Avril Lavigne Conspiracy Theory
Avril Lavigne: Dead or Alive? You Decide.
As a young girl in the early 2000s, I was incredibly impressionable. The music that I heard on the radio in my mom’s old Chrysler minivan and the CDs I got for my boom box for Christmases and birthdays really influenced my personality. Aside from the queen of all queens, Britney Spears, my second go-to gal was Avril Lavigne, pop-punk princess of the early 2000s.
Avril Lavigne was born in Ontario, Canada on September 27, 1984. As a young girl, her parents would often find her singing church songs or anything else that she could put a rhythm to. When she was 15 years old, Avril participated in a contest that was held by a Canadian radio station. Avril won the contest for the opportunity to sing with Shania Twain, and eventually performed with her. After this performance, she was discovered and signed by Arista Records in 2000. Her original signing deal with the record label was for two albums, and for over $2 million.
Avril’s style of music and attire was very influenced by the skater culture and punk-emo aesthetic of the early 2000s (Avrilestamorta.blogspot.com.br, 2018). When asked, she would describe herself as a “pop-punk” musical artist. She was inspired by the rebellion of teens in the early 2000s, and gave that demographic a sound and voice to relate back to. Her first two albums, which were a part of the original record deal she signed with Arista Records, really pushed Avril to the height of her career. Her first album, Let Go, was released in 2002 and featured one of her biggest hits and debut single, “Complicated”. This song was the catalyst for launching Avril from a Canadian girl who sung to a global pop-punk princess. After watching her name quickly climb the charts all across the world, Avril continued to work on her music and eventually released her second studio album, titled Under My Skin. This album really established Avril’s credibility and dedication as an artist, and her hard work was visible in the level of emotion she poured into the album. Her fame only continued to skyrocket as her songs were played on repeat on radio stations and CD players across the world.
This conspiracy really begins here, at this stage of Avril’s career. This theory came to fruition by the mind and twiddling fingers of a Twitter user with the handle @givenchyass. This user created an entire twitter thread outlining a conspiracy that Avril Lavigne was actually dead, and that she was replaced by a doppelgänger. Since the release of the tweets, Twitter has suspended @givenchyass’s account, and all of the accounts tweets have been censored by Twitter’s generic statement on account suspension. Regardless of the user’s suspension, the Internet ran with the explicit details that the thread outlined and caused mass hysteria. More details and observations surfaced, and the theory continued to grow, spread, and convert people to believers.
The original theory that was compiled by @givenchyass begins with the issues that Avril was having with the press and being in the public eye. Avril released her first album at age 18, and was unprepared for the attention and fame she received after her music blew up. Everything she did was now putting her in a spotlight that she was unprepared for, and had zero desire for. The constant attention and crazy fans impacted her and overwhelmed her very quickly. Due to her feelings of bombardment and hating the limelight, Avril came to the decision to search for a woman to stand in for her during press moments, red carpets, and other public appearances aside from being on stage to perform. Enter Melissa Vandella, Avril’s new “stunt double” (Avrilestamorta.blogspot.com.br, 2018).
Avril and her record label figured using a stand-in that looked just like Avril would help her to focus on her music and not be as overwhelmed with her own stardom. Melissa would go out in public and pretend to be Avril for the press and the public so that Avril could live a more private life when the fame was too much for her. During this arrangement, Avril and Melissa ended up spending a considerable amount of time together, whether it was preparing Melissa for press events and red carpets, to just sitting in the studio playing back Avril’s unreleased tracks. Avril and Melissa started to develop a really great bond as friends, and they really took the doppelgänger idea seriously. Avril decided to “train” Melissa how to sing just like her one day while they were messing around in the studio (Johnston, 2018). Their relationship as friends continued to grow, just like Avril’s career.
In 2003, Avril took a huge personal hit. Avril’s grandfather passed away, and as her biggest fan, it absolutely devastated her. She played a concert the day he died, and was a visible wreck on stage when she dedicated her song to him and his memory. This heartbreaking event was the catalyst for Avril’s spiral into deep depression. Her writing became darker, her desire to be in public for performances lessened even more. The weight of fame plus the soul-crushing loss of her grandfather became too much for Avril and her depression to bear, so she became incredibly suicidal. Eventually, Avril hung herself in late 2003 and successfully committed suicide (Johnston, 2018).
After the record label discovered Aril’s suicide, they were at a moral crossroads. Avril has finished her third album before her death, and was at the height of her career. The label wanted to bring Avril’s masterpiece to the public, but did not exactly have Avril around to perform and promote her work now that she was gone. However, the label was still paying Melissa to be Avril’s doppelgänger. Seeing the numbers from her prior releases and knowing the potential her next album had to bring in huge revenue, Avril’s record label decided to transition Melissa’s role from stand-in Avril to full-time Avril.
The label released Avril’s third studio album, The Best Damn Thing, in 2007, and began to train Melissa in order to convince the public that she was the original Avril. To combat some of the little differences that Melissa was not able to fully change or get down pat, the record label decided that they would “re-brand” Avril’s look with the release of this third album. Her new style reflected much more of the emo and scene culture that was rising to popularity in 2007. Avril’s first career number 1 hit was her song “Girlfriend”, and many fans who had resonated with Avril’s original look and sound found that song and many others on the album to showcase vocals that Avril wouldn’t have done before. This was when some of the differences that Melissa tried so desperately to hide came to light.
Aside from the change in vocals, fans began to pick up on additional clues that Avril was not herself. People began to analyze her behavior during interviews, and even pay attention to her face structure and body. During interviews, Melissa was too peppy for Avril’s usual “I don’t care” attitude, and when asked about this theory in particular, “Avril” became incredibly standoffish and bombed her performance afterwards. People also looked at her body and noticed details that were not trademark Avril. Avril had a lot of very distinct birthmarks that had mysteriously disappeared, a new tattoo that happened to be the same as Melissa’s, and even the shape of her eyes had changed (Capital FM, 2018).
To this day, some fans are truly convinced that this conspiracy theory makes too much sense and provides so much unarguable evidence that it must be true. Even more recently, Avril’s twitter released an image of her handwriting for one of her new songs, which looks nothing like her old songwriting pages. Even her autograph has changed slightly (Avrilestamorta.blogspot.com.br, 2018). The public that has accepted this theory as true continues to search for additional clues to confirm their beliefs.
With this particular theory, the main rhetorical discourse falls with Ad ignorantium and appeal to observation. Ad ignorantium is essentially the understanding that claims are being made, and no real contrary information is being presented against the initial claims. The public is adding to this theory as they see that Avril herself really has not provided hard hitting evidence that she is the original Avril, other than saying she cannot be dead because she “is still here, and still singing”. Appeal to observation also plays a big role in the discourse of this theory. The public is only able to piece together claims for this theory based on what evidence they see presented by Avril Lavigne and her life. There are pieces of evidence that the public can claim as their own truth of what they believe this story to be, and they can only piece this story together by what they see presented to them.
A major theme for this entire conspiracy is the idea that reasoning is often self-sealing. This means that the evidence presented that may attempt to disprove the theory is seen as further supporting evidence that the theory is indeed truth. While Avril has come out during interviews and answered questions regarding the theory, her only response is to state that her existence cannot be denied. Avril has not taken steps to really prove that she is not Melissa, and Melissa has not taken steps to prove that she is actually not Avril. Since the contrary evidence is both not strong and not abundant, the public can easily continue to believe the theory and hold its contents as their truth. This theory paints a narrative to its believers that pop culture is more complex and mysterious than the public may have previously believed. Much of what happens with celebrities and other famous figures occurs behind closed doors, but a good chunk of their personal lives gets blasted to the media and released to the public.
Although there is evidence to say that the theory that Avril Lavigne died and was replaced by Melissa Vandella is actually true, this cannot be confirmed. The public can continue to be skeptical, as skepticism is an important part of discourse and rhetoric. All of this evidence does bring Avril and her credibility into question, and the public deserves hard, factual evidence to either confirm or deny the allegations of her identity. Personally, I do believe the evidence presented makes it hard to deny that 2018 Avril is not the original Avril Lavigne that I grew up listening to in the early 2000s. What do you think?
References
Avrilestamorta.blogspot.com.br. (2018). Avril Lavigne Died? Is Avril Dead?. [online] Available at: http://avrilestamorta.blogspot.com.br/ [Accessed 25 Oct. 2018].
Capital FM. (2018). There’s Now So Much ‘Evidence’ For The ‘Avril Lavigne Has Been Dead For 13 Years’ Theory That We’re Kinda Starting To Believe It. [online] Available at: https://www.capitalfm.com/artists/avril-lavigne/news/avril-lavigne-theory-dead/ [Accessed 25 Oct. 2018].
Earley, K. (2018). An elaborate conspiracy theory that Avril Lavigne died and was replaced by a double has resurfaced. [online] The Daily Edge. Available at: https://www.dailyedge.ie/avril-lavigne-is-dead-conspiracy-theory-3390142-May2017/ [Accessed 25 Oct. 2018].
Johnston, B. (2018). Why Is Nobody Talking About The Fact Avril Lavigne Died And Was Replaced With A Clone? | Punkee. [online] Punkee. Available at: https://punkee.com.au/nobody-talking-fact-avril-lavigne-died-replaced-clone/52385 [Accessed 25 Oct. 2018].
Reddit.com. (2018). This is all of the evidence that I have compiled proving that singer Avril Lavigne died circa 2003/2004 and was replaced by a clone/doppleganger. : conspiracy. [online] Available at: https://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/7w3tkf/this_is_all_of_the_evidence_that_i_have_compiled/ [Accessed 25 Oct. 2018].