NEWS
Avril Lavigne
Ryan McFadden*Taylor Swift really, really likes Avril Lavigne‘s new album. The singer who has a Midas touch when it comes to gifting sent Lavigne a sweet note and bouquet of flowers to celebrate Avril’s new album, Love Sux.
The gift was highlighted in Taylor’s Insta Stories according to E! News, which grabbed images of the bountiful bunch of pink, white and peach-colored flowers to accompany the note, which read: “Avril, Been dancing around my kitchen to your fabulous new album!! It’s AMAZING, like you.” The card was signed “Your forever fan, Taylor.”
Lavigne celebrated the release of her seventh album last Friday with an intimate show at Los Angeles’ The Roxy as part of SiriusXM and Pandora’s Small Stage Series. The 37-year-old punk pop princess we clearly on cloud nine during the show, which featured high-energy renditions of such fan favorites as “Sk8er Boi,” “What the Hell,” “Girlfriend” and “Complicated.”
With a bottle of champagne in hand, Lavigne toasted her return to the pop-rock realm after her more emotional, low-key 2019 LP Head Above Water and she brought along some famous friends to help, with collaborator Travis Barker on drums for four songs, as well a boyfriend Mod Sun, who joined her for their “Flames” duet, which ended with a sweet onstage hug and kiss.
“I went into this album and just said, ‘I want to make a pop-punk record, a rock-and-roll record. I don’t want to be on the piano. I don’t want ballads, really. I just really want to rock out,’” Lavigne recently told Billboard. “I think especially after my last album being so mellow and dramatic and deep and introspective — you know, it was beautiful, and it was where I was at in my life, and that’s what worked for me at the time. But I was just ready to get back out there, rock the f—k out, and again just thinking about the live shows. I mean, this is the kind of music I fell in love with, when I was old enough to buy CDs, to discover bands — like, my first year of high school, which is grade nine in Canada.”
Check out images of the gift below.
Fontaines D.C. have teamed up with Rosalía for their new collaboration, Where Is Gone?.
The song features on the Irish rock band's forthcoming album, Dopamine Chamber, which arrives on Friday (16.10.26). For guitarist Carlos O’Connell, working with the Spanish superstar is particularly special because of his own Spanish roots.
He explained: “I’ve admired Rosalía ever since her debut album, which I thought was absolutely beautiful.
“What excited me most was the way she continued to preserve Spain's musical traditions, something that felt spiritually connected to what we've been trying to achieve with Irish music. Having roots in both countries, it's been really special to witness. "She's an artist who has continued to amaze me at every point in her career.”
Frontman Grian Chatten has also described the collaboration with Rosalía as one of the most memorable achievements of his career.
He revealed that he felt "humbled" when she agreed to lend her voice to the band's album.
Speaking to NPR, Grian said: “I've always felt there's something almost like a single big idea that I'm personally trying to communicate to the world before I get old and die, if that makes sense. There's one thing I think I'll spend my life trying to express. I have a feeling she has a similar outlook. … I mean, she's an amazing arranger, composer and lyricist. It means so much that she wanted to sing on something we'd put together. It's definitely one of the highlights of my career.”
Rosalía's links to Irish rock music extend beyond Fontaines D.C. She also offered inspiration and helped develop the Spanish lyrics for U2's The Mirror Maker (Rosalía), a track from their forthcoming album, Carnaval de Luz.
During an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last week, she spoke about frontman Bono, saying: “I don't know him personally, but he sent me a text explaining that he was working on a new project and had written a song called The Mirror Maker."
Rosalía joked that Bono had invented a few words of his own.
She recalled telling him: “I wasn't sure what to make of it, but I told him he could create his own language if he wanted to.”
She described the opportunity to collaborate with the 66 year old music veteran as a real privilege.
She added: “Bono is a legend.
“It's amazing.”
Bono recently revealed that he was worried about seeming like a stalker when he reached out to Rosalía to ask whether he could name the song after her.
