вЂњThen I was thinking Fiona Apple, because of her independence. They both had the same small-town roots,вЂќ Fabri told The New York Times in 2002. вЂњI was thinking of her as another Sheryl Crow. Nine months after she appeared on stage with Twain, Cliff Fabri-the manager who shepherded her through the earliest phase of her career-watched her sing country karaoke in a Kingston, Ontario Chapters, the Canadian equivalent of being discovered in a college townвЂ™s Barnes & Noble. While LavigneвЂ™s ascent from local radio contests to the top of the charts seems rapid in retrospect, her career took shape in fits and starts. It boasts a handful of genre-changing smashes and mood swings thatвЂ™d put a high school sophomore to shame. The reaction between LavigneвЂ™s volatile energy and the music industryвЂ™s commercial imperative produced her 2002 debut Let Go, a rebuttal of Spears-Aguilerian pop-overtly sexual, vaguely urban, hyper-processed-churned out by the exact same kind of hit factory. She wasnвЂ™t disingenuous or calculating she was a teenager, one whose formative experiences and changes in taste were taking place while she navigated the expectations that come with a major-label record deal. Lavigne had no idea how quickly her dream would come true: Within a few years, sheвЂ™d be sneering on the cover of Rolling Stone in a black tank top and a curt plaid skirt, winkingly labeled вЂњthe Britney slayer.вЂќ The onetime country-pop princess who performed hits by Faith Hill and Sarah McLachlan at an early record label audition had become a gleeful anarchist, a pop-punk supernova who skated through videos for hits like вЂњComplicatedвЂќ and вЂњSk8er Boi,вЂќ causing chaos in ratty T-shirts and neckties.

At the time, Lavigne told Twain she wanted to be вЂњa famous singer.вЂќ Lavigne didnвЂ™t just acquit herself: She won the damn thing, which meant driving two-plus hours to the nationвЂ™s capital and belting TwainвЂ™s brassy 1993 hit вЂњ What Made You Say ThatвЂќ in front of a packed Ottawa hockey arena. When the nearest big-city country station held a singing contest, a 14-year-old Lavigne sent in a tape for a chance to sing with none other than Shania Twain, the Canadian country-pop superstar.

It was little more than an average, provincial life. She sang Pentecostal hymns in her familyвЂ™s church and performed in local productions of Godspell and YouвЂ™re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. She grew up in Napanee, Ontario, a small town best known for its proximity to the countryвЂ™s largest highway and its selection of fine truck stops. Avril LavigneвЂ™s origin story would be the perfect American fairytale if it wasnвЂ™t so undeniably Canadian.

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