Goodbye, on-line conspiracy principle. Welcome again, Avril Lavigne.
Lavigne — the Canadian singer whose hits like “Sk8er Boi” and “Complicated” made her a mainstay of the early 2000s — appeared on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast this week to advertise a best hits album out subsequent month, a brand new tour and a efficiency at Glastonbury, Britain’s greatest music competition.
She additionally used the looks to inform followers that she is alive and herself.
And that she was most undoubtedly not changed by a physique double named Melissa Vandella after dying greater than 20 years in the past.
The energy of the web
The weird conspiracy principle has popped up sometimes, but constantly, across the web for a lot of Lavigne’s profession, and the publicity round her new tour has ignited one other spherical of consideration.
Many on-line explainers have traced its origin to Brazil, and a 2011 weblog publish that makes use of Lavigne’s lyrics and images of her to make an argument that “Melissa” took Lavigne’s place after the success of her debut album “Let Go.”
After a BuzzFeed News report drew attention to the theory, it appeared in mainstream press roundups of conspiracy theories, from the Guardian, to Rolling Stone, to the BBC. It additionally has its personal Wikipedia entry.
For the document: There isn’t any proof for this conspiracy principle.
‘So. Your title is Avril Lavigne.’
On “Call Her Daddy,” hosted by Alex Cooper — herself an icon of the 2020s who stated she grew up listening to Lavigne’s music — the singer stated she didn’t assume the conspiracy principle was that unhealthy within the grand scheme of issues.
“I imply, it’s simply humorous to me,” Lavigne stated. “Like, on one finish, everybody’s like, You look the very same. You haven’t aged a day. But then different individuals are like, you realize, there’s a conspiracy principle that I’m not me.”
But, she stated, issues might be worse.
“I really feel like I received a very good one,” she stated. “I don’t assume it’s, like, unfavorable. It’s nothing creepy.”
Cooper replied, “Avril, this conspiracy principle about you is a little bit creepy, come on.”
Lavigne has not usually commented on the conspiracy principle. In 2019, she instructed Entertainment Weekly that she was “flabbergasted that individuals purchased into it. Isn’t that so bizarre?”
On the podcast this week, she expressed an analogous sentiment.
“Obviously I’m me,” she stated. “It’s so dumb.”
Paul McCartney was not killed in a automotive accident within the Sixties. Elvis is unquestionably lifeless. But conspiracy theories, nonetheless ridiculous, have a manner of lodging themselves in folks’s unconscious, which helps their endurance within the face of overwhelming proof on the contrary.
Even Cooper couldn’t resist a number of follow-up questions.
“Why do you assume folks assume that?” she requested.
“I feel that they’ve executed that with different artists,” Lavigne answered. “I’m not the one one. I feel, like, different folks have that.”
Cooper: “I really feel like yours is, like, actually outstanding.”
“Oh, I imply, I really feel such as you would possibly imagine it?” Lavigne stated, as each of them barely contained their laughter.
Still, Cooper went for a last truth verify: “So. Your title is Avril Lavigne.”
Through extra giggles and a affirmation of her identification, Lavigne exclaimed: “I knew you half-believed it!”
A brand new album, a brand new tour
While Lavigne is not on the excessive heights of her early 2000s fame, her music has endured. The phrases to “Sk8er Boi” stay completely etched within the recollections of many millennials.
The best hits album might be her first since “Love Sux” in 2022. On Thursday evening, she debuted the single “Bulletproof” with the nation singer Nate Smith on the American Country Music Awards.
Lavigne shouldn’t be solely reside and kicking, however she says she can also be nowhere close to executed along with her profession. On “Call Her Daddy,” she stated that in addition to her coming tour, she was trying ahead to branching out creatively and turning “Sk8er Boi” right into a movie.
“It’s been so lengthy, it’s been 22 years,” she stated, “and I really feel like I’ve one other 22 years forward of me.”
Content Source: www.nytimes.com