Britney Who? Avril Lavigne NY Post Article
www.nypost.com/entertainment/52363.htm
By COREY LEVITAN
July 14, 2002 -- A new teen queen is making a major play for space among school-locker pinups, but unlike Britney, Christina and Jessica, this one writes her own songs, plays her own guitar and wouldn't be caught dead dating a boy-band member or crafting any Madonna/@#%$ images of herself.
"I'm just not into people putting an image out there that's not them," said sudden chart climber Avril Lavigne, a 17-year-old high school dropout from Ontario who moved to the Village last year to make an album.
"If you're gonna go in front of the camera, be yourself. Don't dress up as someone else, then say you're different when you're off-camera. It's retarded, it's ridiculous."
The French-Canadian Lavigne (pronounced Luh-VEEN) has burst on the scene like a giant wad of Bubble Yum.
Tickets to her July 31 show at Irving Plaza sold out in less than two hours. Her album, "Let Go," made the greatest sales gains of last week's Billboard chart, where it's currently perched at No. 5. And her first single, the effervescent "Complicated," is the seventh best-selling song in the United States.
"I didn't ever think about the charts, because I never knew about them until I got into the business," said Lavigne, who is currently on the road in Florida. "But I did always believe in myself."
Lavigne's music is a confident blend of rock and pop, and places her in a triumvirate of young singer-songwriters one might call the anti-teen queens. She's arrived on the heels of Michelle Branch and Vanessa Carlton but has already proven herself at the sales counter.
And she's packed plenty of living into her 17 years.
"I've been through a lot because I'm in the business, and it's aged me," she said. "I've had to take care of myself and make really important decisions, and I'm around adults 24-7."
Shortly after her 16th birthday, Lavigne dropped out of school and headed to Manhattan. Her brother Matt, two years older, came along to chaperone.
Though her only musical experience was singing in church and at country fairs, Lavigne sent around a video that elicited interest from a Canadian production company, which arranged a writing session with New York producer Peter Zizzo.
"The first day I got to the city, somebody from Arista heard that I was in town and checked me out, and was like, 'Can you come back and sing for L.A.?,' " she said, explaining that the label wanted her to perform for Arista Records CEO Antonio Reid.
Later that night, pens were clicking.
When she told her devoutly Christian parents she was dropping out of high school to move to New York, Lavigne claims they were supportive.
"They knew how much I wanted this and how much I've put into it," she said, adding that her mom claims to have known the girl was destined for singing stardom from the age of 2.
Lavigne spent four months recording in the Village, where she lived in an apartment on Horatio Street, before polishing off "Let Go" in Los Angeles.
"New York was a tough place for me to live and work," she said. "I didn't meet anyone my age.
"Being away from home, being on my own and having this new life, I had so much to write about," she said. "But when I first got signed, [Arista] didn't know I could write, and they were giving me songs to sing from other people. I'm like, 'I can write my own songs, thank you.' "
"They were like, 'What? You're only 16!' "
Inspired by the Goo Goo Dolls, Third Eye Blind and Matchbox 20, Lavigne began writing her own material at age 12.
"I'm not just trying to make songs that make people dance," she said. "I'm not trying to sound nice and rhymey and stuff. I'm talking about real-life experiences. And people are like, 'Oh yeah, that's happened to me.' " She has not failed to impress programming managers, either.
"I think it's a really good sign for her career that pop radio is so enamored with her," said Frank Correia, music editor for industry tip sheet Radio & Records.
"But I think she will also have staying power because she's got a strong voice and she's not this pop fluff we've seen in recent years."
She may not be fluffy, but some things about Lavigne are undeniably youthful. She injects a "like" before every fifth or six word. Her description of Napanee - her tiny Ontario hometown - leads off with a complaint about the absence of shopping.
And she's in no rush to settle down.
"I'm not in a relationship and I'm not looking," she said.
Because of her jones for skateboarding, which features prominently in her videos and lyrics, Lavigne has been described as a "pretty punk princess."
"And what about 'punk-rock Barbie'?" she said, laughing. "People just like to label, and that's just really weird to deal with. Skating is one aspect of my life. I'm also a fisher and a camper.
"Why don't they label me as those things?"