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.: OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2002

The way you’re acting like you’re somebody else... could land you on TV. So what does the punk-turned-popstar think of the hundreds of Canadian girls who auditioned for MTV’s Becoming Avril Lavigne? “Whoa!” Story and “Becoming” photos by Sean Plummer

   Reverend Cal Anthony had no idea Avril Lavigne was going to be a star but it doesn’t surprise him.
   “I thought that she had a beautiful voice,” he says over the phone from his Cobourg Ontario office. “I thought that she appeared to be very very comfortable in front of an audience. She certainly didn’t appear to have any stage fright whatsoever. It was evident that she was a very talented young girl.”
   Rev. Anthony — call him Cal — spent nine years ministering at Napanee Ontario’s Evangel Temple, the Pentecostal church the Lavigne family attended. Back then, the nascent star sang in the kids’ choir as well as at Easter and Christmas concerts. “I felt that music would certainly be a very big part of her life,” he says.
   While not a fan himself (“my kids would hear more than I do”), Cal wishes his erstwhile parishioner the best of luck. “I’m happy for her. She’s done extremely well, and I’m sure that many many young people would like to aspire to reach the heights that she has so soon.”
   Andrada aspires to such heights. The 14-year-old brunette, whose questionnaire lists her availability as “every day for the next 2 years,” is one of over a hundred young women to show up at Toronto’s Second City comedy club this early August morning to audition for MTV Canada’s Becoming Avril Lavigne program. Just two months after Lavigne’s debut album, Let Go, cracked Billboard’s Top 10, and its first single, ‘Complicated’, broke the record for longest reign atop the Contemporary Hit Radio Chart (beating out Madonna’s ‘Music’), the fledgling Canadian cable network invited Avril wannabes to open calls in Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto to show their love for the 18-year-old sensation by lip syncing their favourite Avril song (videotaped submissions were also accepted). The prize? Fly to Los Angeles to be transformed into Avril by a flock of stylists and choreographers, imitate ‘Complicated’ move-by-move, and have the results broadcast internationally.
   “She’s my favourite artist and I’ll give anything to become her,” Andrada says matter-of-factly. To prove her devotion, she opens up a scrapbook filled with Avril memorabilia, including photos from an autograph session that show the two hugging. It’s not easy to distinguish between them.
   What does Andrada like about Avril? “I like her music, the way that she stands up for what she is and doesn’t let people boss her around,” she says breathlessly. And what will she do if she wins? She blushes and squirms. “Probably scream really loud. Then probably run to my friend’s house and tell everybody!”
   She’ll have to get past Dana first. Also 14 and from Toronto, Dana has Avril’s punky look down — loosely-knotted tie, short pants and skateboard included — and radiates a quiet confidence that belies any nerves. She’s realistic about her chances (“I saw a girl... who looked exactly like her”) but figures “I might have a chance if I come out and do my best.”
   So she won’t mind having to take time off school to fly to LA if she wins?
   “Oh yeah!” she says, as if she’s just been asked the dumbest question in the world. “Who doesn’t want to go to Los Angeles?”
   Good question. Originated by MTV America, Becoming has become one of the network’s highest-rated shows by fulfilling the star worshipping fantasies of its viewers, transforming them into the likes of Britney Spears, Madonna, Jennifer Lopez, Christina Aguilera, Ricky Martin, Limp Bizkit and the Backstreet Boys, among others. That MTV Canada has chosen Avril Lavigne as the subject of its first Canadian audition process speaks not only to her success but to the increased profile of Canadian musicians worldwide.
   For her part, MTV Canada host Exan Auyoung is excited for both the fans (“it’s giving a lot of young kids the opportunity to strut their stuff and become their idol”) and the musicians. “I think it’s a really exciting time right now for Canadian artists. They’re all doing really well internationally and we can all only be proud of that.”
   So could any of the girls here today be the next Avril Lavigne for real? Certainly many see today as a stepping stone to greater things. Crystal, 17, a part-time model from Hamilton who carries her portfolio around with her, approaches me about modelling for Access. She’s forthright, determined, ambitious, and thinks “the experience is good” even if she doesn’t “become” Avril. “I’ve been to stuff like this before and it’s usually competitive, but here everybody’s really friendly and nice and just helping you fill out the forms so it’s good.”
   Others have come out of a more vaguely formed but undeniable urge to just be famous, however briefly. With her kohl-blackened eyes and long brown hair parted straight down the middle, Monica, 13, from Mississauga is Avril’s döppelganger. She used to like Britney “but then she changed.” Now she pledges allegiance to Avril. “I like how she doesn’t care what people think about her, and her songs mean a lot instead of [being] pointless.” What are her ambitions? “I want to actually go into singing,” she admits shyly. Ask her if she wants to be a star and she perks up considerably. “Yeah!”
   MTV Canada’s Alexis Walker then calls for everybody’s attention, please. Heads turn as she pulls numbers for the next batch of auditionees. Andrada is among them. She whispers nervously to her friend Francis, steps forward, and is led back to the audition area. She steps onto the lit stage, sits down, and is barraged with questions: What do you know about Avril Lavigne? Why do you want to become Avril? Name two of her songs. Why should MTV choose you? I half expect her to be asked how she would bring peace to the world if elected president. Instead, Andrada recites Avril facts as if she were in a spelling bee and waxes ecstatic on her love of Avril.
   Then ‘Sk8er Boi’ starts playing and the bopping starts. But the lyrics seem to slip away from her, foiling her body. Shy and nervous to begin with, Andrada turns on the energy but it comes in fits and starts, and she only really comes alive during the “sk8er boi rocking on MTV” line. Half-way through, the music cuts off and Andrada is thanked for her time.
   Back outside, she conferences with Francis and wears a disappointed look on her face. “I feel good. I’m glad it’s over but I don’t know if I did my best.” Did she enjoy herself at least? “I did,” she confirms. “It was fun.” It’s obvious, though, that her nerves won’t dissipate any time soon. “I want them to call me already!”
   And what about Avril herself? Seeing someone else “become Avril Lavigne” is just a cap to the summer that never was.
   “Well, I don’t really feel like I had a summer,” she says. “Because usually, growing up, I’d go camping, go to the beach and go swimming and hang out with friends and have time off, and none of that happened.”
   Avril is calling from Miami. Last night she received a plaque from her record company denoting 3 million album sales in the US alone. It’s only the latest in a series of accomplishments that includes winning Best New Artist In A Video (for ‘Complicated’) and co-presenting an award with Lisa Marie Presley at the previous week’s MTV Video Music Awards.
   “Crazy things just happen,” she says. “Every day I get some type of news where I’m like ‘whoa, okay!’ Like one day I was like ‘oh, your album’s platinum’ and I’m like ‘sweet!’ Or ‘you’re number one on [MTV’s Total Request Live]. ‘You’re on stage with Lisa Marie Presley!’ Every day really crazy things happen. It’s exciting.”
   She’s flattered by the Becoming idea (“that means they’re obviously big fans and like me”) but never fantasized about “becoming” anyone herself. “There wasn’t anyone in particular that I wanted to become,” she says. “I always knew what I wanted to do. It wasn’t like I had someone’s CD and watched their career and was like ‘oh my God, I’m going to do what they’re doing.’ I just knew I loved singing. I was like ‘I want to go all the way.’”
   It’s difficult enough, she points out, for a girl to become herself, let alone someone else. “I know who I am as a person,” Avril says. “I’m changing all the time because I’m growing up and becoming who I’m going to be. I’m still the same person that I was before [the success]. I’m very careful that my attitude doesn’t change.”
   It turns out that Avril has instead seen those around her change, including “friends” back home in Napanee. “Actually, I don’t have 100% support where I come from,” she admits. “There are a lot of people back home who don’t know how to handle it, I think. It’s kind of weird for them. I was just a normal kid who went to high school and who skipped classes with them and got in trouble with them and now I’m this... thing. I think they’re kind of weirded out by that and don’t know how to act, except they just really go around sayin’ bad stuff about me. I don’t know if they’re jealous. But there are people who are like ‘we’re proud of you!’”
   I point out that most successful musicians make an effort not to become bigheaded over their success, only to see those around them change for the worse.
   “Oh my God, that’s so true!” she says. “It’s totally the people around you who change, start treating you different. A lot of people try to start treating you better — ‘oh, Avril!’ — calling you and wanting to go shopping with you when they didn’t want to hang out with you before.”
   How does that make you feel? “It makes me look at them like they’re stupid,” she says. “I’m like ‘what are you doing? You think I can’t tell?’ I know who’s real and I know who’s not trying to use me. I’m good at reading people.”
   On a lighter topic, I ask Avril if she has any advice for Edmonton’s Lindsay Kirstiuk, 16, the eventual winner of Becoming Avril Lavigne, who triumphed over almost 500 other contestants. “I don’t know,” she laughs. “Whoa! That’s a weird one.”
   Well, how does it feel to have someone “becoming” you? “Weird!” she says. “If I see it, I’ll be like ‘no no no no no, not like that! You got to go like this!’ Or like ‘no, I didn’t do that! I didn’t wear my hair like that!’ It’ll be funny to see, I think.”
   It’s ironic that all these girls want to dress up like her — some actually want to be her — when ‘Complicated’ is all about being yourself. “Exactly! It’s funny, I was going to say when you [asked] what would you say to that person, I was going to say, ‘well, just be yourself!’ But I’m like, whoa, I can’t say ‘just be yourself.’ Just try to be me!”