Avril Lavigne: Adult, But Still Herself A female singer in her teens emerges seemingly overnight with a multiplatinum smash, winning millions of fans and launching scores of imitators. A couple of years pass and, poised on the brink of adulthood, she must release a new album that proves her initial success was no fluke and shows signs of personal and creative growth. A few years back, the young woman in that position was Britney Spears. But a different kind of artist will face the pressure Tuesday, when Avril Lavigne's second CD, Under My Skin , arrives. Not long after Lavigne's debut, Let Go , was released in 2002, the then-17-year-old Ontario native found herself tagged as a sort of anti-Britney. The ruggedly accessible, tomboyish presence that Lavigne projected in hit songs such as Complicated and Sk8er Boi and their videos was more appealing to many teenage girls -- and more comforting to their parents -- than Spears' increasingly elaborate attempts to shock and seduce like her idol, Madonna. And while Lavigne crafted many of the tunes on Let Go with a team of veteran songwriters/producers known as The Matrix, many critics thought her capable of more autonomy. Two years can be an eon in the fickle world of pop music, though, and Lavigne now faces competition from other teen crooners obviously inspired by her hook-laden, guitar-driven sound, among them Lindsay Lohan and Hilary Duff. "Avril has to watch her back now, the way that Britney did, because you have new girls who will try to take what she helped shape and make it that much more commercial," says Craig Marks, editor of the music magazine Blender . The less-than-ecstatic reception that has greeted Don't Tell Me , the first single from Skin , underlines the challenge that Lavigne faces. Airplay Monitor editor Scott McKenzie says the track is "hovering" at top 40 radio. "It's hard to tell if stations are embracing it because they want to or because she's a well-promoted artist they've had success with before." Lavigne does not pretend to be blase about her acceptance on the airwaves. "Radio means a lot to me," she says. She has already done much to promote Skin , starting with a national tour of more than 20 malls in March and April. She appeared on NBC's Today show Friday, and tonight a live concert will be broadcast by AOL exclusively for its Broadband members. But Lavigne is eager to distinguish between selling her product and selling herself. "The reason my fans loved me when I came out is that I was completely myself," she says. "When I was writing, when I dressed, everything was my own deal. I was real." Curled up on a bed in her hotel room, Lavigne does seem down to earth, but in ways that her feisty persona may not suggest. She looks younger than her 19 years, even with glamorous makeup layered over her blue eyes. She speaks softly, smiles sweetly and seems more embarrassed than miffed by personal questions. And Lavigne giggles -- a lot. "I'm such a chick," she says, with no apparent irony. "I love to go to a spa. I love shopping. I love to cook. When I'm home, I love to do laundry, just to take my clothes and towels out of the dryer and fold them, you know?" Could this be the same high-tops-wearing, skateboard-toting tough girl who put fear in the hearts of bad boys everywhere? Well, it's not for nothing that Lavigne's breakthrough single was called Complicated . Consider that this morning, even as she extols the joys of discovering her feminine side, she is wearing bright red socks that read, "Boys are dumb." Or that Don't Tell Me focuses on a relationship that is rocked when the guy pressures the gal to go too far too soon. "I'll have to kick your (butt)," Lavigne threatens her overzealous Romeo. Lavigne acknowledges that milder outbursts have led to people misunderstanding, or oversimplifying, her message. "I do have these sides to me that aren't going to follow the rules. So the media has put labels on me like rebel or punk, though I've never claimed to be punk," she says, giggling to emphasize the point. In lieu of The Matrix, whose punchy pop sound became inescapable after Let Go , the singer enlisted co-writers and producers with modern-rock credentials to help craft the introspective songs on Skin . Among them are Pearl Jam and Linkin Park alum Don Gilmore, Butch Walker of the Marvelous 3, former Evanescence guitarist Ben Moody and Raine Maida of Our Lady Peace. Other contributors include Maida's wife and Lavigne's fellow Canadian troubadour, Chantal Kreviazuk, whom Lavigne calls "my best friend," and Lavigne's guitarist, Evan Taubenfeld, who composed music for Don't Tell Me. Teen People music editor Zena Burns thinks that single, regardless of its radio progress, "sums up Avril's entire appeal" for teens. "She's not saying she wants to jump into bed immediately, but it's clear she has a relationship with this guy. Teenage girls aren't all either super sexual or abstinence queens. Most fall somewhere in the middle." Yet Lavigne says she has mixed feelings about her current single, which she wrote at 17. "I probably wouldn't have written that song now. Because I'm singing things like, 'Guys are so hard to trust.' That's not so much the way I feel anymore. I'm, like, totally open now, you know? I'm not putting up walls with guys." Asked why that may be the case, Lavigne seems reluctant to bare her soul. "I don't know. I'm older . . . but I don't know." Positive experience, perhaps? "Yes. Yes, I think so." With anyone in particular? Anyone she might be dating? Lavigne stares down at her socks and squirms. "I don't want to talk about that," she says quietly. Lavigne could hardly be called precocious in the arena of relationships. Her social life in high school consisted of "dating a new guy every week, but all you ever did was hold hands. I mean, that's all I ever wanted to do. My mom taught me to stand up for myself and have respect for myself. She also taught me not to have sex before I got married." (The answer to the obvious follow-up question is, "I don't want to go there.") Lavigne's lingering ambivalence about drawing attention to her sexuality is clear. "Imagine being an artist like Britney, where every day you have to put on these short little tops and show off your stomach," she says. "Like, girls get bloated sometimes, you know? I just think that would be so uncomfortable, don't you?" Yet Lavigne is keen to reveal herself as a maturing woman in more subtle and substantive ways. She is an active supporter of War Child Canada, which provides humanitarian assistance to children affected by war around the world. She wants to one day marry and have children of her own, having recently seen Kreviazuk through a pregnancy. "I was the first one to hold the baby after Chantal and her husband," Lavigne beams. Growing as an artist may be trickier. "It's always difficult for someone who hit the scene so young, to start drawing an older audience," Burns says. "People may have a hard time not seeing Avril as that 17-year-old raiding her brother's closet for ties." Adds Marks: "She's trying to sell, as good singer/songwriters do, rage and unhappiness, where the last record was at best about awkwardness and confusion. That's a real leap, for her and her fans." Lavigne seems more concerned about maintaining her emotional strength. During the mall tour, she found herself fighting back tears performing a song from Skin called My Happy Ending , which alluded to a then-recent painful experience. "I'm extremely sensitive," she says. "I mean, I'm a writer." Still, Lavigne looks forward to getting back on the road this fall, both to play her new songs and to enjoy the domestic perks offered by her fully equipped tour bus. "Maybe it's a chick thing," she says, "but I love having my own room and bathroom and closet space, with all my clothes hanging up. I get to sleep in the same bed every night, and it feels like home, and it just comforts me. That's what I love." - Date: May 24, 2004, Source: USA Today