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Today at Salon, Andrew Leonard reports that the country where Avril Lavigne‘s the biggest isn’t the U.S. or even her native Canada. It’s China, of all places. I find that hard to believe, considering China doesn’t even have any Hot Topics, but the fact that she’s recorded a version of her new single, “Girlfriend,” with the chorus sung in Mandarin looks like proof. Actually, after listening to the song a few times, the Chinese love for Avril makes a little sense: the song is the kind of nitrous-giddy, straight-faced ultrapop that Asia is apparently addicted to. It doesn’t take much to imagine the chorus being sung by a squadron of superpowered hamsters or something, an effect that’s increased exponentially when you hear it sung in a foreign language. (It also makes me wonder if you’re allowed to drop F-bombs on the radio in non-English speaking countries.) I’m disappointed that Avril still hasn’t gone back to working with the Matrix, but for her unabashed globalization-era market-whoring I’ll give her a big thumbs up and a “ding hao.”
