Is Avril Lavigne Really Dead? Assessing The Endless Rumours About Her ‘Imposter’

Melissa, is that you?

Avril Lavigne is alive and kicking. She hung out with her mum yesterday for Mother’s Day. She had a lovely time.

Nevertheless, the rumour that the real Avril Lavigne is dead and that has been replaced by an imposter keeps resurfacing. It’s the conspiracy that won’t quit, and to mark the 15th anniversary of her debut single ‘Complicated’, those claims have resurfaced.

One mystery-busting Brazilian blog has compiled all of the ‘evidence’ through the years and reckons it has definitive proof that the punky pop star is in fact dead, and the Avril Lavigne who now stalks the earth is nothing but a fake. Here are the main points of the argument:
She called her second album ‘Under My Skin’

The theory alleges that Lavigne “died” in 2003 at the age of 19, a year after the release of her debut album ‘Let Go’. Her second album ‘Under My Skin’ was released in 2004 and the blogger insists that the title “is very suggestive” of the truth. Is it?

They also claim that the album’s title means that the ‘new’ Lavigne is living “under the skin” of the actual Avril Lavigne. “Note that the name ‘Avril Lavigne’ is written in black, representing mourning the singer, and the ‘new’ Lavigne is in black with a red cross on his shoulder. The name ‘Under My Skin’ is red. The colors on the cover seem to suggest mourning and blood. [sic]” I mean, I’m not entirely convinced that a colour scheme proves an artist is dead. If so, should we be worried about Jack White?

Her lyrics became exceptionally darker

You know what, they’re kind of on the money here. First, on ‘My Happy Ending’ she sings these dark words:
“In a city so dead/So high hanging/In such a fragile rope“. Then she follows that up with this line on ‘Together’: “The truth comes to me and I’m living a lie“. When you compare to first album lyrics, such as ‘SK8r Boi’s “He was a skater boi/I said see ya later boy“, they are admittedly far “moodier”.

They add that just before this album came out in 2004, band member and close friend Evan Taubenfeld left her group. He addressed this in a duet with Lavigne, called ‘The Best Years Of Our Lives’, with the line “I never thought I would lose my best friend“, which the blog suggests means he must have known that it was the “new” Lavigne on the track.

She changed her look

This one’s a real stretch. It claims that because Lavigne dropped her punky, skater aesthetic after the first album and opted for a more middle-of-the-road regular pop star vibe that means “you will realise that they [sic] seem to be two different people”.

Avril’s height

Now here’s where we get really dubious. Apparently, the official Avril Lavigne website initially listed her height at 1.58m when she first burst onto the scene in 2002. Google now however lists her at 1.55m. So she’s either shrunk 3cm, lied about her height or no one bothered to check what kind of shoes she was wearing in the first measurement. Take your pick.

“What the hell”, indeed.

So, saying all this is true (it’s not), who is currently acting as a replacement for Avril Lavigne? Melissa Vandella is apparently the name given to the double who has kindly stepped in as her replacement. This name came from a photoshoot done by Avril where she has the name ‘Melissa’ scrawled on her hand.

Our verdict? Bollocks, obviously, but we admire the lengths gone to to prove this theory true, even if the “evidence” won’t convince anyone.

As Avril once sang, “Why do you have to go and make things so complicated?” Don’t ask us Avril, we’re with you.
Credit -Original source