AVRIL Lavigne could be no more obviously manufactured if she had a barcode and telephone number for customers branded in her butt.

The evidence is overwhelming. Her best-known songs on the album Let Go, including omnipresent singles Complicated and Sk8r Boi, were the work of the Matrix, a production team famed for Britney Spears, Ricky Martin and Pop Idol runner-up Darius Danesh.

But to her 'squeaming' 15-year-old fans with black nails and blue eye-liner she is the epitome of rebellion and should be worshipped accordingly.

Since Let Go she has rubbished Matrix's contributions and shacked up with Chantal Kreviazuk, an Alanis Morissette-ish Canadian singer-songwriter to work on the follow-up Under My Skin.

But it's still mostly mainstream stadium rock with power ballads like the title track and the sound is AOR drive-time American radio - your brain just switches off.

It's so anodyne that you don't pay much attention to Lavigne's lyrics which is handy as prolonged exposure to them can be bad for your health. But better are her support band in Cardiff, Simple Plan, who while failing to raise the intellectual tone at least have genuine fun.

Avril Lavigne and Simple Plan play Cardiff International Arena on Saturday, October 9. Dial 029 2022 444 for info.