Sonically, it might be one of the most in-your-face, hard-hitting tracks of Avril’s career and I can just see how much that song resonates with everyone, from artists to fans. Like, I can really connect to this person and understand what they’re saying and it really showed me that we are all going through the same problems. It was one of the first times I felt like I really connected to a woman artist, to be totally honest. It talks about going through things alone, and I’ll never forget connecting to the lyrics and being like, ‘This is so different from everything.’ This was a time of boy bands and diva kinds of pop stars, and what Avril did was so opposite to that. “So, you put this album on, you hit play, and you hear this haunting track, ‘Losing Grip.’ I had no idea what to expect going into it, but is very heartbreaking, but also, there’s this sense of optimism in it. No disrespect to the biggest skateboarders in the world that have always been doing it, but if you think Avril didn’t do a service to skateboarding in general, you’re crazy. I think for the whole world it kind of did that. And when Avril came out, it actually gave me the fearlessness to leave what I was doing, the things that were comfortable at the time and the norm for the city I grew up in, and literally become a skateboarder and musician, wear Dickies and skate shoes. I was born on a farm, but shortly after that I moved to a suburb and was surrounded by jocks and cheerleaders. “Avril was definitely one of the first artists that gave me the guts to pursue something different, to explore the counterculture of things. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Lavigne’s debut album, Let Go, CBC Music spoke to 15 artists and writers about the songs on the album that shaped the lives of an entire generation. The pop-punk princess still carries significant influence - reigning pop royalty Olivia Rodrigo has cited Lavigne as inspiration - while artists in adjacent genres (Tyler Shaw, Soccer Mommy) feel her ripple effect, too. Following her fiery debut, Lavigne went on to sell millions of records, win nine Juno Awards and eight Grammy Awards. Twenty years later, we’re seeing the next class of pop-punk purveyors top the charts, while giving pioneers like Lavigne the credit they deserve. Whether it was picking up a skateboard, chucking gendered ideas out the window or starting their own rock bands, fans used Lavigne’s songs to soundtrack their feelings of loneliness, love and, most potently, being pissed off. While absurd questions about her legitimacy continued to swirl, Lavigne was undeniably empowering an entire generation of young music lovers. (In Lavigne’s defense, she stated in multiple interviews that she wasn’t claiming to be punk, implying that it was a label given to her by others.) As one of the only women present within that era of Warped Tour and pop-punk, Lavigne was breaking new ground. Lavigne sparked debates around whether her music was punk, pop-punk or rock. “But it is unclear how much songwriting she does.” “To a young audience tired of glitzy teen disco, Lavigne has been presented as a guitar-toting singer-songwriter,” a 2003 Rolling Stone feature stated. (Lavigne often noted that she wore the same clothes for the first several years because that’s all she had with her.) But she was chastised for this, and that vitriol extended to Lavigne’s art, too. Soon, sexist critics would throw her words back at her: Chill out, why does a teenage girl need to yell so much? Lavigne embodied a lot of traits that male artists have historically been praised for: rage, passion, general disinterest in style. Like many women before her (Alanis Morissette, Riot Grrrls and their cohort, Joan Jett and more), anger became a key part of Lavigne’s identity. Within the glossy pop machine that worked overtime to churn out cookie-cutter stars in the early millennium, this statement felt radical. She wasn’t a pristine, hyperfeminine pop star instead, she looked like one of the kids you would see at your local mall, an image literally crystallized in the music video for “Complicated.” While that wasn’t Lavigne’s hardest-hitting rock song - in fact, it’s more of a mid-tempo banger - her simple reflection on everyday teen life (and angst) projected the image of a rebel who wanted to do things on her own terms. Clad in her now iconic combo of tank top, tie and Vans skate shoes, Lavigne was the antithesis of the typical 2002 chart-topper. Twenty years ago, this question was an introduction to 17-year-old Avril Lavigne from Napanee, Ont.
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