All grown up

By Gemma Tarlach

November 11, 2004 - 11:58AM
Avril Lavigne.

Avril Lavigne.
Photo: File

The voice on the other end of the line has the sweetness of youth and a calm professionalism. It's enthusiastic, yet realistic.

It's kind of like talking to a really centred Girl Scout who would like you to buy one more box of Thin Mints, but understands it's not the end of the world if you don't.

Whatever preconceptions you may have about Avril Lavigne, they're probably wrong.

Lavigne has been many things to many people.

The Canadian pop star, now 20, came out of nowhere in 2002, dominating the airwaves with a string of impossibly catchy hits from Let Go, her debut album: Complicated, Sk8ter Boi and I'm With You.

With sudden fame came snap judgments from all quarters. Some heralded Lavigne as a punk-rock chick whose radio-ready revolution meant the end of pop tart diva domination. But just as many groused that Lavigne was just another corporate creation, spawned by a team of smart songwriters, savvy sound engineers and stylists.

Grumbling during interviews, rolling her eyes once too often and mispronouncing David Bowie's name at the Grammy nominations earned Lavigne a reputation for being either refreshingly real or interminably bratty, depending on how you saw it.

Lavigne's early outfits, notably the wifebeater-and-tie look, inspired fashion trends among TRL nation - and a backlash just as large. Her singing drew comparisons, favourable and not, to Alanis Morissette, an admitted influence, and later to Pink, Ashlee Simpson and, it seemed, any young female artist who didn't quite fit the "dancin' her pants off" formula.

When Lavigne released her much-anticipated follow-up, Under My Skin, this year, reaction was just as polarised. The album's more mature songs were branded as too calculatedly poppy by some and not poppy enough by others. Lavigne's new, corset 'n' skirts look was scrutinised even as it inspired fans' wardrobes.

Under My Skin debuted at No 1 in May and has sold more than a million copies. The disc still lingers in Billboard's top 30, yet some critics have dismissed it as a commercial disappointment.

It seems everyone has something to say about Avril Lavigne, but no-one can agree on her. Which begs the question - what does Lavigne herself think of all the attention?

"To be honest, I don't think about it," said Lavigne, calling from the road earlier. "I do my thing. Stuff comes out, and some of it is true and some of it is not true. Some of it is mean and some of it is nice.

"I don't pay attention to it. I feel confident with what I'm doing."

Moments later, the line goes dead.

After about 30 seconds, the phone rings. Lavigne is back on the line, first politely checking that she's calling the correct number and then apologising for the cell phone glitch.

Lavigne is the first to admit that being a pop star, including dealing with the press, has been a learning process.

"I get the whole thing now, why you do what you do. When I first got thrown into this, I would ask, 'Why do I have to do all this? I just want to be on stage'," she said.

Lavigne is quick to note she feels fortunate that, for all the ink devoted to her, the focus has been mostly on her music rather than the endless gossip that has dogged her peers, much of it at their own invitation.

"Most of the articles out there have been about what I'm up to with my career, which is good. Obviously there have been paparazzi shots, 'Oh, look, there she is doing whatever,' but those things only appear in US Weekly and the other weekly magazines, and that's all those magazines ever have."

Older and wiser in the ways of the media - and in her music.

Lavigne's voice speeds up a bit, fuelled by enthusiasm, when she talks about Under My Skin. As on Let Go, Lavigne has co-writing credits on every song. But for her second album, she ditched hit-making team The Matrix, architects of Let Go, and instead chose to work with fellow Canadian Chantal Kreviazuk and others, including former Evanescence member Ben Moody.

The music of Under My Skin is still radio-friendly but moves more freely between formats, from the Go-Go's-esque kiss-off pop of He Wasn't to the rock of Take Me Away.

It's all part of the plan, according to Lavigne.

"When I went and made the second record, I told the label, 'I know what I want to do, and I prefer you don't call me every day to ask how it's going.' They said, 'OK, fine'," Lavigne said proudly.

"And I know what I want (the third album) to be overall. Now I just need the time to do it, which I've asked for," she added with the calm decisiveness of a young professional ticking off to-do items on her BlackBerry.

While Lavigne waits to return to the studio, she's enjoying this tour more than her earliest road trips - and thinks fans will enjoy it more as well.

"This time I have a full understanding of what's going on. I'm much older now, and I'm more responsible," Lavigne said with the deadpan seriousness that only a 20-year-old reflecting on her teen years can have.

"With my live show, I take full control. I play for longer. I play piano and then do some songs with just me playing guitar. I put on a better show than before."

She credits improvements in her live performance partly to the experience of touring behind the Skin songs before the album's release. Hitting shopping malls nationwide, Lavigne performed the new material and a few old hits acoustically with her guitarist and co-songwriter Evan Taubenfeld.

"It was really humbling and rewarding because you know how it is when you go to a concert and don't know any of the songs? It was so cool to see people paying attention and listening," Lavigne said in a breathless rush.

The acoustic mini-sets did more than introduce fans to new material and give Lavigne a different perspective on performing live. They helped distance her from the "punk" and "rock chick" tags that were attached to her during the Let Go whirlwind.

"I'm a pop artist," Lavigne said, citing Morissette as well as Nelly Furtado and Michelle Branch as other musicians she admires.

"I have some rock songs, but my albums are diverse. ... Rock also has to do with attitude and how you portray yourself on stage."

And the stage, Lavigne readily admitted, is where she feels most at home.

"It's a job sometimes, and it's hard being away from home, having people say mean things and being judgmental. But I'm also OK with that. It's like, duh, people are going to say things. Whatever. It's all worth it.

"I'm having a blast, and I feel really honoured to be where I am."