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Avril Lavigne returns in good mood

(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-03-05 14:21

Lavigne, who cites the Distillers and Blink-182 as her favorite bands, recorded and co-wrote eight songs with Dr Luke. The in-demand producer has recently worked with Clarkson, Pink, Kelis, Jibbs and Paris Hilton, among others. He said he has had his eye on Lavigne for years, and he credits his work on Clarkson's Since U Been Gone as finally helping him get the gig.

"Avril was like, 'I heard that, and that should have been my song,"' said Luke, who was more than happy to share his other work with Lavigne, beyond the half-dozen tracks officially released to the press.

He held his cell phone to his laptop to give a taste of a new cut called I Wear the Pants. It begins with Lavigne in a near rap before the guitars kick in, a la Fall Out Boy's This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race.

"She's kind of girl rapping, but doesn't sound like a rapper," Luke said. "I love that, like Peaches or Blondie's Rapture. I like it when white girls rhyme, and are sassy and have charisma."

MULTILINGUAL MATTERS

It was at the advice of her manager, Terry McBride, that Lavigne learned to sing Girlfriend in Spanish, as well as Japanese, Mandarin, Hindu, Portuguese, French and German. Under My Skin sold more albums outside the United States than domestically, and McBride believes that tackling the single in multiple languages will boost Lavigne's ringtone sales outside North America.

An even greater olive branch to her international fan base is her Japanese-style manga comic, Make 5 Wishes.

In the States, Random House will release Make 5 Wishes as a book, and it will be available as a value-add download to those who purchase the album on iTunes. In most territories, however, it will be issued as an episodic series via cell phone.

The manga also enables Lavigne to release music apart from her albums by dropping new songs into episodes. The digital editions will be open source, allowing fans to take the content and create their own stories.

The Girlfriend video, which premiered on MTV's TRL the last week of February, reveals another first for Lavigne: some lighthearted, choreographed dance routines.

The moves were partly inspired by a fellow Canadian. "I saw Nelly Furtado play live, and I was like, I totally need to do that," Lavigne said. "Now every night I go to dance rehearsals ... I'm going to do some dancing. Not on every song, but this record is just so upbeat and rocking that my show is going to be a whole new level."

Lavigne won't tour until early 2008. But when she does head out, she'll have a seven-piece backing crew - and a pair of dancers. It's going to be a bit more professional, Lavigne said, a bit more of a spectacle.

"Before, my show has always been me and four guys," she said. "That's what I wanted at that point in my career. But now? F**k it."