The Story of Avril Lavigne: The Queen of Pop Punk
Welcome
to JGTV and today we are going to talk about alternative artist Avril Lavigne.
If you don’t know who she is she rose to prominence as a teenager in the early
00s. Through her music, she became the face of pop-punk and today, we are going
to go through her musical journey. So without further ado…
The
Story of Avril Lavigne: The Queen of Pop Punk
Avril Ramona Lavigne was born on
September 27, 1984, in Belleville, Ontario, Canada. Music was a part of her
life very early in her career. At the age of two, her parents discovered her
singing “Jesus Loves Me”. Avril was born to sing; she would literally sing
herself to sleep and it annoyed her siblings. Realizing her daughter’s musical
gifts, he converted his basement to an in-house studio filled with several
instruments for Avril to master. Another thing she mastered was hockey, playing
in an all-boys league and being named MVP in the same league.
As an early teen, Avril started to
perform in a number of talent shows. She won a random radio contest and the
prize was to perform with Canadian superstar, Shania Twain. They performed the
song “What Made You Say That”. Around this time, a man named Cliff Fabri
offered to manage the young teenager. Thanks to this connection, she got to
work with producer Peter Zizzo in New York. But going to New York came with a
price, she had to leave school to chase her musical dream. Through her parents
wishes, Avril dropped out of high school and moved to New York with her
brother. But she didn’t stay in New York long, Ken Krongard discovered her
singing and he wanted to set her up for an audition for Arista Records and
their head at the time LA Reid. Reid was impressed and signed the teenager two
a two album deal worth $1.25 million.
After signing with Arista, Avril
moved to LA to work on her debut album. While there, she found an image. She
realized she fitted with the skater crowd and started dressing like the clique.
Avril initially struggled finding her sound but it wasn’t till she worked with
the production team known as The Matrix. One of the songs they worked on was
called “Complicated” and that was used as Avril Lavigne’s debut single. The
song reached #1 on the Canadian Charts and peaked at #2 on the Hot 100, being
held out by Nelly. In June 2002, Avril Lavigne released her debut album Let Go.
Her next single was “Sk8er Boi”, that song also reached at #10 on the Hot 100.
Her third single was “I’m With You” and that reached #4 on the Hot 100. Let Go was
massive. The album went 7x Platinum in America, certified Diamond in Canada,
selling 16 million worldwide. This era saw her nominated for 5 Grammys, 6 JUNO
Awards (winning 4 of them) and winning Best New Artist at the 2002 VMAs. One
thing that needs to be mentioned, Avril came out in the era of the Britney
& Christina. Avril Lavigne was described as the “anti-Britney”
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Avril started to work on her second
album. Avril wanted more creative control, moreso independent control. While
she wrote songs on her debut, they would often get sent back to get reworked.
This time, she didn’t submit a single song until she completed the album. That
second album was called Under My Skin, released in May 2004. Compared to Let
Go, Under My Skin was deemed darker in themes. Example being the leadoff single
“Don’t Tell Me”, that song warns listeners (particularly women), not to cave
into the pressures from their partners. The song reached #22 on the Hot 100. The
next single was “My Happy Ending” and that saw her return to the top 10 in the
US at #9. Another single “Nobody’s Home” went to the top 10 in Canada as Under
My Skin went triple platinum in America. To promote, she went on a free mall
tour throughout Canada and US. In 2005, Avril lent her pen when she co-wrote
Kelly Clarkson’s big single “Breakaway”. That same year she became engaged with
Deryck Whibley, the lead singer of Sum 41. The couple would wed the next year.
That same year she leant her voice on the animated movie Over the Hedge.
In 2006, Avril recorded the song
Keep Holding On, a song that appeared in the E-Dragon soundtrack. The song
reached the top 20 in both the Canadian and American charts. The song would
also appear on her third album. In April 2007, Avril Lavigne released her third
album The Best Damn Thing. While her second album was darker, this album was
more brighter and pop oriented than ever. Example being the leadoff single
“Girlfriend”. Produced by Dr. Luke, the song became a worldwide hit, going #1
in multiple countries. The song however did land her in some hot water. Members
of the band Rubinoos sued Avril, Dr. Luke, RCA and Apple music for copyright infringement
citing Girlfriend sounds like their song “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend”. Dr. Luke
and Avril denied infringement stating they never heard of this song. A
musicologist consulted the Rubinoos and Avril’s manager and they ruled that
there were no similarities. Rubinoos then decided that Avril was willing to
settle to avoid a lengthy lawsuit case, which she and Dr. Luke did.
The next single was “When You’re
Gone” and that song reached the top 10 in various countries. The Best Damn
Thing went double platinum. She embarked on The Best Damn Thing World Tour. But
while in Malaysia, a political party there wanted her show banned as they felt
like some of her moves were “too sexy”. But a week prior to the show, the show
was approved by the Malaysian government. In 2008, Avril launched her first
clothing line named Abbey Dawn, then she launched a fragrance line Black Star
shortly after. In 2010 she founded the Avril Lavigne Foundation. Her charity helps young people with serious
illnesses and disabilities.
As early as 2008, she started to
work on her fourth album. But her relationship with Deryck Whibley was on the
rocks. The two where living different lives, Avril was barely around as she was
promoting her music around the world. After a civil discussion, Deryck and
Avril came to a conclusion that the relationship had to end and they filed for
divorce in 2009. In March 2011, Avril released her fourth album Goodbye
Lullaby. The album was suppose to be released a year earlier but was met with
label pushback. Most the album was stripped back compared to the pop punk fans
were accustomed to. The leadoff was “What the Hell” and that song reached #11
on the Hot 100. But the album did not have any other hits as it only went Gold
in America. Before her next project, she decided to depart from RCA and join
Epic to reunite with LA Reid. In November 2013, she released her self-titled
fifth album. The leadoff was “Here's to Never Growing Up “and that song reached
the top 20 in multiple countries. But the other singles were only minor hits as
like with her previous only went Gold in America. But during this stage she
started to date Nickelback’s frontman Chad Kroeger. They were in engaged in
2012 before getting married the next year. They recorded a song together called
Let Me Go. But like with her previous relationship, things didn’t end well. By
2015 the couple separated and divorced shortly after. But to make things worse,
the same year she came out and said she was diagnosed with Lyme’s Disease and
was claimed to be bedridden for five months. She spoke out against the disease
and was able to make a recovery.
Fast forward to 2019, she released
her sixth album Head Above Water. That album took inspiration during her battle
with Lymes Disease. In 2022 she released her seventh Love Sux. That album had
the song “Bite Me”. But around this time, artists like Billie Eilish, Olivia
Rodrigo and Willow Smith starting to rise as there was a new era of pop
punk/alternative in the mainstream and all women site Avril as a main
influence. While working on the Love Sux album, Avril got acquainted with Mod
Son. They announced their engagement in 2022 but was called off in 2023. This
is where she had a brief fling with rapper Tyga but that too was short lived. In
2024 she performed at London’s Glastonbury Festival and her performance drew
some of the largest crowds in festival history. Overall, Avril is a pioneer in
pop-punk. Many artist, even some hip-hop artists, site her as an influence.
Today, she still tours and performs.
SOURCES
https://www.biography.com/musician/avril-lavigne
https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/avril-lavigne-emc
https://kids.kiddle.co/Avril_Lavigne
https://www.notablebiographies.com/news/Ge-La/Lavigne-Avril.html
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