HOW AVRIL LAVIGNE SHAPED THE POP-PUNK SCENE AND INSPIRED A GENERATION

Avril Lavigne’s name is synonymous with the alternative side of 2000’s popular culture, with smudged eyeliner, metal studs, and pop-punk teenage hits. Now, particularly on TikTok, an alternative, punkish style is almost de rigueur— think Tara Yummy and Landon Barker. But before Avril’s rise to fame, punk subculture had a high barrier to entry; the sense of ownership over the term “punk” was such that punk band Sex Pistols went as far as to accuse pop-punk band Green Day of “nicking” the label. But young Avril persisted with her idiosyncratic style and music— and opened the door of pop-punk for the teenage masses, in a trailblazing career she now reflects on with her new Greatest Hits album and tour.

Avril, like most pop-punk artists at the time— or perhaps more, because she was a young girl— took flack for what punk purists saw as appropriation of the term and the style. At one point, according to Rolling Stone, she avoided using the p-word at all. Despite these derisions, most people were attracted by the very opposite quality: her authenticity, her verisimilitude as a punk girl, a bona fide rockstar— as one fan put it, “She’s not fake.” Indeed, though her punky image wasn’t born in the strife of a prison cell or the alleys of London, her style felt natural to young Avril. “When I was younger, I wasn’t really thinking about my style. I was just doing what made me comfortable. I never set out to be punk,” Avril tells me, about the controversy. “Though I have matured, I have always kept to my roots of wearing what I liked. I think that being punk isn’t just a style or a music genre, but more of an attitude of being yourself and saying fuck you to anyone who has an opinion otherwise.”

Her ability to say “fuck you” is one of her most admirable and defining as an artist. As a rookie, she was remarkably steadfast about how she wanted her clothing and musical style to be, unafraid to tell off producers for giving her material that was too pop and insufficiently rock. She told Rolling Stones, “A lot of people didn’t want to listen to me, but I spoke up until they did. And I can always say, ‘Screw you guys if you’re not gonna work with me.’ If they’re not gonna listen to me, I’m not gonna do things. Try and make me – I’m not gonna.”

Her blunt, fiery force has not dimmed with time; in a 2024 interview in the podcast Call Her Daddy, she explained how record president LA Reid instilled early confidence in her by encouraging her to stick to her style— but immediately added she would have stuck true to her style with or without his approval.

Indeed, rather than quelling the fire of her early music, time has nuanced it. “When these songs first came out, they were raw, rebellious, and full of youthful energy that was new to music. Playing the songs now, they are still full of that energy but there is a hint of nostalgia,” says Avril. “When people come to my shows, they can forget everything that life may have thrown at them that day and be 17-years-old again, rocking out with their best friends in their bedroom, screaming the lyrics at the top of their lungs, and they just get to let go.”

She has always wanted to have a set list of all her hits. After the celebration of 20 years of Let Go, she began feeling that she wanted to celebrate her progress with a tour that unified her iconic early work. In addition, that she’s able to do such a tour is a testament to the longevity and health of her career. Her stability, remarkable among many teen stars, is thanks to her support system, she says. “When I first left home and started my debut album in NYC, my brother was sent with me as my chaperone and he has toured with me ever since, keeping me grounded,” she tells me. “I’ve had my fun, but I never got caught up in the Hollywood scene. I eventually recognized the need for balance because we were going nonstop for a decade and I realized, though it was fun, it wasn’t sustainable. I devote a ton of my energy to being on tour or locking myself up in the studio for 6 months to a year at a time to write songs, so I make sure and keep a healthy balance in my life so I can keep doing this for as long as possible!”

In her early interviews and music, love is frequently a topic. She’s always been a hopeless romantic. “I still think it is important to have a partner who is sensitive and has their own edge,” says Avril, referencing her early ideas of love, “but I also know that love is more complex than what I thought at 17. I have learned that self-love is just as important as romantic love, and that love isn’t always easy and can be full of heartbreak and disappointment. Despite its challenges, I do think that love is still worth pursuing though because of the joy and connection it can bring.” As of now, she affirms she’s quite happy and content.

As a kind of matron saint of teen stars, Avril has also championed numerous promising young female artists. Some of her favorites are Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo; recently, she’s been obsessed with Chappell Roan. “I am a fan of everything Chappell is doing. You can tell that everything is authentic to her and her vision. It is all so cohesive that I cannot wait to see what she does in the future,” she says (hurray, Chappell! What a stamp of approval!). “I see artists like Chappell, Reneé Rapp, and Sabrina Carpenter taking music and just having fun while bringing their own style to everything which is really inspiring.” Any advice from the OG teen icon? “The best advice I can give is that this industry can be hard, but as long as you stay authentic to yourself, keep moving forward, and not let people dictate your vision, you will have a long career,” she intones.

Avril’s current work includes a lot of collaboration with other artists, like Travis Barker of rock band Blink-182, a band young Avril loved. “Getting his input on my music and collaborating helped me tap into a whole new side of myself. We became friends so when we worked together, it never felt like work,” says Avril. Serendipitously, Travis Barker’s son Landon Barker is a mini-icon himself of the post-Avril pop-punk style on TikTok. (Pop-punk really is the gift that keeps on giving.

Like her music with Travis, Avril’s collaborative work has always been more play than labor. “I just released a version of Nate Smith’s “Bulletproof” that we decided to do together after a couple of drinks and skateboarding around Beverly Hills,” she says, a collaboration that sounds like more of a party than most parties. “I loved being at the ACM Awards in May and it brought me back to my childhood of singing at country fairs.” Though most of her energy is now directed toward her Greatest Hits tour, she works constantly on new music. “I always keep an acoustic guitar on my bus so I am ready anytime inspiration strikes,” she tells me.

Looking back at a career both dazzlingly illustrious and admirably vital, she remarks,

“I have been fortunate to achieve so many milestones throughout my career and I am incredibly grateful for the support of my fans. They are really such a strong community and not a day goes by where I’m not thankful for them.” She, of course, looks forward to making more music– but hints at “other creative avenues,” perhaps like her recent collaboration with Beatbox Beverages, a ready-to-drink cocktail sold in juice-box-esque cartons, on which Avril’s name is scrawled in paint marker.

In any case, if she were to make a physical product, she says she would want to do a home decor line with “skulls all over and pops of pink. Something for the girly punk girl to get year-round– not only when stores put out their Halloween lines.”