Avril Lavigne's 'Alice In Wonderland' Video Is 'Haunting,'

History

In January 2010, Lavigne was in a board meeting at the Disney offices going over clothing designs inspired by Alice in Wonderland for her Abbey Dawn line, when she mentioned to the executives that she was writing music for her upcoming album and would love to write a song for the film's soundtrack. Discussions between Lavigne's manager and film executives took place, and director Tim Burton agreed to let Lavigne write the song. Lavigne stated, "I got off the phone, sat down at my piano at home, wrote the song immediately; I was so inspired because I'd been designing for the movie [...] so I had all the images in my head." She played the song for Burton, who later called Lavigne to give his approval and confirm the song would be used for the film.

On his radio show, On Air with Ryan Seacrest, Seacrest called the story a "great lesson," telling his listeners "you ask for what you want. You gotta go for it, because if you didn't ask for it, then you wouldn't have gotten [the opportunity]."^[7] "Alice" was premiered on Seacrest's radio show on January 27, when Lavigne made a surprise visit to the studio.^[8] Lavigne described the song as different from her previous work, calling it "a little darker."^[7]

The song was played over the film's end credits,^[9][10] and went on to sell 45,000 copies within the first four weeks of its release.^[11] Lavigne performed "Alice" on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno on March 3.^[12]

Production and release

Lavigne shot the music video for "Alice" on January 26–27, 2010.^[7] The video was directed by Dave Meyers,^[8][20] which was partly filmed at the Los Angeles Arboretum.^[20] Meyers worked closely with Lavigne to create the video. His intention was to capture "the haunting quality of the song" on video and present it with a gothic feel. Lavigne wanted to include piano sequences to stress the instrument's contribution to the song.^[21] Footage from Burton's Alice in Wonderland was edited prominently into the video.^[22]

The video premiered online on February 17, 2010.^[23]

Several critics focused on the lyrics of the song, with mixed reaction. Lamb expounded, "Lyrically, with words of 'trippin' out', Avril Lavigne brings Alice directly into a contemporary context. This will allow young fans to see more clearly the metaphorical application of Alice In Wonderland to contemporary issues and dilemmas."^[13] Becky Bain of Idolator began her review commending Lavigne's lyrics for "carry[ing] genuine sentiment," believing that her "words of encouragement" would "resonate" with her teenage fans.^[16] Mark Ingoldsby, of 411mania.com, had little to praise in Lavigne's lyrics, stating that Lavigne is "[a]pparently incapable of crafting witty lyrics that paint an interesting picture through creative metaphors."^[15] Martens had similar feelings, writing, "[The] listener never really gets a picture of [the] trippy world Lavigne has found herself in."^[17]

Bill Lamb of About.com gave the song 4 stars out of 5, appreciating Lavigne's interpretation of Alice's dilemma. He found her vocals emotional, "expressing the confusion of Alice falling through that rabbit hole".

{{quote|text= "Alice" works both as an emotional, dramatic evocation of struggles with confusing times in life, and setting the scene for the movie making listeners eager to see the story that generates this heart-pounding, raw statement of the survival instinct. [...] There is a raw immediacy to the sound which grabs listeners instantly. It's hard to know if it will be a major pop hit, but the song does provide a suitably dramatic intro to publicity for the upcoming film.^[13]

The Calgary Herald wrapped its opinion of "Alice" in succinct praise, calling it "one of the best songs of Avril's career", adding that Avril's repertoire doesn't otherwise live up to its hype.^[14] Digital Spy's Nick Levine called the song "a big angsty rock ballad", finding the track "cinematic" and at times "ghostly", before mentioning that the song took several listens to appreciate.^[2]