General

When ex-punk princesses travel

Remember when Avril Lavigne wore men’s ties and baggy sk8ter pants and skull-and-crossbones hoodies and a permanent scowl? She really was a breath of fresh air.

Nothing complicated about that.

But now, all that’s left of her former image is the scowl. That’s because a 17-year-old “punk princess” sells records, but a 23-year-old one is just sort of unpleasant.

And so: booty-popping lessons.

These days, Avril is thought to be so sexy that Malaysia’s conservative Islamic party plans to protest her concert in Kuala Lumpur on Friday, where she is scheduled to rock out just in time for Ramadan.

A party representative said this in a statement:

“A concert of this nature is not conducive to teach the younger generation to become good citizens, upright and competitive, but instead would weaken them morally and mentally.”

It’s true, it could weaken them mentally. (This is not Avril’s fault. It’s the fault of whoever wrote the lyrics to the song “Girlfriend.” Unless she wrote them. In which case, it is her fault.)

Just for old times’ sake, here she is in a vintage interview with MTV’s Carson Daly in which she discusses (sort of) her feelings about Britney Spears’s Lolita image.

I know she was young then. But she had a much better brand, too.

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