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-- by Corey Moss
Alexandra Slate is the victim of a new stereotype.
"There's no way I can ever wear a white tank top and cargo pants, which is too bad because I don't mind wearing that stuff," the 22-year-old singer grumbled.
Slate is part of a new crop of rocker chicks who, no matter how hard they fight it, are being called Avril Lavigne wannabes. And they're fighting it hard.
"Never, ever compare Katy Rose to fellow female singer/songwriters," the 16-year-old's bio strongly states. She has "more to do with the likes of early Liz Phair or PJ Harvey than her adolescent peers in the top 40."
Never mind that none of the Avril-likes' albums have even been released yet, accusers have already grasped onto their similarities to the real Lavigne. Slate, Skye Sweetnam and Fefe Dobson, for instance, call Toronto or nearby small towns home.
And all four, who are within three years of the 18-year-old Lavigne, proudly write or co-write their own edgy pop songs, which candidly document the coming of age of a generation that struggles to fit in Britney Spears' shadow.
The truth is, to these girls Avril is a double-edged sword. Without her, there would be less interest in singers who wear cargo pants and stay clear of Diane Warren ballads. "She's definitely paved the way," Dobson said.
Because of her, though, Slate, Rose, Sweetnam and Dobson are going to waste a lot of time defending themselves against the same copycat label that was placed on Lillix earlier this year. "People just want to compare you so they can measure your style against something else," explained Sweetnam, who looks like she could be Avril's sister.
What happens so often when an artist explodes in popularity the way Avril has is record labels unleash similar acts, hoping to capitalize on the fad. And while those artists face being called imitators, they're often successful. 'NSYNC, after all, were introduced on the heels of the Backstreet Boys' success. And Stone Temple Pilots rode the grunge bandwagon to solid numbers. Of course, then there's also C-Note and Sponge.
All this business hoopla is not to say labels create acts to fit trends. Oftentimes they have similar talents already signed, and those acts then become a bigger priority. Such was the case with Slate and Rose, who both had their debut albums finished before Lavigne's Let Go hit shelves.
"It sucks because hers came out first, but whatever," said Slate, whose Edge of the Girl was just pushed back again to early next year.
While the labels behind Slate, Rose, Sweetnam and Dobson will push the budding singers' albums to the same radio programmers and retailers who supported Lavigne, that's as far as the pushing goes.
"Capitol didn't try to make me into anything," said Sweetnam, whose Noise From the Basement is due January 27. "I came with these songs, and that's basically all the album is. That's the best possible scenario ever."
"V2 appreciates me as this quirky weird girl completely apart from the Avrils of the world," added Rose, who coincidentally has the same management as Lavigne. "I'm really lucky they didn't say, 'Why don't you have the Matrix produce your record?' 'Cause I would have never gone with that. They know I have my own ideas about things. They would never want for me to go and wear a tie and be a skater girl. It's not me, and I don't believe in changing for anyone else."
Slate and the others understand the comparisons, but all four claim to be very different from Avril. And really, they are.
"She does her thing, I do mine, they just both have guitars," said Dobson, whose self-titled debut, due in October, is easily the heaviest of the bunch. "I'm just more organic and I look completely different."
Fefe Dobson, 18, has dark skin that separates her from Lavigne, but her understated wardrobe (she wears a wife beater and chain belt in her press photo) has similarities she acknowledges.
"[Avril] didn't have to dress too sexy and she stuck to her own style, and that let the younger generation know you don't have to be like Britney and Christina," Dobson said. "You need that balance so other kids can relate. Not everyone dresses that way."
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Photo: Hollywood Records
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