Avril Lavigne joins music’s most exclusive club with her May 25th Arista/RCA release UNDER MY SKIN debuting at #1 on Billboard’s US album chart.
UNDER MY SKIN also debuted at #1 in Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, Canada, Spain, Ireland, Thailand, Korea and Hong Kong! UNDER MY SKIN is the follow-up to Avril’s 2002 debut album “Let Go,” which sold 15 million copies worldwide.
The album has generated tremendous media excitement starting with Avril’s appearance as musical guest on the May 8th broadcast of Saturday Night Live. She went on to perform on “The Today Show” outdoor summer concert series May 21st; “Late Night with David Letterman” on May 24th; “Live With Regis & Kelly” on May 25th; and “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” on May 26th. Later this summer she will be performing on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” slated for June 21st, and “The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn” (6/22), “On Air with Ryan Seacrest” (6/24) and the WB’s “Pepsi Smash” (7/15).
Avril’s introspective sophomore release is receiving praise from the critics as well. Billboard called UNDER MY SKIN “… a one-two punch of radio-ready, rock-tinged riffs and Lavigne’s signature defiant yet introspective vocals,” while Rolling Stone gave it 3 1/2 stars. Avril has graced the covers of Cosmo Girl, Nylon and USA Today, and was featured in Time, Newsweek and Entertainment Weekly, among others.
The night before her CD release, Avril participated in AOL’s weekly concert series, “Broadband Rocks,” live from Webster Hall in New York City. The exclusive performance was played 1 million times in seven days on AOL. AOL for Broadband also partnered with Avril on her recent: “Live and By Surprise” tour, which brought Avril to over 100,000 fans in malls across America. At each concert, Avril and guitarist/co-songwriter Evan Taubenfeld performed acoustic versions of three of Avril’s earlier songs and three songs from UNDER MY SKIN.
In addition to tracks written with Taubenfeld, Avril collaborated with Ben Moody (formerly with Evanescence) and Canadian singer-songwriter Chantal Kreviazuk on UNDER MY SKIN. Other tracks were produced by Don Gilmore (Pearl Jam, Linkin Park and Good Charlotte) and Raine Maida.
Nominated for 8 Grammy awards for 2002 and 2003, Avril broke one chart record after another with the phenomenal success of her 6-times Platinum debut LET GO. Its string of hit singles comprises “Complicated” “Sk8er Boi,” “I’m With You,” and “Losing Grip.” Winner of the ’02 MTV VMA for Best New Artist and MTV Latin America’s Best New International Artist, Avril went on to amass more than a dozen industry awards around the world, from Germany, Denmark, the U.K., and Holland, to Thailand and Japan. Avril is also the recipient of 4 Juno awards and 2 Much Music Awards in her native Canada, and the winner of the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Award for Favorite Song, for “Sk8er Boi,” which also won the Teen Choice Music Award for Best Single.