Avril Lavigne talks about her live concert in Bangkok next week

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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
She's not such a 'bad girl'
MANTA KLANGBOONKRONG
THE NATION



Avril Lavigne, in town next week, sings about never growing up, but admits she has

BANGKOK: -- CANADIAN POP-ROCK chick Avril Lavigne is returning to Bangkok next week for her second show at Impact Arena.

March 2005 was the first time Thai fans got close and personal with the then-budding rock star. The Franco-Canadian singer and songwriter had by then released two albums, "Let Go" - the biggest pop debut in 2002 - and "Under My Skin".

That concert was in Aktiv Square and paired with another foreign headline act, Simple Plan. This time, though, with three more albums added to her repertoire, 29-year-old Lavigne takes centre stage inside the arena itself to hammer out her chart-topping hits.

By the time Lavigne was 15 she'd appeared onstage with country singer Shania Twain. By 16 she'd signed a two-album deal with Arista worth more than US$2 million. In 2002, at 17, she broke big with her debut album and its heavyweight single "Complicated", becoming the youngest female soloist to reach No 1 in the UK charts. Her second album, released in 2004, topped the Billboard 200, eventually selling more than 10 million copies.

"The Best Damn Thing", Lavigne's third album, repeated that success in Britain in 2007 and included her first Billboard Hot 100 No 1 single, "Girlfriend". The fourth, "Goodbye Lullaby", came out the same year, yet another lofty entry on the charts. Last year brought a self-titled album and the hit single "Here's to Never Growing Up".

So let's see: That's six No 1 singles ("Complicated", "Sk8er Boi", "I'm with You", "My Happy Ending", "Nobody's Home" and "Girlfriend") and 30 million albums and over 50 million singles sold. Our first question in a chat with Avril this week was going to be "What's it like to be you?"

DO YOU HAVE ANY LASTING IMPRESSIONS OF THAILAND AND THE LOCAL FANS FROM YOUR LAST VISIT?

The fans were really fun. And I went shopping and bought some cool Thai decorations for my home. I'm really excited to be coming back!

IT'S BEEN 12 YEARS SINCE "LET GO". HOW WOULD YOU SAY YOU'VE EVOLVED SINCE THEN?

I have more material now to choose from - this is my fifth record. I've grown as a performer and I'm more comfortable.

WHY DID YOU NAME YOUR LATEST ALBUM SIMPLY "AVRIL LAVIGNE"?

I wanted the album to show all the different sides of me.

YOU DESCRIBED MAKING IT AS A "ARTISTIC JOURNEY".

I experimented and tried new styles with my vocals and songs choices. I've written about so many topics and there are new sounds, too.

A lot of songs in the past have been about love, relationships and break-ups or whatever because I was younger - I was a teenager and all that stuff. But now I'm at a very different place in my life. It's not just a record about love and relationships, you know. There's a song called "Rock N Roll" and another one called "Hello Kitty" and a bunch of summer songs, and then a couple of songs that are pretty nostalgic, about looking back, like "17".

"HELLO KITTY" SOUNDS VERY ELECTRONIC, WHICH IS QUITE UNEXPECTED OF YOU.

I just wanted to try something new. It's a fun and playful song.

WHAT GENERALLY INSPIRES YOU WHEN YOU MAKE MUSIC?

However I feel that day. Generally, life inspires me.

HOW DID IT FEEL WRITING A SONG WITH SOMEBODY ELSE, LIKE, FOR EXAMPLE, YOUR HUSBAND CHAD KROEGER?

It can be more difficult when there are too many people involved. I like to write one-on-one best. It's always fun to have a writing partner.

WHAT WAS IT LIKE WORKING WITH MARILYN MANSON ON "BAD GIRL"?

It was an honour to have him perform on that track. He's very artistic and I love his style. I have a lot of respect for him as a songwriter and he's had a lot of success in his music career, so it was really inspiring to have him around.

And also we're both artists who write songs, so it's not like he was just a studio writer - he's a musician himself. He's another singer, so we have an understanding, and he really understood me when he was producing the songs.

YOU'RE ALSO A CLOTHING DESIGNER WITH YOUR OWN BRAND - ABBEY DAWN.

I'm a chick, I love clothes, and I'm also in the entertainment industry, so I've done a lot of photo shoots, video shoots, red carpets. So I learned very quickly that fashion was going to be a big part of what I do. Abbey Dawn is all about expressing yourself. It's for the girl who wants to have fun with her fashion. The fashion shows are cool. It's awesome because I get to play my music for the models on the runway.

YOU'VE PERFORMED YOUR MUSIC ON TV SHOWS AND IN MOVIES. WOULD YOU LIKE TO TRY ACTING?

I would love to be in a movie and act. I would actually enjoy drama or comedy and maybe horror!

WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FROM YOUR CONCERT NEXT WEEK?

I'm going to play all the hits from over the years and some new materials off the new album, too.

SK8 ON OVER

Avril Lavigne performs at 8.30pm on Tuesday at Impact Arena in Muang Thong Thani.

Seats cost Bt1,000 to Bt4,500 and standing-only passes are Bt2,500 and Bt4,000.

Find out more at www.ThaiTicketMajor.com and (02) 262 3456.


-- The Nation 2014-02-07

[charmonman]

Oh well. It's better than K-Pop at least.

[Neeeko]

Kill me. Kill me now.

[bangon04]

Let us hope she is not arriving with Thai Airways.......