Avril Lavigne recently performed at Special Olympics World Games’ opening ceremony in Dubai. The event took place on March 14 at the Zayed Sports City Stadium.
“It was such an honor performing the new @SpecialOlympics anthem with @LuisFonsi and many other incredible musicians at the Special Olympics @WorldGamesAD Opening Ceremonies! Good luck everyone #MeetTheDetermined,” the “Complicated” hitmaker tweeted .
While she was in the country, the singer took some time to pose wearing a black abaya and headscarf. The photos were met with hundreds of thousands of likes, with one getting over 450,000.
In some other photos uploaded to her Instagram, she is taking selfies with camels and also seen riding them.
The World Games have started to take place and will end on March 21.
Last year, Avril released her first single since 2015, titled “Head Above Water,” which she named her album after. She followed this up with “Tell Me It’s Over” and “Dumb Blonde,” a collaboration with Nicki Minaj. The album went top 10 in the U.K., being her fifth album to do so. It also went top 3 in Germany and top 5 in her home country of Canada.
Avril’s career skyrocketed in 2002 when she released her debut album Let Go , which catapulted her worldwide and sold over 16 million copies. The album contained the hit singles “Complicated,” “Sk8er Boi,” and “I’m With You.” Her follow up album, Under My Skin , matched this success — selling over 10 million records with a little help from singles “Don’t Tell Me” and “My Happy Ending.”
It was three more years until Lavigne released her third studio album, The Best Damn Thing . She rebranded her image with a more feminine look, which was a departure from her skater-tomboy image. The album included the massive hit single “Girlfriend,” which was the first video on YouTube to reach 100 million views. Her fourth studio album, Goodbye Lullaby, came out in 2011, and her fifth, self-titled record came out two years later, in 2013.
While she was away, a conspiracy theory of her having been dead and replaced by a body double named Melissa was all people could talk about. The rumors date back to 2005, and are believed to have originated on a Brazilian fan website according to The Independent . The rumor came back to life in recent years.
“It’s so dumb. And I look the exact same. On one hand, everyone is like, ‘Oh my god, you look the same,’ and on the other hand people are like ‘Oh my god, she died,’” she told Entertainment Weekly .
Despite having kept a relatively low profile in recent years, Lavigne still has a large online following. Her Instagram account has 6.8 million followers. Her Twitter account has 21.7 million followers, and she has posted over 3,900 tweets.