The 'Avril Lavigne is dead' conspiracy theory is back

Is Avril Lavigne dead?

Much like a Zombie, or Lazarus, the rumour that Avil Lavigne died and has been replaced by a doppelgänger has come back to life.

The conspiracy theory goes that the 'Sk8r Boi' singer died in 2003, aged only 18, and was replaced by Melissa Vandella, a doppelganger.

Here's the breakdown of the theory, you could call it a little complicated (sorry).

It's believed to have originated on a Portuguese language blog in 2012 called "Avril Esta Morta" (Avril is dead) back in 2012.

In the following few years, conspiracy theorist gathered lots of "evidence" to support the theory, mainly being the change in her appearance.

Much like Paul McCartney before her, fans of the star analysed lyrics and photos and soon the theory was all over blogs, forums, Reddit, YouTube and even mainstream sites like Vice, The Mirror, Digital Spy, and Gawker.

According to the theories, Canadian singer hanged herself before the second album and was replaced by a doppelgänger. The motive given for replacing her is she was at the height of her career and her record label didn't want to let her go.

In summation: - she had a hired body double, called Melissa Vandella because she didn't like the attention from the paparazzi. As this body double was around her a lot, she picked up on Avril's mannerisms (to the extent she basically became her clone). Avril's grandfather died soon after her debut album , Let Go, which resulted in her taking her own life.

The main basis of evidence for this theory, is Avril today having fewer freckles on her arm than Avril before 2003.

Picture: Reddit

There are also claims that there are "several clues" about the death of the original Avril in the lyrics and covers of the next albums. For example, her 2004 hit 'Nobody's Home' is allegedly a clue for her suicide

 She wants to go home, but nobody’s home. It’s where she lies, broken inside. With no place to go, no place to go to dry her eyes. Broken inside.

... She’s fallen behind. She can’t find her place. She’s losing her faith. She’s fallen from grace. She’s all over the place. 

Another song, 'Slipped Away' also apparently shows Lavigne's death

… It wasn’t fake

It happened, you passed by

No you are gone, now you are gone

There you go, there you go

Somewhere I can’t bring you back.

One of the Canadian singer's most famous songs, 'My Happy Ending', is also allegedly a clue

Don’t leave me hangin’

In a city so dead

Help up so high

On such a breakable thread.

(I mean, by these standards every early noughties Emo-pop star is dead).

Why exactly the record company, having perpetrated this fraud, would then put "clues" into the lyrics, is unclear.

People have also claimed that there's a change in her musical style and appearance.

According to Snopes, in July 2015, three years after the original blog was posted, "Avril Esta Morta" admitted they'd completely fabricated the theory.

Avril is not dead…

The blog was a way to show how conspiracy theories can seem real. Many people believe everything they see on the internet, but is it right? There are many conspiracy theories about many things, but some seem no more convincing than theories that are not real. Avril Lavigne never died and was replaced by a lookalike, I created this theory to see if people would believe it, and thousands of people believed it was a fact. An important point is that I created this theory with no intention of lying; all I did is offer arguments that anyone could search for information about and prove. I used information to form a real theory that is in fact unreal. I apologise to people who believed that she was dead and feel disappointed about this revelation, but this was an exercise to teach to become more sceptical and not believe everything you see! It was never my intention to offend anyone, just to create a theory and test people’s reaction to it. You will observe I left some clues that it was all just a theory and not a fact, for example when in the beginning of the blog I referenced the “supposed death of the singer Avril Lavigne.” In other words, it is just a guess! If you want to believe that she is dead, that is your choice, but I say that it was all just a theory created by me.

So the theory was actually created to show how easy it is to spread misinformation on the internet.

When the theory first surfaced in 2015, fact-checking website Snopes, debunked the news.

Still it's recently resurfaced, causing Twitter to go into meltdown.

Honestly, I think they're just losing grip.

Maybe she got plastic surgery? Maybe she learned to do her make-up differently? Maybe, just maybe, it's completely normal for a woman's appearance to change between the ages of 18 and 32?

Or maybe she's dead.

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