What's your favorite conspiracy theory? Flat Earth? 5G? Mine has to be the claim that 'Avril Lavigne got replaced'.
What is the Avril Lavigne theory?
An entire human - no, an entire, very famous human, died without any of us knowing, and then someone who looks very much like her took her place and just carried on as normal? Incredible.
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It's a wild theory, and yet for some reason, it's taken by the world by storm.
The theory began to circulate in the early 2000s, and suggests that at some point between releasing her 2002 album Let Go and her 2004 track Under My Skin, Lavigne died.
Apparently keen to keep her career going, a record company is then said to have hired a body double called Melissa to pose as Lavigne for, well the rest of time.
I told you it was wild.
What are people saying about the theory?
Even two decades on, people still continue to share their thoughts on the theory whenever Lavigne enters the news cycle, shares a picture online or releases a new track.
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"There’s nothing i’m convinced of more than the conspiracy theory that the current avril lavigne is a replacement to the real 2004 avril lavigne," one X user wrote just a few weeks ago.
Another post from December 2023 reads: "my new year’s resolution is to find out if the avril lavigne replacement conspiracy theory is real."
Why did Lavigne finally speak out?
Two decades on from the first emergence of the theory, Lavigne appeared on the Call Her Daddy podcast on Wednesday (May 15).
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During their chat, host Alex Cooper broached the subject of the conspiracy with the singer.
What did Lavigne have to say about her 'replacement'?
If you were hoping 'Melissa' would finally own up to being a fake, I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed.
Instead, the pop star said the theory is 'just funny' to her.
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"Like, on one end, everyone’s like, ‘You look the exact same. You haven’t aged a day'," she said.
"But then other people are like, there’s a conspiracy theory that I’m not me."
However, while Lavigne clearly believes the theory is ridiculous, she admitted it was 'not that bad'.
"It could be worse, right?," she said. "I kind of feel like I got a good one. I don’t think it’s negative or anything creepy. We’re good.”
The final verdict
Just to be sure 'Melissa' wasn't trying to dupe her, Cooper asked once and for all if her guest's name was, in fact, Avril Lavigne.
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In response, Lavigne said: “Obviously, I am me. It’s so dumb. I think that they've done that with other artists. I'm not the only one. I think, like, other people have that."
So there you have it. Avril Lavigne is, in fact, Avril Lavigne...
Or is she?
Topics: Celebrity, Music, Podcast, Social Media, Viral
Emily Brown