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Avril Lavigne should be worrying about college admissions and whether daddy will buy her a car. Instead, this choirgirl-turned-skateboarding-siren is in the charts with her sassy debut Let Go. VH1 asked the 17-year-old Napanee, Ontario native how it all happened and part of the answer revealed why the singer's butt-crack is her fashion trademark.

VH1: When people your age start a band they’re normally not thinking about getting a record deal.

Avril Lavigne: When I was two my mom said she knew I was going to be a singer. I’ve been performing ever since I was a young kid. So I’ve known I wanted to do this for a while. I always knew in my heart that I’d be doing this.

VH1: How long did it take to make Let Go?

Lavigne: About a year. I worked with a whole bunch of different songwriters and producers and wrote a ton of songs. It was a time of finding myself musically, discovering people I could connect with and what sound I wanted to go with. It was a struggle in the beginning, but all the hard work paid off. I’m happy with how the record turned out.

VH1: Where do you find your inspiration for your songs? Do you keep a journal?

Lavigne: No. I write them on the spot. I sit down with a guitar player and if there’s a situation I feel strongly about, or a guy that I’ve been thinking about or if I’m pissed off with a guy, it comes out.

VH1: Was there anybody who inspired you to become the kind of songwriter you are?

Lavigne: I picked music up on my own. I didn’t really listen to other people’s CDs until I was finishing grade school. I started singing in church, so I got my inspiration from the music there. It wasn’t like I heard a band and thought, “Oh, I’m going to do this.” I just love music. As I got older I started listening to Faith Hill and the Dixie Chicks. Now I listen to a lot of rock and punk. My dad had a guitar around the house. When I was 12 I picked it up and slowly taught myself how to play. I was always singing, so I started writing lines here and there and that led to writing songs.

VH1: You’re a big skateboarder, but Let Go doesn’t sound like skateboarding music. If someone saw you onstage, they might think you’d sound more like Linkin Park.

Lavigne: The album has some hard tracks like “Losing Grip,” “Unwanted” and the next single “Sk8r Boy,” which is more of a pop/punk song. The album really shows different sides of me. I like to listen to punk music, and I have other sides that are emotional and deep and really sensitive. They all come out in my music.

VH1: What was going on in your head when you wrote the single “Complicated”?

Lavigne: I was fed up with people being two-faced and phony. It can be a boyfriend or a friend or people you work with. So many people act like they’re somebody else. Sometimes when I’m with a guy alone, you’ll look into each other’s eyes and everything’s awesome. Then, when you’re around his friends, he treats you like crap. That’s what that song’s about: People being fake. I hate that so much.

VH1: How was it making the video?

Lavigne: Making the video was an awesome experience. But when we had our lunch break, they made this guy follow me around to make sure I didn’t leave the property. I said, “Why are you following me?” He said, “I have to take care of you, it’s my job.” So I was like, “Heh heh! I’m going to mess with this guy!” I took off and sprinted, saying, “Try to catch me now!” I hid from him. He probably got into trouble because he lost contact with me. That would have been funny if he got fired! I don’t like having people follow me around and baby-sit me.

VH1: What was the most surprising thing to you about the music industry?

Lavigne: I didn’t know there was so much politics involved. I’m a total businesswoman now. I have to make huge decisions that affect my career and my life. I’m only 17 and I’ve got to be really responsible. I don’t like the business side of things. Sometimes I get fed up and feel like saying, “I just want to play and share my music and not be involved in this whole business side.” But I have to remember that it’s really important. I think I have a good head on my shoulders. I can handle it. The other funny thing is that people have to run out and get us food. We don’t have time. It’s fun in a way. You stress and everything’s rush, rush, rush, then all of a sudden you realize your blood sugar level is going down. You’re like, “I need food,” and someone gets it for you. So that’s awesome. At the video shoot, if anyone said, “I’m thirsty” six people ran over to you with water instantly! That was awesome.

VH1: Performing and promoting can be really hard on the body.

Lavigne: I’m going to lose so much weight. You don’t have time to eat. My pants were falling off at the MuchMusic video awards. The day after the rewards, there was a poll on MuchMusic’s Web site where you could vote for the funniest thing at the awards ceremony and one of them was “Avril Lavigne’s butt cleavage.” It was funny. I don’t care. My butt-crack showing is like my trademark. I wear my pants loose, and lately I’ve been so busy I’ve lost a few pounds. My ass-crack is always showing!

Avril Lavigne might be virtually unknown in the UK but don't count on this anonymity lasting much longer.

In the US she's the undisputed No.1 teenage sensation and hot property. Just prior to her UK live debut in front of a few hundred people in a north London pub, dotmusic went to find out what all the fuss has been about.

She's already been featured in one UK tabloid as part of the new Alanis Morissette brigade but that doesn't tell the whole story. While they share some obvious traits (confessional lyrics, anti-male anthems, killer choruses), her guitar pop style has a distinct rough rockier edge than Alanis.

Her magic is clearly working as the 17 year old Canadian has seen her debut album 'Let Go' already spend 12 weeks in the US album chart Top 10 selling in excess of a million copies. This week registering it's highest position at No.3!

Avril returns to the UK to perform at the Mean Fiddler on September 13 but until then check out our interview with Ms Lavigne below where she talks about starting out, record company pressure and her first impressions of the UK.

"It's my first time in the UK, here in London. It's very different from where I'm from. If I fall asleep and wake up I'm like (screaming) we're on the wrong side of the road and freak out. It's cool here. You have good fish and chips."

"I was born to rock, I was born to roll. Rock n'roll. I see myself as a rock chick and when they refer to me as a pop chick I'm like 'NOOOOO!!!'"

"Ever since I was really young I knew that this is what I wanted to do. I was determined to get this and have been performing all my life. I started making a name for myself and the right people started to hear about me. Some guys in New York heard about me, came to check me out and they just flipped out."

"I started writing when I was 12. I started teaching myself guitar and what inspires me to write is what I've been through - the relationships I've been in and my opinions. My lyrics are real and honest and I think that's why fans relate to me cos I'm not sat there trying to make a song that has all these rhymes and funky words, I just slurge all my feelings out on to paper and people can relate to that, I think. That allows me to have a better relationship with fans."

"I don't think I get compared to her because I'm honest because there are so many other bands out there that are honest but I think I get compared to her just cos she's Canadian and she's not some pop chick, she's a rocker and I'm not a pop chick and I'm a rocker. Once someone said I was like her because I had long hair and I was like 'OK!'. We both don't give a "whatever" about people think about us."

"Today I was just listening to Blink 182 and I like Sum 41, System Of A Down. I like my rock music."

"'Let Go' is my first album and I wrote on every song. It took me about a year to finish cos it was hard at the beginning to find people who I wanted to work with - writers, producers - people who understood me and what sound I really want to go with. And also showing and proving to the label that I could write cos at the beginning they pitched me songs and wanted me to sing other people's songs and I had to fight to say 'no I can write my own'. I was only 16 at the time and they probably thought I was crazy but LA Reid, the president of Arista, gave me a chance. It was a long process and hopefully the second album won't take that long."