GLAMOUR: For Avril Lavigne, It’s Never Been That Complicated
Aug 26, 2023 19:09:13 GMT
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Post by Jimmyzz on Aug 26, 2023 19:09:13 GMT
Credit to BogoGog24 for finding this article! I still can't believe I missed this article when it came out.
posting this article for archival purposes.
5 Songs, 5 Stories
For Avril Lavigne, It’s Never Been That Complicated
The queen of pop punk is back with a new album. To celebrate, she breaks down the stories behind five of her most memorable songs.
February 25, 2022
“Like a ticking time bomb, I'm about to explodeeeeeeee. And motherfuckers let's go!”
And so begins Avril Lavigne's seventh studio album, Love Sux, out now. The line—from the song “Cannonball”—is angsty and maybe even a little rude, but you can't miss the joy in her voice as she shouts over a drumbeat that's so driving it sounds like the heartbeat of someone who just downed three espressos, a Red Bull, and an unknown number of green tea pills. It's everything we've asked Lavigne to be, sonically, since she first came on the scene at 17 years old back in 2002.
If you're reading this, you probably don't need to hear from me how impactful her debut song “Complicated” and its accompanying album Let Go were in the early aughts. Lavigne's image as a pop-punk princess smartly capitalized on the era's trends—a time when the original run of Jackass was on TV, professional skateboarders were the celebs of the moment, and bands like Blink-182 dominated the radio. But it went deeper than that: Speaking from personal experience, I'll say that Lavigne was the first woman whom I—an awkward preteen experiencing a lot of rage I didn't know how to name or understand—saw in the mainstream embrace her angst with glee. Screaming along to hits like “Sk8er Boi” was an incredibly refreshing outlet, and her record sales from the time tell me I can't have been alone.
Over the course of her decades-long career, Lavigne has found ways to stay relevant and switch up her sound and image without every straying too far off course. She might dye her hair pink for an album or embrace a moodier tone, but she always knew her point of view: It's rock and roll—it's not meant to be that deep.
Love Sux keeps on with the tradition. “I kind of just got together with my friends and made a really fun record,” she tells me over Zoom. “I didn't want it to be serious or anything…. I just wanted it to be a good time and write songs for the live show.”
Much like her debut, her timing is impeccable. Pop punk is having a resurgence again thanks to artists like Machine Gun Kelly, who Lavigne recruited to feature on her song “Bois Lie.” Travis Barker, future Mr. Kourtney Kardashian, is a producer.
“I'm happy that people are loving and appreciating [pop punk] music right now,” she says. “It's always been a part of who I am and where I started, musically. This has been my vibe, always, and it's cool to see a younger generation discovering the O.G. bands and seeing all the collabs that are happening right now. It's a really fun time in music, for sure.”
And for Glamour's latest installment of 5 Songs, 5 Stories, we dive deeper with Avril Lavigne into how, exactly, that vibe has evolved over the years. Read on.
And so begins Avril Lavigne's seventh studio album, Love Sux, out now. The line—from the song “Cannonball”—is angsty and maybe even a little rude, but you can't miss the joy in her voice as she shouts over a drumbeat that's so driving it sounds like the heartbeat of someone who just downed three espressos, a Red Bull, and an unknown number of green tea pills. It's everything we've asked Lavigne to be, sonically, since she first came on the scene at 17 years old back in 2002.
If you're reading this, you probably don't need to hear from me how impactful her debut song “Complicated” and its accompanying album Let Go were in the early aughts. Lavigne's image as a pop-punk princess smartly capitalized on the era's trends—a time when the original run of Jackass was on TV, professional skateboarders were the celebs of the moment, and bands like Blink-182 dominated the radio. But it went deeper than that: Speaking from personal experience, I'll say that Lavigne was the first woman whom I—an awkward preteen experiencing a lot of rage I didn't know how to name or understand—saw in the mainstream embrace her angst with glee. Screaming along to hits like “Sk8er Boi” was an incredibly refreshing outlet, and her record sales from the time tell me I can't have been alone.
Over the course of her decades-long career, Lavigne has found ways to stay relevant and switch up her sound and image without every straying too far off course. She might dye her hair pink for an album or embrace a moodier tone, but she always knew her point of view: It's rock and roll—it's not meant to be that deep.
Love Sux keeps on with the tradition. “I kind of just got together with my friends and made a really fun record,” she tells me over Zoom. “I didn't want it to be serious or anything…. I just wanted it to be a good time and write songs for the live show.”
Much like her debut, her timing is impeccable. Pop punk is having a resurgence again thanks to artists like Machine Gun Kelly, who Lavigne recruited to feature on her song “Bois Lie.” Travis Barker, future Mr. Kourtney Kardashian, is a producer.
“I'm happy that people are loving and appreciating [pop punk] music right now,” she says. “It's always been a part of who I am and where I started, musically. This has been my vibe, always, and it's cool to see a younger generation discovering the O.G. bands and seeing all the collabs that are happening right now. It's a really fun time in music, for sure.”
And for Glamour's latest installment of 5 Songs, 5 Stories, we dive deeper with Avril Lavigne into how, exactly, that vibe has evolved over the years. Read on.
“Complicated”
The debut single off her debut album, this was the song that introduced Lavigne to the world. The 2002 hit was well received and peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. It also scored two Grammy nominations: Song of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
The debut single off her debut album, this was the song that introduced Lavigne to the world. The 2002 hit was well received and peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. It also scored two Grammy nominations: Song of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
“Complicated” has a lot of meaning to me. It was a life-changing experience. I sang the song one time, in one take. [Producer Lauren Christy] was like, “Cool, you're done.” That's really rare. It was just Lauren and myself. No one else was there.
When we were writing “Complicated,” I thought, This is totally a song that could be on the radio. I remember thinking that in my little brain, being like, “I can totally hear this.” I felt really good about it. I loved it right away.
The inspiration for it came from how it really bothered me when my male and female friends would be in the world putting on a face and not being true to themselves, but I didn't have anyone in particular in mind when I wrote it. I was a teenager, so it's more about what people are like in general. The same with “Sk8er Boi”—high school experiences, different groups and cliques, and stuff like that.
This was the first song I went around and played for all these radio stations. I had to work very hard. It was a total whirlwind, and it happened super quick. My life was a never-ending promo tour. So when I think of the song, I think about how, as a new artist, I was in two to three cities a day, flying at 6 a.m., waking up at 4 a.m. to get to the airport. It taught me so much about hard work and how that pays off. I love performing the song even to this day because it has so much meaning behind it. Now when I'm up onstage singing it, I think of all my tours and how long I've been singing the song. I look back on it fondly.
The song that changed my life completely—I owe a lot to it.
“Don’t Tell Me”
Lavigne's second studio album, Under My Skin, was released in 2004 and embraced a slightly grungier sound for the singer. “Don't Tell Me,” written by Lavigne with Evan Taubenfeld and produced by Butch Walker, was selected as the lead single and peaked at number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100. Lavigne had wanted “My Happy Ending” to be the lead, but the label pushed back. Of course, she was right in the end: “My Happy Ending” was the bigger hit, reached the top 10 on the charts.
Lavigne's second studio album, Under My Skin, was released in 2004 and embraced a slightly grungier sound for the singer. “Don't Tell Me,” written by Lavigne with Evan Taubenfeld and produced by Butch Walker, was selected as the lead single and peaked at number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100. Lavigne had wanted “My Happy Ending” to be the lead, but the label pushed back. Of course, she was right in the end: “My Happy Ending” was the bigger hit, reached the top 10 on the charts.
What was cool about this song was that I wrote it while on promo tour for the first album in my hotel room with Evan Taubenfeld, who was my guitar player at the time. So while we were probably working on “Complicated,” this got written. Maybe even before the first record came out.
The song's about knowing when you're being tested and having your boundaries pushed and being a good girl. I think it's so funny that I wrote a song about that. I grew up in a Christian home. I was a good girl—pretty good—and it's about not letting a guy pressure you into doing something you don't want to do. It's about saying, “Put on the condom!” No, I'm just kidding. [Laughs.]
I actually wanted “My Happy Ending” to be the first single for the album. I still feel it would have been way better, but the label wanted “Don't Tell Me.” I was like, “I can write a better song than this. Please let me have more time.” So I went into the studio and was like, “I”m writing my first single today. I'm writing a hit.” That was the day I worked on “My Happy Ending.”
It was the first time I experienced having my opinion and then having the suits have their opinion—these males in suits—and then being like, “No, I wrote a better one. I wrote a stronger one.” Not that it matters now, but “My Happy Ending” went number nine and to this day is definitely one of my favorite songs. But I did this thing where I was like, “Okay, I'll listen to them. They know what they're talking about. I guess I back down here. What do I know?” It taught me that I do know. I am good at gauging out of my songs which are the strong ones. I have a good sense for what I should do.
“Girlfriend”
Written by Lavigne and Dr. Luke (who was later accused of assault and emotional abuse by Kesha) for her third album, The Best Damn Thing, the 2007 song was Lavigne's most successful on the charts to date. It was her first to reach number one on the Hot 100, and the music video became the most viewed video on YouTube at the time.
Written by Lavigne and Dr. Luke (who was later accused of assault and emotional abuse by Kesha) for her third album, The Best Damn Thing, the 2007 song was Lavigne's most successful on the charts to date. It was her first to reach number one on the Hot 100, and the music video became the most viewed video on YouTube at the time.
When I heard “Girlfriend,” I knew it was going to be huge, just off the chorus. I took a C.D. home from the studio and played it for my friends and everyone was like, “This is going to be the song of the summer.” I haven't really done that with any other song. You can get a really strong sense for songs that are special.
My second album felt a little darker. It was deeper and moodier. The Best Damn Thing was more fun pop rock. What's funny, when I think about it, is that my hair went black on the second album and then I went pink on the third. It's just where I was at in my life.
“Girlfriend” happened spur of the moment. I had my backpack on, it was 11 or something at night, and I was leaving the studio. I said to Dr. Luke, “Play something punk rock,” because we had an electric guitar that we were borrowing from Jerry Finn, who has since, sadly, passed away. He was a producer for Blink-182, and we all really had so much respect and admiration for him. He was working in the same studio and let us borrow his Les Paul.
So Dr. Luke played the chords for “Girlfriend” and it just flew out of my mouth. I sang, “Hey, hey, you, you….” We wrote that chorus as I had my bag on about to walk out in, like, two minutes. He laid the guitar down, wrote the beat with his electric drum, and I ran in and laid down a scratch vocal. And I thought, Oh my God, this song's going to be huge. It was just one of those moments that don't happen a lot. It is really magical.
It's meant to be funny and sarcastic. At the time I was married to [Sum 41 singer] Deryck Whibley; it was just one of those things. I love the song to this date. It was cool to be on my third record and getting a call from my manager telling me that the song went number one. That felt really good. It was a fresh sound for me, and my sound had evolved in my style. And then I took that song on tour, and it was so special that I played it twice at my shows. I opened with it and closed with it. Because, when else can you pull that off? That's how big the song was.
“What the Hell”
From her 2011 fourth studio album Goodbye Lullaby, “What the Hell” was produced by Max Martin and Shellbeck, who cowrote the lead single with Lavigne. It was largely well received by critics, who compared it to 2007's “Girlfriend” as a signal that Lavigne's sound was now embracing a more catchy party vibe.
From her 2011 fourth studio album Goodbye Lullaby, “What the Hell” was produced by Max Martin and Shellbeck, who cowrote the lead single with Lavigne. It was largely well received by critics, who compared it to 2007's “Girlfriend” as a signal that Lavigne's sound was now embracing a more catchy party vibe.
I just went on to work for a really long time after “Girlfriend.” The next album went a little more somber, but “What the Hell” was another fun party song. I made really cool T-shirts that said “WTH.” It's really not that deep of a song. It's really just a party song about living your life and having fun and kind of misbehaving and being flirtatious.
I wrote this in Sweden, and I snuck in a swear word in the background in Swedish. No one knew that I swore! We were just having a lot of fun dancing around in the studio. My mom is in that music video, and my brother plays the bass guitar onstage with me. Also, I've never made out with a guy in a music video, but this was the closest that I came. It's because I'm always in a relationship.
On tour, I'd open by singing the song a cappella. It's really low and really high—vocally it's all over the place—and would be hard, I think, for people to hit certain notes, but I have a high range, so it's fun for me. A song like that, to perform every night, you really have to protect your voice. This is where I definitely took into consideration vocal tricks where you narrow your vowel instead of having to be wide. I would use my head voice on some notes, where you elongate a vowel and stick it in your head voice. It's hard to explain, but that's where I had to use vocal tricks.
“Love It When You Hate Me”
The second single from Lavigne's Love Sux, “Love It When You Hate Me” was released on January 14, 2022, and features singer-producer blackbear, a.k.a. Matthew Musto. Musto and Lavigne wrote the song alongside John Feldmann and Derek “Mod Sun” Smith.
The second single from Lavigne's Love Sux, “Love It When You Hate Me” was released on January 14, 2022, and features singer-producer blackbear, a.k.a. Matthew Musto. Musto and Lavigne wrote the song alongside John Feldmann and Derek “Mod Sun” Smith.
This was one of the last ones we wrote for the album. It came really quick. We wanted to have a feature on it, so we hit up blackbear. The song is sonically a little different for me—it's a more modern kind of pop-punk song, where the drums are more modern sounding. So we felt that blackbear would be perfect for it. I was really excited that he got on board. He's an amazing songwriter, and someone that I haven't worked with before. His voice is so distinct, so he took the song to the next level. Honestly, he did his part and I was like, “This song is that much better now.”
This is about when you're in a relationship with somebody and there are red flags but you decide to ignore them because the chemistry is there. The relationship is really passionate, and there's a lot of drama and fights. It's very hot and cold, but it's fun. It's exciting.
We led with “Bite Me” as the single and took it to alternative radio, which I've never done before. And then “Love It When You Hate Me” is more of a Top 40 song. I feel like it's one of our stronger ones on the album, and it stood out.
Because I'm going on tour with this record this year, I'd like to continue to do what I've been doing and have an extension of this in terms of my sound. This feels really good for me right now. It's a lot of fun, and it makes sense. It's where I'm at creatively, and I don't want to wait too long to put out the next album. I really love who I'm working with right now in terms of my team and collaborators. I'd love to expand and of course work with some other people too, but I'm really having fun with what I'm doing right now and who I'm working with and the overall vibe.
I hope people have fun and dance and mosh to this album. I hope they can relate, because it has such a sense of humor to it. It's like, “I'm not the only one going through this.” Relationships are hard. It's not always easy, so it's nice to be able to poke fun at it. The record has a strong, empowering message in it too. It's a self-worth, self-love, standing-up-for-yourself vibe. If someone's not treating you well, move on. So I hope that it's inspiring and encourages people to just have fun. I hope people are having barbecues and getting lit and rocking to these songs. I hope they come to the concerts and mosh and sing along in their car and it makes them feel good.
Anna Moeslein is the deputy editor at Glamour. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
