Avril Lavigne Plagiarist?

Over the last few years, Canada’s Avril Lavigne has built an unlikely career of being the anti-pop star in the pop world. Her early hits like Complicated and Sk8er Boi showed a young girl with an affinity to pop punk culture, unlike her fellow pop contemporaries who seemed much more at home with glossy Swedish beats or hip hop. Hitting three for three in terms of successful albums, Lavigne has been seen as the antidote to pop tarts like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera.

 

Additionally, her rowdy behavior and doesn’t really care attitude has seen Lavigne become one of the most critically acclaimed figures in pop. After a three year absence, avril lavigne recently released her third album, The Best Dam Thing. The album has been a resounding success especially to the popularity of her admittedly kick-ass single, Girlfriend. However, as the saying goes, when you’re at the top you have to deal with people trying to knock you down. In the last few weeks, avril lavigne has had to deal with a number of controversies based around her artistic cred. One of the most refreshing things about Avril Lavigne was that she was one of the few teen pop stars that was involved in writing her own songs.

 

However, this claim has been rocked in recent weeks. The song, avril lavigne girlfriend is a great pop song that echoes the 1980s Toni Basil hit, Mickey, with its infectiously simple drum beat and its loads of attitudes. However, Lavigne and the rest of her co-writers for Girlfriend have recently been sued by the 1970s act, The Rubinoos that claim the song is essentially a rip-off of their song, I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend. Throughout this ordeal, Lavigne and the CEO of her record label have dismissed the accusation of plagiarism. After listening to both songs, it’s really hard to notice any similarities. While the Rubinoos song is a gentle acoustic number, avril lavigne girlfriend is a stomping, almost cheerleadery song. The only similarities is in The Rubinoos singing, “Hey hey you you, I wanna be your boyfriend” and girlfiiend by avril lavigne features her, “Hey hey you you, I don’t like your girlfriend.” While there is quiet a lot of similarity between these two lines, it’s not like the sentiment, “Hey hey you you I (insert verb) your (boy/girl)friend” is an overly original sentiment. While the lawsuit against Avril Lavigne will undoubtedly be settled, this doesn’t mean that Lavigne is out of the woods yet.

 

Her former best friend forever (BFF), fellow Canadian singer, Chantal Kreviazuk has made disparaging remarks about Lavigne stealing her songs. There could be some basis to this as the two collaborated extensively on Lavigne’s sophomore album, Under My Skin. It could also be a case of sour grapes, as Kreviazuk’s career has seemingly stalled while Lavigne’s career continues to rise. However, adding to this situation is the accusation made by production team, The Matrix, who worked with Lavigne on her early hits. The Matrix have claimed that Lavigne really shouldn’t be credited as a co-writer on her early hits as all she really did was “change a word here or there.” Wow, three accusations of plagiarism by three different sets of songwriters. This could get interesting!