It is not unusual for a song to have enough star status that it can drive music fans worldwide into two separate groups: those who love the song, and those who hate the song. And one of these just happens to be Avril Lavigne's latest hit, Girlfriend.

Delving into the songwriting business for the most part of her break from the music scene, Avril came up with the track Keep Holding On for the film Eragon. This track gave Avril her first Top Digital Song for 2007.

Obviously, the release of Keep Holding On just wasn't enough for Avril because she also came back on track with an album of her own. So, make no mistake it about it! Avril Lavigne is back with her latest installment, The Best Damn Thing. And the carrier single for the album is none other than the newsworthy Girlfriend.

Girlfriend actually caught the attention of both fans and non-fans of the young starlet. This is because Girlfriend is far from the angst-ridden music we've been accustomed to listening from Avril's past albums. For the purpose of recall, take Avril's Complicated from her debut album Let Go. Now that track really emanates the rock chick image Avril has always been famous of. And what about Nobody's Home, My Happy Ending, and Losing Grip from her sophomore installment Under My Skin? These tracks exude teen angst so much that her punk rock image was made even stronger than ever. Even the music videos for these tracks demonstrate teen angst clearly. And just when Avril was settling down on the Billboard charts, she decided to do another kind of settling down. In 2006, Avril married her boyfriend of two years, Deryck Whibley of Sum 41. It was then that she took a break from her music, and concentrated on creating lyrics for other artists, and lending her voice on animated films.

But here comes along Girlfriend, with a huge leap from her usual style! And even the nature of its lyrics is far from what we're used to hearing from Avril! The bubblegum pop nature of the song, tempered with the lyrics that seem to be spewed by a cheerleader, has definitely bagged whoa's and boo's from audiences worldwide.

Many people view the poppish Girlfriend as a solid leap from teen angst into bubblegum pop, which is quite sensible in this day and age in music. Because when it all boils down, the pop scene is way more stable than the teenage angst scene. Also, Avril cannot stick to the teenage angst scene anymore than she can stay a teenager. Thus, a lot of fans out there think that this is definitely the smart choice for a strong comeback.

And Girlfriend does have that familiar tune of success when you think about the veteran Toni Basil, and her hit Mickey. Mickey remains famous to this day, and Girlfriend has just about the same potential of going down into history as well.

But the haters of the song, ah, there are also quite many. In fact, the figures are probably neck-and-neck! The haters think that Avril is somehow regressing to her childhood days, which is quite inappropriate after just getting married. Some of the haters used to be fans of Avril as well. When asked why the loss of support, they say that they can't handle Avril's fake bubblegum pop scenario. To them, Avril's move from angst-ridden music to poppish cheerleader music is just too much. And the video of Girlfriend is all too childish when compared to her past music videos! Yep, the transition seems to be more than a little off for these haters.

As for me, I'm just glad to see Avril back in the scene. Whether her tracks be laden with angst or cheerleader stuff, she should be out there making tracks. That's the important thing because it would be such a waste seeing her talent taken off the shelves. And I don't think she'd be including Girlfriend on her comeback album if she weren't happy with it. So, here's to welcoming Avril back, along with her CD due to be released this April!