Teresa Spencer
By Teresa Spencer
In 2002, a teenage girl from small-town Ontario burst onto the scene with a skateboard under one arm, a tie around her neck, and a snarl that said, I’m not like the other girls. Her name was Avril Lavigne, and Let Go, her multi-platinum debut album, kicked down the doors of early-aughts pop and made room for angst, authenticity, and just enough eyeliner to scare your older sister.
Two decades later, Avril’s still here and she’s not just coasting on nostalgia. With a new greatest hits tour burning across North America and Europe, a fresh wave of collaborations (hello, Billy Idol), and a punk-pop revival that sounds suspiciously like 2003 in the best way, Lavigne’s proving something that’s always been true: real doesn’t wrinkle.
Avril grew up as a church-singing, hockey-playing kid who didn’t care about fitting in and, ironically, that made her a generational icon. By 16, she had a major-label deal with Arista. By 17, she was smashing MTV with “Complicated” and “Sk8er Boi,” songs that weren’t just catchy…they were declarations of identity.
Avril’s first album earned grammy nominations and of course topped the charts in the US and Canada. Avril’s second album, Under My Skin which came out in 2004 deepened her sound and darkened her eyeliner. It was rawer, heavier, and unsurprisingly her first U.S. No. 1. Hit. By 2007’s The Best Damn Thing, she’d proven she could write bubblegum pop bangers like “Girlfriend” without losing her edge. If the label wanted pink, she gave it to them spray-painted on black leather.
By 2011 it was clear that she evolved with her album titled Goodbye Lullaby. This record leaned into heartbreak, and in 2019 her Head Above Water song chronicled her brutal battle with Lyme disease with an emotional vulnerability that literally gutted fans. Then in 2022 she released her album called Love Sux. It was something else. Co-signed by Travis Barker and Machine Gun Kelly, it wasn’t just a comeback, it was a punk-pop exorcism. Fast, catchy, pissed-off and proud of it.
This year, Avril’s taking it all on the road with The Greatest Hits Tour, a pop-punk pilgrimage that proves her influence never waned, it just went underground while the rest of the industry figured out how to catch up. Her latest collab, “77” with Billy Idol, is a gritty, glam-punk stomp that could’ve dropped in 1981 or yesterday. Meanwhile, her Simple Plan duet “Young & Dumb” is pure teenage rebellion, bottled and aged to perfection. It’s proof: Avril doesn’t chase trends—she outlives them.
She’s also branching out in a way you might not expect. No, not a TikTok dance challenge (though she’d probably crush it), but pasta and tacos. Yes, Avril has teased a cookbook or a cooking show, fueled by comfort food and memories of her mom’s kitchen. Punk rock’s kitchen witch? We’re here for it.
Let’s be clear: Avril’s legacy isn’t just sonic. She’s a fashion icon, the original queen of mall goth chic. She’s a philanthropist, too, using her Avril Lavigne Foundation to support youth with disabilities, fight Lyme disease stigma, and give back in real ways.
Long live the queen of pop-punk. She never left. We just finally caught back up.
Catch her here in Jacksonville on June 23rd @ Daily’s place. For Tix/Info https://www.dailysplace.com/events/detail/avril-lavigne-greatest-hits-tour-2025
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