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From the beginning Avril wanted to write her own songs with her own band and stay as far away from being seen as a prefabricated pop-culture construction as possible. Working with the Matrix for her first album didn't help her cause. And when the songwriting/production trio, who have gone on to pen songs for Britney Spears and Hilary Duff, said in an interview that they basically wrote all of Avril's breakthrough hit, "Complicated," save for a word or two, Avril took it personally.
"Why do we even have to talk about them," Avril snaps at an observation that the Matrix are nowhere to be found on her new album.
It's safe to say "Complicated" isn't one of her favorite songs. And it certainly doesn't top Taubenfeld's hit list. Even though it launched their careers, resentment is apparent when talk of the track comes up. While joking that Avril should get "Complicated" tattooed on her arm, Taubenfeld stops himself and says she'd never do that because, he mouths silently, " 'Complicated' sucks."
Much like Pink and Christina Aguilera employed the services of Linda Perry for their second, more personal albums, Avril found her mentor in Chantal Kreviazuk, a Canadian singer, pianist and songwriter who's released three albums since 1997. They initially never intended to write a dozen songs together — five of which made the album — it just happened naturally after a one-off collaboration hatched over lunch turned into a two-week songwriting spree.
"We're like sisters," Avril says of her relationship with Kreviazuk. "She kind of is like my mom sometimes, too. We're just really good friends, so I believe God put her in my life for a good reason."
As opposed to the Let Go songwriting sessions, the more casual creative environment Avril had with Kreviazuk allowed her to test her songwriting skills and open up in ways she never could before.
"We had so much fun writing together," Avril explains. "If I came up with something, she'd be like, 'Eh, that sucks.' And I'd do the same to her. With the last record I felt like I was put with somebody, and it's kind of weird to say to them, 'Oh, that sucks.' When [Chantal and I] are together, we can say that. I can totally put out all my ideas and I don't feel stupid and I don't hold anything back."
If Kreviazuk is like Avril's mentoring older sister, former Evanescence guitarist Ben Moody is her reckless, rock-and-roll older brother. While recording her new songs in Los Angeles with Kreviazuk's husband, Our Lady Peace frontman Raine Maida, in the producer's chair, Avril met with Moody on a recommendation by another one of Under My Skin's producers, Don Gilmore (Linkin Park, Good Charlotte). Not only did they write a slew of songs together, they too became pals.
 "Ben's my boy. We're such amazing friends," she says. "Every time he goes to L.A. and I'm there, we gotta hook up. We go to the Rainbow Room for dinner, or just like get totally trashed," she laughs.
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