesival headliners – can Avril Lavigne reclaim her throne with Love Sux?

While the title Love Sux may have you thinking it's a breakup record, Lavigne's new release feels more like she's matured to a point where she's truly having fun as an artist.

At it's core, Love Sux is a pop-punk record through and through. It's a huge departure from her last release, Head Above Water back in 2019, which was mostly piano driven pop ballads.

Love Sux's opening track Cannonball sets the stage perfectly with heavy guitar riffs, explosive vocals, and enough angst to make you want to defy your parents and cut holes in your clothes – even if you've grown past your teen years, just like Avril has.

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The record keeps up the pace and gets current pop culture "it" boys on board with the songs Bois Lie, featuring Machine Gun Kelly, and the extremely catchy first single Bite Me, featuring Travis Barker. After also putting out a track with WILLOW, perhaps Lavigne will keep up her trend of collabing with today's hottest stars, as she recently said she'd seen similarities between herself and Olivia Rodrigo and noted a future project from the two would be "super fun."

Yet, Lavigne proves to be continuing down her own path of upbeat music-making. Her new album's overall high energy, and the ability to not take things too seriously, is what makes Love Sux – and Lavigne herself – fun and appealing.

The release only slows down tempo-wise for two songs, Avalanche and Dare to Love Me. One thing it does lack, though, is the willingness to experiment, particularly instrumentally. The over-driven guitars playing mainly power chords makes the tracks blend together, and begins to feel a bit stale halfway through. Despite this, Love Sux is a strong effort from an artist that deserves to reclaim her queendom.

For Spotify listeners, each song offers storyline notes, in which Lavigne explains the inspiration and process behind the music. Reading along helps give context and demonstrates just how much she has evolved as an artist since she burst on the scene at age 18.

Love Sux feels like the album Lavigne was always meant to make. It perfectly embodies the not-too-heavy rocker image she has been known for over the years, and working this time around with pop-punk legends Barker and Mark Hoppus of Blink-182 have helped solidify it.

The now 37-year-old's strong brand of screlting and girl power is as prevalent as ever.

For fans of angst riddled pop-punk, or anyone wanting to travel back in time to when skinny jeans and studded belts were cool, this is an album you won't want to miss.