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Avril Lavigne doesn’t age. She’s a vampire. Immortal. Something like that. We’ve all heard the jokes. But how about an Avril Lavigne Conspiracy that says she’s a clone?
Remember the nights when you would lock yourself away in your room, pull out your Avril Lavigne Let Go CD, skip to Sk8er Boi, and think about how little your parents understood the real you? Canadian angst-princess Avril Lavigne struck a chord with the wannabe punk rocker in all of us back in her early days. So, when she released Hello Kitty back in 2013, the overly sexual and arguably appropriated Japanese style of the song really threw fans for a loop.
“What happened to the Avril from Complicated?” we asked. “The Avril that inspired me to paint my fingernails black and tell my parents I was going to drop out of the 5th grade?” Well, according to certain people on the internet, the Avril Lavigne of today isn’t actually the same person as the Avril Lavigne we all came to love in the early 2000s.
That’s right. Rumors have been circulating for years that the real Avril Lavigne is actually dead, and has been replaced with a clone named Melissa. Conspiracy theorists cite differences in Avril’s appearance, her fashion sense, and her musical style as clear evidence that the Canadian punk-pop singer was replaced by a doppelganger after her debut album. There are also some interesting clues that make this theory seem a little bit too believable.
Of course, there is no way to confirm whether any of this theory is based in truth. However, if the Illuminati or whoever was really replacing pop stars with clones, do you think they would tell us? I’d say probably not. Let’s go through the alleged storyline of Avril Lavigne’s rise to fame, death, and replacement, and you can decide for yourself what to believe.
Rise to Fame
Avril Lavigne, like many other pop singers, seemed to rise to fame almost overnight. She won a singing contest at the age of 14 in 1998, by the age of 15 she had performed on stage with Shania Twain, and by 16 she had signed a two-album contract with music legend LA Reid for over $2 million. In 2002, she released her debut album Let Go, which catapulted her to the status of streaky-haired emo punk-pop goddess.
I’m sure to all of us normal people, the fame and money sound wonderful. However, as we’ve seen with many celebrities who’ve achieved great fame at an early age, the emotional toll can be too much to handle. Coming off a Radio Disney Music Award-winning album, Lavigne was feeling immense pressure to produce another hit record. Apparently, during the time that writing sessions were beginning for her sophomore album, her grandfather passed away.
Under the pressure of international fame and the loss of a loved one, it all just became too much for young Avril. According to conspiracy theorists, she would later be found dead at her home. Her family, who was presumably paid off by the record label or the Illuminati or the New World Order or whoever, never broke the news to the press. Instead, a doppelganger would step in and keep Avril Lavigne’s multimillion-dollar brand alive.
The Doppelganger
The world was begging for more Avril, but with their teen pop sensation sleeping six feet under, what was Avril’s record label to do? Apparently, this is where Melissa steps in. According to theories that are believed to have started on a Brazilian fan page in 2005, a lookalike named Melissa took Avril’s identity and continued to produce records under her name. Some say that the record label simply recruited someone who looked similar enough to the real Avril Lavigne, perhaps with the help of some plastic surgery, while others have speculated that the real Avril Lavigne’s DNA was collected and used to clone her. You tell me which makes more sense.
After the conspiracy was revealed online, fans began playing private investigator and looking for differences between the Avril of Let Go and this new Avril lookalike. There are countless volumes of “evidence” out there on the internet, including differences in skin blemishes, facial features, songwriting style, and fashion sense. I mean, watch the music video for Complicated and then watch the music video for Hello Kitty, and then try to tell me they’re the same person.
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Apparently, once in the driver’s seat, Melissa began to leave clues to her real identity too. Theorists say that the song Slipped Away is meant to be an ode to the real Avril, in which Melissa sings: “The day you slipped away was the day I found it won’t be the same”. There is also a post-2003 photoshoot in which “Avril Lavigne” is pictured with the name “Melissa” written on her hand. Quite a coincidence, no?
The Truth of the Matter
I can’t lie; when I saw the photo of Avril with “Melissa” written on her hand, I felt a slight chill run down my spine. This is one of those conspiracy theories that starts to seem plausible the more you read about it. However, apparently, the creator of this theory did so to demonstrate that principle exactly.
When the theory first surfaced on the internet, it was created as a sort of social experiment to prove that you can make anyone on the internet believe anything. If up until now you were fully on board with the “Melissa Theory”, don’t worry, it almost got me too. Perhaps this is a lesson about the trustworthiness of information on the internet and the importance of verifying your sources.
Even though the very creator of this rumor has come out and said that it’s false, though, this conspiracy theory continues to take on a life of its own on the internet. Message boards and forums are still filled with people claiming that Avril Lavigne was, in fact, replaced with a clone or a doppelganger. I’ve even seen a claim that Avril Lavigne is entirely holographic.
The rumor has gotten so out of hand that Lavigne herself has actually commented on it several times. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, when asked about the theory, Lavigne responded, “I’m flabbergasted that people bought into it. Isn’t that so weird? It’s so dumb. And I look the exact same. On one hand, everyone is like, ‘Oh my god, you look the same,’ and on the other hand people are like ‘Oh my god, she died.’” Sounds exactly like what a clone with a dark secret would say…
No, no, sorry, I’m buying into it again.
Other Cloned Celebrities
While this conspiracy theory is a fairly outlandish one, Avril Lavigne is certainly not the only celebrity that the internet claims has died and been replaced. This seems to be a commonly used trope in the conspiracy theory community, as it can be easily supported by stylistic changes or slight changes in physical appearance.
Rapper Kodak Black has been hearing that he’s a clone ever since he was released from prison and fans perceived a change in the tone of his voice. In a video responding to the allegations, Kodak did not seem to like being called a clone very much.
Paul McCartney apparently died in a car crash and was replaced by either a doppelganger or a clone. Theorists cite the song Strawberry Fields Forever as evidence, saying that John Lennon sings: “I buried Paul”. Lennon is on record saying that the words he was actually singing were: “cranberry sauce”.
Perhaps the most ridiculous of all celebrity clone theories is the rumor that Taylor Swift is a clone of Zeena LaVey, daughter of the founder of the Church of Satan, created by the Illuminati to pump satanic messages into the ears of the youth. I guess they kind of look alike…
Is the Illuminati or the Deep State or the New World Order secretly cloning celebrities for profit or even more nefarious purposes? I can’t say for sure. However, I will say that if the man who started the rumor that Avril Lavigne died says it’s false, it probably is.
