Avril Lavigne On 20 Years Of ‘Let Go’
Avril Lavigne has spoken to The Guardian to mark the 20th anniversary of her debut album, Let Go.
“I was getting out of high school and I just wanted to rock out,” remembered Lavigne. “I want loud guitars, I want live drums … I want to write about the crazy stuff, the insane emotions, the good and the bad.”
Despite being new to the industry, Avril was very clear on the artist she wanted to be, “I was very clear on what I wanted to do and what I didn’t want to do. I wanted to be angsty and to sound more like a band; I didn’t want to be all bubblegum pop. I wanted to turn my emotions into lyrics. I was honestly just very, very pure.”
Let Go remains one of the 20 best-selling albums of the 21st century and Avril recalled being shocked by the scale of its success, “I remember my manager being like: ‘Do you realise you’re No 1? And still No 1 this week and No 1 this week and then this week?’”
Avril went on to discuss her influence on a new generation of young female artists, “All these people around me are like: ‘Oh my God, I’m a huge fan, I listened to you growing up, you inspired me!’ It’s really trippy…. That younger generations are discovering my stuff and that Billie [Eilish], Olivia [Rodrigo], and Willow [Smith] go out into the world and continue to shatter the mould like I did 20 years ago is super-inspiring.” She says even the musicians she is friends with and collaborates with are longtime fans. “All these people around me are like: ‘Oh my God, I’m a huge fan, I listened to you growing up, you inspired me!’ It’s really trippy.”
She also revealed that a film adaptation of her classic single Sk8ter Boi is in the works, “I can’t wait to learn this process of making a movie,” she says. “I think I’ll want to make more.”