Avril Lavigne confirms she did not actually die in 2003

Avril Lavigne is a queen of alt-rock and has been for nearly two decades. At least, that is what we think is true. Some might have you believe that Lavigne left us in 2003 so after her debut album came out. The theory is that Lavigne was then replaced by a body double named Melissa Vandella.

This rumor was started by a random Brazilian blog (trust me, this does sound ridiculous, but it is all the truth) which helped spurn the BBC podcast Who Replaced Avril Lavigne? Of course, the performer did not help matters much when she only released albums every few years. Most blossoming pop stars would be putting out records every year.

Still, Lavigne did not really go away. She acted a bit, did some voice work, and was involved in one of her many philanthropic endeavors. The list of the latter is quite long. In 2015, she revealed that she had been dealing with the effects of Lyme disease as well. In other words, Lavigne has had a lot going on.

Avril Lavigne re-confirms she is still alive amidst sustained success

She can still draw a crowd, however. At this year's Glastonbury Festival, Lavigne arguably was one of the more popular artists on the event's Other Stage. Her sustained success has always been a bit underrated. While her singles don't chart as high consistently as they once did, she has had only one album that did not peak inside the Billboard top albums chart. Even then, 2019's Head Above Water hit number 13.

On a recent episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast, Lavigne was asked about the conspiracy theory involving her 2003 "death." The Canadian took the rumor in stride - she has likely heard the idea more times than she wanted - and even admitted she finds the issue amusing. Why not? She's still musically successful, and, more importantly, not dead.

Lavigne said, "Honestly, (the rumor of her death is) not that bad, it could be worse. I feel like I got a good one. It could be worse. They’ve done that with other artists, I’m not the only one."

As has been said multitudes of times before, there is no such thing as bad press. The theory about Lavigne has never overshadowed her career but helped to have people keep talking about her even when she wasn't making albums. That only makes the anticipation of when she does release new music more palpable.

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