Avril Lavigne got a husband when doing new album

Avril Lavigne got a husband when doing new album

The Avril Lavigne we are used to is a feisty, sulky eyeliner-wearing punk rocker who disses your girlfriend, brags about her Sk8er Boi and mourns failed relationships.

The Lavigne we see before us now still sports her signature heavy eye make-up, but is a pretty picture of calm and joy.

When the Canadian rock chick met the media in Hong Kong last week to promote her new record, even a severe case of jetlag and stifled yawns couldn't stop her from being upbeat for the press.

We don't blame her.

The new Mrs Chad Kroeger is still radiating the post-wedding glow and is excited about her upcoming self-titled album, due to be released later this year.

There are plenty of reasons why her fifth and latest offering is special, but mainly because her husband, frontman and singer of Canadian rock band Nickelback, worked closely with her on it. Together, they wrote the lead single Here's To Never Growing Up.

The couple also sing a duet called Let Me Go, which Lavigne told US Weekly is about "going into a new relationship or moving on".

In fact, it was in the studio that love blossomed between Lavigne, 28, and Kroeger, 38.

After dating for a year, the couple tied the knot on July 1 at a medieval castle in the south of France, in a gothic-themed ceremony where the bride wore a black wedding gown.

"The best part about it is that I got a husband out of it. We met in the studio and he proposed in the studio as well. We started out as just friends, that's the cool part about this record," Lavigne told LOUD.

While in Hong Kong, she also held a meetand- greet session and a private showcase where she treated some 1,000 fans to two songs from the new album - 17 and Here's To Never Growing Up - and walked down memory lane with old tune I'm With You.

Elated as she is with her new husband, we were warned to steer clear of personal questions.

Attempts to break the rule was met with a vague response.

But we spotted Kroeger stealthily exiting the interview room when our backs were turned.

From the way the smitten newlyweds have been gushing about each other to the US press, it would seem like this is the real deal.

Lavigne told Hello! magazine: "We hope to be together forever. One day down the road we'll have a family. I look forward to growing with Chad."

She was previously married to Canadian rock band Sum 41's vocalist/ guitarist Deryck Whibley.

Kroeger declared to TMZ: "You'll know it's over when there's a tombstone behind me."

Apart from Kroeger, Lavigne also worked with American goth rocker Marilyn Manson on the "dark and provocative rock song" Bad Girl.

"I was listening to it and thought of him, so I called him. He came over at 4.30am and sang the vocal parts and it sounded awesome. I don't think we left the studio until nine in the morning," she recalled.

"That's how it's like in rock 'n' roll, sometimes you don't sleep."

She also said that the album, which local fans can pre-order from CD-RAMA and receive special Asia-edition merchandise for a limited period, is a combination of everything she has done before.

"This album is diverse and touches on styles I have in the past and new ones. A lot of my songs in the past have been a lot about relationships but this record is more nostalgic," she said. Lavigne seems to be stepping back in time and reflecting on her younger years, if her song titles like Hello Kitty, Bitchin' Summer and Rock N Roll are anything to go by.

"A lot has changed. I was signed to a label at 15, released an album at 17 and then travelled the world for 10 years straight. And then I've been married twice.

"I feel like the world watched me grow up and now I'm turning 29 next month. This is crazy... I'm going to start partying now," said Lavigne, who revealed that she is much happier and calmer now.

Yet at the same time, it appears she's still very much young at heart, as if nothing has really changed since she shot to stardom with the hit single Complicated at the age of 17.

Here's to never growing up, indeed.

 

ashikinr@sph.com.sg


Get The New Paper for more stories.

This website is best viewed using the latest versions of web browsers.