The Neurosis of Sk8ter Girl

I heard Sk8ter Boi again the other day on the radio, in the angsty, striking vocals of Avril Lavigne. Seems pretty straightforward right? Airhead ballet chick rejected a skater boy who later becomes a talented rock star while she becomes a lonely mother.

But think about it: In fact, the song is not really about little Miss Ballet (we’ll call her that for simplicity) – it’s in fact about the girl singing the song – Sk8ter Girl. It’s an ode to her neurosis, insecurity and immaturity.

We hear only the perspective of Sk8ter Girl and what she hears from Sk8ter Boi. So basically, she’s telling you what he told her about his high school rejection, and re-telling it in an angst-ified way.

How do we really know whether Miss Ballet rejected him because her friends looked down on him? We only hear what Sk8ter Girl thinks, and whether Miss Ballet really did like Sk8ter Boi or not is never quite revealed. Sk8ter Boi may jolly well have said that to salvage his ego – yes, we’ve ALL known of at least one guy who claims to know of some unavailable girl who “actually did like me”.

Besides, why is Sk8ter Boi dwelling so much on one teenage rejection? Adolescent crushes come and go all the time. It sounds more like a “Haw haw, you didn’t want me and now I’m great and you’re regretting it” revenge tactic, like a puny kid who grows up to be a bodybuilder and goes round hunting his childhood bullies so he could beat them up.

What Sk8ter Girl also didn’t take into account apparently is that when you’re a teenager, being able to conform and peer pressure are two really big influences on your identity. Even if Miss Ballet really did listen to her friends, could you really blame her?

And really, what the hell’s wrong with being a young mother? Why is Miss Ballet being laughed at simply because she has a kid to take care of while Sk8ter Boi is doing ‘cool stuff’ like being an MTV hero?

The words she chose to relate the tale are very telling of her mentality. She sounds like a teenager herself in her means of expressing herself. She makes up for her low self-esteem and insecurity, making herself feel better by putting someone else down.

One possibility crossed my mind – if Sk8ter Girl recorded the song without letting her man know about it first: if I were Sk8ter Boi, I think I’d be a bit creeped out that my girlfriend would be recording a haw-haw song about my unrequited teenage crush and taunt the ex-crush to get back at her.

It also makes me wonder – since she’s going on about how Miss Ballet missed out, what is she more in love with? Sk8ter Boi’s “soul” or his rock star status? She makes no small point in conspicuously implying that the main thing that makes Miss Ballet regret is the fact that he’s a famous star.

You can tell how naïve Sk8ter Girl is by assuming “that is how the story ends” (i.e. with her and Sk8ter Boi being a couple). In reality, put insecure girl with insecure boy together, what do you get? Vindictive flakes.

Who’s the airhead now?

[OK, you CAN call me inane for psycho-analysing a pop song, but, well...I like doing it. So there.]