For her upcoming tour, Avril Lavigne is taking a cue from Gwen Stefani and Christina Aguilera. “They go offstage ten friggin’ times!” says the singer, who plans to take nightly breathers when she crisscrosses the globe on her five-month trek, which kicks off on March 5th in Victoria, British Columbia. “I’m going off, like, twice [per night]. I’ve never done a change or a break.”

On this tour, her third, Lavigne’s clothes won’t be the only thing changing: For the first time, dancers will join her onstage, hyping the crowd on big numbers like the amped-up “Girlfriend.” “There are kicks and punches, but nothing cheesy or super bubblegum,” says Lavigne, who will also revisit her earlier hits. And while the twenty-three-year-old says she’s grown out of her “Sk8er Boi”-era sassiness, her inner badass lives on. “I’m covering [Joan Jett’s] ‘Bad Reputation,’” she says. “While I’m singing the track, there will be a montage of videos of me with a cigarette, flipping the bird.” (more…)