A singer in her teens emerges seemingly overnight with a multiplatinum smash. A couple of years pass and, poised on the brink of adulthood, she must release a new album that shows signs of personal and creative growth.

A few years back, the young woman was Britney Spears. Today, when Avril Lavigne's second CD, the introspective Under My Skin, arrives, it will be a different artist - radically different, some say.

Lavigne does not pretend to be blase about her acceptance on the airwaves. "Radio means a lot to me," she says. She has already done much to promote Skin, starting with a national tour of more than 20 malls in March and April, including Florence.

But Lavigne, 19, is eager to distinguish between selling her product and selling herself. "The reason my fans loved me when I came out is that I was completely myself," she says. "When I was writing, when I dressed, everything was my own deal. I was real."

And the high-tops-wearing, skateboard-toting tough girl wants fans to know she has a softer side. "I'm such a chick," she says. "I love to go to a spa. I love shopping. I love to cook. When I'm home, I love to do laundry, just to take my clothes and towels out of the dryer and fold them, you know?"