Avril Lavigne released her new single, “Young & Dumb,” featuring Simple Plan on Friday. The track comes just over a week before Lavigne embarks on the final 19 dates of her Greatest Hits Tour, which features the Canadian pop punk band as an opener.
The collaborative track, for many fans, feels like a long time coming, given both Lavigne’s and Simple Plan’s similar trajectories in the music industry. Lavigne, who hails from the small Ontario town of Napanee, rose to widespread fame in 2002 with the release of her debut album, Let Go. That same year, Simple Plan, which is composed of members Pierre Bouvier, Jeff Stinco, Chuck Comeau and Sébastien Lefebvre, all of whom originated from Montreal, Quebec, garnered similar acclaim with their first album, No Pads, No Helmets … Just Balls.
Lyrically, “Young & Dumb” is rife with Easter eggs and nods to their early beginnings.
In the first verse, Lavigne sings, “2002 and I’m hanging on the tour bus/Leaving my hometown, Napanee/Rocking a neck tie, black eyeliner/White tank top and I’m chasing my dreams.” In addition to referencing her hometown and the year her career took off, Lavigne nods to her once-signature skater-girl aesthetic: a striped men’s necktie, a white tank top and low-rise pants, which she debuted with her first single, “Complicated.”
Joined by Bouvier on “Young & Dumb,” both he and Lavigne then sing “We’re back again, now it’s twenty years later/Somehow it feels like nothing’s changed/I’m just a kid, still a pop-punk skater/They told me, ‘Get a job,’ but I said, ‘No way!’” In singing, “I’m just a kid,” the Simple Plan frontman directly references the band’s debut single — and teen anthem — of the same name. The song, first released in 2002, also enjoyed a resurgence in 2020 when it went viral on TikTok.
“This is such a full-circle moment,” Lavigne said in a statement. “Not only did Simple Plan tour with me last year on the Greatest Hits Tour, but we also toured together in 2003 on my very first arena tour. We were so young — just a bunch of kids from small towns in Canada who had just released our debut albums. We connected and instantly became friends.”
Avril Lavigne and Pierre Bouvier of Simple Plan perform on tour in 2003. (Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Rick Diamond/WireImage, R. Diamond/WireImage)
As new artists, Lavigne’s and Simple Plan’s paths often converged. “Young & Dumb” is a reflection of their friendship that has blossomed over the past two decades.
“It’s a tribute to the past but also a celebration of the present. In our hearts, we’re still those same kids, and our love for music hasn’t changed. It’s about friendship, nostalgia and the way music has kept us connected over the summer,” Lavigne continued.
Simple Plan added about the long-awaited collaboration: “The lyrics speak to the special bond we’ve shared since we first toured together back in 2003. We became friends right away, and what’s amazing is how that friendship has only grown stronger over the years.”
Fans of Lavigne and Simple Plan, many of whom grew up listening to their music, have taken to social media to praise the new track.
“It’s giving 2010s pop punk princess vibes again,” one fan declared on TikTok.
“20 years later and we’re still feeling Young & Dumb. … If you grew up on ‘Complicated’ and ‘I’m Just a Kid,’ this one hits different! Thank you Avril Lavigne & Simple Plan for this summer anthem,” wrote another fan.
Shortly after the final leg of Lavigne’s Greatest Hits Tour concludes this summer, Simple Plan and the “My Happy Ending” singer will join forces once again, when they embark together on the newly resurrected Van’s Warped Tour.
