Who is Avril Lavigne?

By KATHERINE TULICH

Just over a year ago, Avril Lavigne was a young skate-punk from the tiny Canadian town of Napanee, Ontario, who had difficulty concentrating on schoolwork.

Today the 17-year-old is knocking on the door of international stardom with the release of her first song, Complicated, which is storming the charts all over the world. It's topped the New Zealand singles charts and last weekend the clip to the song won her "best breakthrough" at the MTV music video awards.

In the pop climate of Britney Spears and Christina Aquilera, Lavigne seems like a welcome antidote.

"I could never dance around with a bunch of background dancers because I'm a writer and I like to rock it on stage," she says, wrinkling her nose at the mention of Spears.

"She's doing her thing and has had success and now I'm going to step up and do my thing."

Sitting in the room of a swish New York hotel, Lavigne still looks out of place. She admits adjusting to life in a big city was tough.

"It was a total culture shock. I come from a town of 5000 people where everyone knows everything. Here it's noisy all the time. I don't think I could ever call this home.But then again, what I do like is that I can go out and get pizza anytime I like."

Her honest, rock-out style has this young singer-songwriter being compared to another Canadian star - Alanis Morrisette - but this very outspoken teenager has something to say about that. "I always get compared to Alanis Morrisette," she scoffs, "but I think it's just because we are both Canadians and we have long hair."

Like Morrisette, many of her songs are kiss-and-tells, but says she doesn't name names.

"Certainly not like Alanis. I don't use names, but I certainly want them to know it's about them. Its my way of getting back at them."

Complicated refers to past relationship experiences. "It's just me looking on life and a couple of relationships I've had where people tend to be fake and act like they are really cool and then go behind your back and act two-faced," she says.

Lavigne's musical ambitions began early. After hairbrush rehearsals in front of the mirror, she sang gospel in church and then began singing country songs at county fairs and talent contests. At 14 she submitted a tape to a local radio station and was rewarded by singing on stage in front of 20,000 people with her fellow Ontarion, Shania Twain.

After signing a demo deal with a Canadian label, she went to New York to record when she was 16. Arista label chief Antonio "LA" Reid came to see her in the studio and was sold.

"We really expected this to be a slow build and I approached it that way," says Reid. "There was not a lot of hype or huge expectations. I had confidence she would build an audience, but to have such an immediate explosion the way she has, has come as a complete surprise."

Lavigne, who's musical tastes run to Matchbox 20, Goo Goo Dolls, System of a Down and Sum 41, sees her success pretty simply.

"I'm a normal teenager. I've been through being mad at my parents, mad at boys, and a lot of people relate to that. I just write honest stuff, and a lot of people have been through the same stuff I have. Every teenager has."

Lavigne may be young but she is adamant that she does things her way, which means no stylists or media coaches on hand. Today she is looking decidedly unglamorous (after a very late night partying) in her usual outfit of work pants and tank top, with stringy blonde hair and no makeup

"I've had moments where I went to photo shoots and people tried to get me to wear high heels and cute little shirts and pants. They would have a whole rack of clothing, and I was like, 'No no no, I'm not wearing any of this', and I had to pull out my bag with my own outfit.

"But that was in the beginning, and now people know I don't take crap from people and I stand up for what I want to be, so they are careful now."

But she's still careful not to offend her strict Christian family. "I think because I was brought up in a Christian home I was kind of careful not to swear in my lyrics.I felt kind of guilty when I'd go to swear because I felt I would be disappointing my parents."

* Let Go is out now.