In a not-so-subtle nod to her “Sk8er Boi” past, Avril Lavigne opens up her new video peering out at the Pacific Ocean with a skateboard by her feet. From there, Avril, 38, rides along the beachside path, singing, “Staring at the pavement alone / Wishing that I was on my way home to you.” Meanwhile, off in a dreary London, the shops are closed, and YUNGBLUD is walking the streets, feeling the same loneliness gripping Avril on the other side of the world. With the help of a black balloon floating overhead in England and southern California, the two reconnect in an abandoned flat.
“I know that I have my issues,” they sing on the bridge. Suddenly, Avril ditched her oversized sweatshirt for a glam black outfit with red bondage-inspired embellishments, while YUNGBLUD is dressed in a semi-androgynous business outfit. “The less we talk, the more I miss you,” they sing. “I die just a little, die just a little / I’m slipping closer to the edge, I hear your voice, it’s in my head / But you’re gone again, gone again.”
The song closes out with the singing of the chorus. “I’m A Mess, I’m A Mess / When we’re not together / Such a wreck, such a wreck / I hope it’s not forever / Will I see you again? / I wish it was me and you ’til the end / ’cause I know I’m a Mess, I’m A Mess / I know I’m a mess, I’m a Mess.”
“I’m A Mess” was written by Avril Lavigne, Travis Barker, Goldfinger’s John Feldmann, and Dominic Harrison (aka YUNGBLUD). Feldmann and Barker produced the song, the latter of which produced Avril’s 2022 album, Love Sux (released on Barker’s DTA Records.)
Avril is coming off performing at the inaugural When We Were Young festival. Her performance received praise for teaming up with All Time Low to cover blink-182’s “All The Small Things” towards the end of her Oct. 23 performance. Sadly, she had to pull out of the Oct. 29 performance due to an unforeseen circumstance (she was replaced by Death Cab For Cutie). Thankfully, the issue has been resolved ,and she heads to Japan next week for a handful of dates. After then, she’ll take the winter off – perhaps to enjoy more of her engaged life with fiancé Mod Sun — before hitting Europe in Spring 2023. Click here for tour dates.
John Feldmann shared what it was like to work with Avril on re-recording “Here in Your Bedroom,” one of Goldfinger’s biggest hits, for the deluxe edition of the band’s 2020 album, Never Look Back. “It came to be, really, in a natural way,” he said in an EXCLUSIVE interview with HollywoodLife. “Avril was at my house, making Love Sux. And I’m like, ‘I had the re-records,’ and you know, she told me, she goes, ‘When I was 15…’ I think she was dating Deryck [Whibley] from Sum 41. I think we were playing a show with them. And she said her first stage dive was at a Goldfinger show when she was 15. And so it’s come full circle that now she’s singing on our first hit on a Goldfinger record, which, making it a duet, is also such a cool twist on the whole thing, you know?”