In this song, Avril sings from the perspective of a girl who likes a guy that already has a girlfriend. Her strategy is to be very persistent in trying to convince him that she is the better choice.
Unlike some of the more personal songs on Lavigne's 2004 album Under My Skin, this is simply a fun song reflecting the social tribulations of a schoolgirl. Lavigne was married to Deryck Whibley of Sum 41 when she recorded it.
Lavigne wrote this song with the hitmaker Dr. Luke (Lukasz Gottwald), who was also a producer on the track. It was his first US #1 as a co-writer; the following year he topped the chart as one of four writers on Katy Perry's "
I Kissed a Girl."
In 1978, a pop group called The Rubinoos recorded the song "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend," which bears some resemblance to this. The writers of The Rubinoos song sued Lavigne in 2007 over the similarities. Avril responded with this statement: "I had never heard this song in my life and their claim is based on five words! All songs share similar lyrics and emotions. As humans we speak one language. Let it be crystal clear that I have not ripped anyone off or done anything wrong."
Avril Lavigne reached a confidential agreement with The Rubinoos in January 2008.
Following the disclosure that a confidential settlement had been reached in their federal lawsuit, Dunbar and Gangwer of the Rubinoos said in a statement on January 15, 2008: "We are satisfied that any similarities between the two songs resulted from Avril and Luke's use of certain common and widely used lyrics. We therefore completely exonerate Avril and Luke from any wrongdoing of any kind in connection with the claims made by us in our lawsuit."
In an interview on Britain's Channel 4 TV, Avril Lavigne explained: "The song is just a fun song and it doesn't really mean anything. Writing it I just starting singing, 'I don't like your girlfriend, I think you need a new one,' thinking this is cool. So we just went in that direction."
Avril Lavigne earned two million dollars in a year after her management company uploaded this song's official video to YouTube. Due largely to a coordinated fan campaign, the video clocked up almost 100 million hits from around the world between mid 2007 and mid 2008. This meant that there was close to 100 million ad-views and even after YouTube took its cut, there was close to $2m owing to the Canadian songstress.
On the CD/DVD of the album, if features a part where they are making this song. Avril started randomly blowing into her beer bottle while listening to the playback and it happened to be right on pitch with the song. They ended up recording her blowing into the bottle and can now be faintly heard in the background during the last remaining seconds of the song where she sings the chorus one more time.
>>>
Suggestion credit:
Chelsea - Seattle, WA
This song was used twice on the show
The Secret Life of the American Teenager. In the first episode, it was the first song ever played on the show, and on the second season finale, it played when they were looking at who had gotten together, with the character Amy in bed sleeping after having her baby, John.
>>>
Suggestion credit:
Breanna - Henderson, NV
Speaking about the song becoming her first #1, Lavigne told Billboard magazine: "Sometimes I've found that the stuff I write really quickly and don't really think about tends to be the magic. We both knew, Dr. Luke and I, that that song was going to do well."
In The Office episode "Deposition" (2008), Kelly (Mindy Kaling) sings this to taunt Pam about Jim's ping-pong skills.
