Need a crash course on AVRIL LAVIGNE? Here ya go: She's one of those rare creatures who started wowing people with her voice and character at around age 2. A small-town kid who couldn't sit still in class but had the confidence and determination to take off, virtually on her own, to hone her songwriting skills in New York City and Los Angeles. A startlingly up-front and outrageous 17-year-old with everything it takes to reach stardom-completely on her own terms. "I'm just coming out and I'm going to clearly be myself-I write what I feel, I never worry what others think," Avril avows. "I'm gonna dress what's me, I'm gonna act what's me and I'm gonna sing what's me."
Avril does exactly that on Let Go, flaunting sassy vocals and a crystal clear voice with real-girl lyrical style. Guitar-driven "Complicated," a simple song that kicks pretenders to the curb, managed the not-so-simple feat of nabbing the #1 spot on Billboard's singles chart while topping MTV's "TRL" countdown . "Complicated" set the all-time BDS spin record for one week at Mainstream Top 40 with 9,205 spins, (breaking Nickelback's prior record of 9,050 (for "How You Remind Me")). "Complicated" went on to surpass it's own BDS record stateside with 9,389 spins and in Canada, Avril eclipsed the BDS record held by Madonna. Lavigne, a 2002 MTV Video Music Award nominee for "Best New Artist In A Video" for "Complicated," is destined for International success.
The second single, "Sk8er Boi"-a punky paean to individuality-is "a straight-ahead rock'n'roll romp, joyous in its head-banging demeanor," says Billboard. The string-inflected "I'm With You" reaches out for connection to reflect Avril's more mellow side, but tracks like "Losing Grip" and "Unwanted" courageously confront rejection and betrayal with all the heaviness such subjects demand. Then there's "My World" and the metaphoric "Mobile," which perfectly articulate the Avril experience. "I am all over the place, flying here and there, going through different stuff everyday," she explains. "This is my lifestyle, but I wouldn't want a normal life or I'd get bored."
Apparently, Avril was born for such insanity. A middle child who "always wanted to be the center of attention," she was bound to bust out of Napanee, Ontario, population 5,000. "I always knew this was what I had to do," she says. "I remember when I was really young standing on my bed like it was a stage, singing at the top of my lungs and visualizing thousands of people surrounding me." She segued from her bedroom to singing, well, whenever and wherever she could-starting in church singing gospel music, and on to festivals, then singing country music at fairs and talent contests-until she was discovered by Arista Records.
On a writing trip to NYC, Avril caught the attention of Antonio "LA" Reid, who snapped her up and signed her to Arista. At 16, she moved to Manhattan and began work on her debut CD. Avril plunged into the creative process. "I love writing," she explains. "When I get upset and really need to get it out of me I go to my guitar. Sometimes I feel like my guitar is my therapist."
Avril virtually lived in the studio during that New York stint; then, to sharpen her chops further, she dove into another kind of culture shock by flipping coasts. It was in Los Angeles that she met producer/songwriter Cliff Magness, who became her ultimate collaborator. "We totally clicked-he just really understood me," she says. The songs for Let Go began pouring out, with Magness at the helm as well as up-and-coming production team the Matrix. Soon after Avril hooked up with Nettwerk Management who's steered the careers of Sarah McLachlan, Dido, Coldplay, Barenaked Ladies and Sum 41.
Avril couldn't be happier with the way the album turned out. "In this past year I've really grown as a writer. ‘Complicated' wasn't written about anyone in particular. It is basically about life, people being fake and relationships." As to one of her favorite tracks, "Losing Grip," she says, "That is definitely one of my ex-boys-he didn't give me what I needed emotionally." Avril laughs, "It doesn't matter now and plus I got a good song out of it."
The tune's just one of 13 top-notch tracks making journalists rave. Rolling Stone calls her voice, "equal parts baby girl and husky siren, capable of setting off car alarms several city blocks away." People trumpeted that she "displays an emotional grace beyond her years," while USA Today touted "driving pop hooks; feisty, fetching, instantly infectious."
Avril's been too busy playing out these days to spend too much time with her nose in the newspaper. She jokes, in fact, that touring with her own band of rocker boys isn't all that different from her childhood. "I was always a tomboy and I guess I still am. I played hockey during the winter and baseball in the summer. I loved playing with the boys."
But Avril's music is capable of reaching the girls and the guys, and plenty of adventurous adults too. That's pretty obvious, since Let Go debuted at #8 on the Billboard Top 200 Album's chart and continues to blow other records outta the water surpassing an all-time Soundscan record as Let Go becomes the first debut album by an artist in recent memory (i.e. not a soundtrack or ‘hits' compilation) to post 6 consecutive weeks of increased sales since its in-store date. Amazing? Yup. Unreal? Nope. Nothing about Avril Lavigne is unreal. "When I wrote this album I was just being true to myself-it came from my heart. I want people to know that my music is real and honest," she says. And when she says people, she means everybody: "I want to rock the world!"
She means it. So put on those crash helmets, kids, then just Let Go.
Courtesy of Arista
