Avril Keeps Her Head Above Water & Her Punk Pop Past in Her
Sept 17, 2019 1:38:44 GMT
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Post by Jimmyzz on Sept 17, 2019 1:38:44 GMT
Avril Lavigne Keeps Her Head Above Water and Her Punk Pop Past in Her
Brad Wheeler
Published September 16, 2019
Published September 16, 2019
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Avril Lavigne was the Billie Eilish of her time. Her debut album, Let Go, from 2002 was a multiplatinum pop-punk game changer, from a small-town skateboarding Ontarian whose angst and all-in-black moxie still empowers young women to realize their bedroom-mirror musical dreams. The Bad Guy pop star Eilish, born the same year Lavigne recorded her signature hit Complicated, is a Lavigne devotee.
Now, it’s 2019, and the singer who famously asked, “Why do you have to go and make things so complicated?” might wish her life today was as simple as it used to be. Lavigne’s latest album is Head Above Water, a ballad-driven break-up record inspired by the 34-year-old artist’s battle with Lyme disease and what she describes as a “toxic” personal relationship. The double-divorcee and former Sk8er Boi-singing teen now puts out emotive, string-laden anthems such as I Fell In Love With the Devil, as if she had designs on becoming the new Jann Arden or the latest Sarah McLachlan.
“With this album, I wanted to go back to my folk and gospel roots,” Lavigne says on the phone from Los Angeles, mentioning the Ontario fairs she played long ago as an acoustic-based singer-songwriter, before her eventual bratty-music breakthrough. "I wanted to showcase my voice in different ways.”
In support of the album (her debut with BMG), Lavigne is touring for the first time in five years. She’s had issues over creative control with record labels in the past, but the Napanee, Ont., native claims she’s had no such problems with BMG. “They signed me as a fully developed artist,” she says.
Despite the mature tone of Head Above Water, Lavigne hasn’t put her punk-pop past completely behind her. The album’s Dumb Blonde (with guest Nicki Minaj) is all bubblegum and young defiance. “Punk is an attitude, a lifestyle and a state of mind,” the singer says. “I have my wild side, still. The young Avril Lavigne, she’s still in there.”
Avril Lavigne plays Toronto’s Meridian Hall (formerly Sony Centre) on Oct. 6.
Now, it’s 2019, and the singer who famously asked, “Why do you have to go and make things so complicated?” might wish her life today was as simple as it used to be. Lavigne’s latest album is Head Above Water, a ballad-driven break-up record inspired by the 34-year-old artist’s battle with Lyme disease and what she describes as a “toxic” personal relationship. The double-divorcee and former Sk8er Boi-singing teen now puts out emotive, string-laden anthems such as I Fell In Love With the Devil, as if she had designs on becoming the new Jann Arden or the latest Sarah McLachlan.
“With this album, I wanted to go back to my folk and gospel roots,” Lavigne says on the phone from Los Angeles, mentioning the Ontario fairs she played long ago as an acoustic-based singer-songwriter, before her eventual bratty-music breakthrough. "I wanted to showcase my voice in different ways.”
In support of the album (her debut with BMG), Lavigne is touring for the first time in five years. She’s had issues over creative control with record labels in the past, but the Napanee, Ont., native claims she’s had no such problems with BMG. “They signed me as a fully developed artist,” she says.
Despite the mature tone of Head Above Water, Lavigne hasn’t put her punk-pop past completely behind her. The album’s Dumb Blonde (with guest Nicki Minaj) is all bubblegum and young defiance. “Punk is an attitude, a lifestyle and a state of mind,” the singer says. “I have my wild side, still. The young Avril Lavigne, she’s still in there.”
Avril Lavigne plays Toronto’s Meridian Hall (formerly Sony Centre) on Oct. 6.
