Update: This article is based on a story in Star Magazine that incorrectly stated that Avril Lavigne played just two songs at a free concert. That article was incorrect and Avril did play a full free concert at that show.

---

Avril Lavigne needs to get that smug look and raccoon makeup wiped off her face with a dirty rough rag. She seems to be sleepwalking through her soulless performances, getting by with a sneer and a modicum of singing ability. In a field that continues giving a psychologically challenged woman (Britney) and an addict (also Britney, but Lindsay could fall in both categories too) chances, it’s hardly likely that anyone is going to call Avril on her arrogance though.

There was a story about two months ago that Avril Lavigne refused to pose for a photo with a little eight year-old girl who was attending the same wedding reception Avril was at, reducing the little girl to tears. Avril recently screwed thousands of fans at once by making them wait over an hour for her in the bitter cold and then playing just two songs to jet off to a Spice Girls show. It was a free concert, but it sounds like she got paid for it and she could have made more of an effort for fans:

[Avril Lavigne] arrived more than an hour late to her free outdoor concert in honor of the grand opening of the Best Buy in Burnaby, British Columbia, on December 2, and never apologized for leaving her fans to wait in the freezing, snowy weather. The 23-year-old performed just two songs, then darted off to the Spice Girls concert at GM Place in Vancouver. “It’s so unfair!” 14-year-old Avril fan Hannah Bryla said in reaction to her idol’s behavior. “It seems like her fans aren’t important to her.”

[From Star Magazine, print edition, December 24, 2007]

Avril was probably contractually obligated to Best Buy to play at least two songs, so she did the minimum and got the hell out of there, but what kind of message does that send to her fans? Little girls idolize her and she continues to act like a punk ass little bitch, refusing to acknowledge her fans and spitting at paparazzi and then blaming them for it.

In an April, 2007 interview with Salon Magazine, Avril basically said that her fans love her despite the fact that she treats them like shit. She also said she’s not strictly punk and that being an asshole is part of her brand:

Well, first of all, I don’t give a f*&% what anyone says. I totally do my own thing and that’s always been my message. I do what I do. I have a ton of fans and they love me. I was put here … it was a purpose. I’ve touched people. I’m some people’s role model. So what I’m trying to say is — some people love me, some people hate me. That’s fine. That’s what it’s like with anything. Chocolate bars: People love Mars bars, they hate them. The color black: Some people love it, some people don’t like it at all. That’s the way it is.

As far as the whole punk thing, I think people just pick up on my attitude and my character. Obviously my clothing style, my fashion sense, in some ways nowadays is referred to as kind of, maybe, sort of, punk fashion. By no means do I walk around saying I’m punk. I listen to punk music, I appreciate punk music. A lot of my favorite bands are in punk. Do I think I’m punk? No. What is punk? Punk is anti-everything. A way of life. Anti-establishment. I don’t go by that.

Your question was why do people tie that to me. I guess it’s just the whole fashion thing. And it’s my attitude. It’s my I-don’t-give-a-f*@% attitude. It’s the way I talk and some people can put that label on me and because it’s such a strong label, other people will go, “Oh no she’s not.” Everyone knows I’m this girl who speaks my mind, I have a strong personality. I am a certain style, a certain brand, a certain thing. I’m a strong image whereas some other girls are just singers. I’m like this person, I have a character.

[From Salon.com]

So Avril is saying she can act and treat people however she wants because that’s part of her character and they’re still going to worship her anyway.

Avril is shown at the American Music Awards on 11/18/07, thanks to PRPhotos.

Update: Avril did at least 9 songs at that show, according to video results on YouTube after searching for Avril Lavigne Best Buy Burnaby. Star’s story that she ditched after two songs was incorrect.